Sky Sam emailed this ad to me.. is this sweet or what??

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/diesel/11540.HTM

I've checked it out. Here's the lowdown. The roof leaks-very moldy smell, the front tires are scalloped badly(needs front suspension work), broken windshield, engine smokes & leaks oil badly, needs 6 airbags, no main awning, and the paint is blistering. It has over 2300 hours on the generator(it's louder than the Cat 3208). We went right after the big rains and the floor was soaked and they placed buckets to catch the water.

Thanks Ed you ruined my day, I was dreaming about this coach...

They can sure do a lot with pictures can't they..

By the way Ed, you just saved a bunch of people a bunch of miles and phone calls.

I talked to the sales guy on this coach, it is a consignment vehicle so PPL will not do anything to fix anything and it is "as is". He also verified that this coach is unfortunately in very rough condition.

Thanks Dave and Ed. By those pics, I thought the bottom had fallen out on the Barth Regencys, and I had paid too much. But I am very satisfied. Was thinking about flying out to see it. Sure would not now. Thanks again.
Sky

Hmmmm..........looking at the floorplan, I wonder how you get in the door. The pass seat looks in the way.

And where do they eat?

That is a handdrawn floor plan. Look at the picture with the forward pan, the door is in the front, with the passender seat aft of the drives seat and the cabiner between the passenger seat and the euro recliner is a fold out table with extensions that will seat 4 or 5.
happy motoring
Sky

I received a call from John Vrecheen the owner of this coach.

He wishes to challenge and set straight some of the criticism of this coach that are made here.

As a bit of a disclaimer, I am doing this because John is not "computeristic" and he has very kindly asked me to so. I receive no commission from any coach sold here so I am just as best as I can relaying the info John gave me.

As far as the roof is concerned it has a diamond plate roof for the previous owners to watch NASCAR races. John does not know if this was a factory job or not. But the original one piece aluminum Barth roof is fully intact underneath the diamond plate. The leaks were around a light fixture only and did not leave any stains on the ceiling. The roof either has already or will be caulked to take care of this problem. This apparently leaked after a monumental rainstorm in the area and has not leaked following other periods of rain.

John states that the Kabota Gen set, is loud but it is very good and in great condition. It is a water cooled diesel generator. It is not loud inside the coach.

John says that the 3208 CAT engine is in great shape but does smoke,(like many diesels) when first starting but stops smoking after warming up. It also smokes a little under load going up a hill. He checked with the CAT service center and they said it is entirely normal. Apparently the newer diesels have a "fuel cutoff" devise and other systems in new diesels so that they don't smoke.

John, questions the suspension remarks. He said that the airbags are in great shape. Perhaps, when they were seen by others they had been drained of their air and the coach would appear to sit quite low. However, they would fill up after the coach started. He told me that on this coach everything is run by air, even the windshield wipers.

As far as the seating situation and the floor plan is concerned. John told me that the dinette has two leafs (leaves?) which will allow 6-8 at the table. There are also two matching folding chairs in their own cabinet that have never been used. John says that when he and his wife eat she sits in the passenger side captains chair which will slide rearward and spin around and he sits in the special recliner that you can see in the picture.

The one windshield is cracked at the top our of the view of the driver and has been for a few years. This is a $400 fix.

John has two Barth coaches. The other is a 24 ft. gas coach which is more up his alley. I hope he doesn't mind me saying that he is over 80 and has purchased a home in New Mexico and is a motivated seller.

I have not seen this coach but i do know that the pricing is advantageous and the floor plan and such is beyond compare. If I were ready to move up and if I could buy this coach in the low $40's and let's say I know I had to put another $10K in it. I would do that in a second..

If there are any questions please call the owner at 361-547-1660

Dave I have had my regency for year and a half no leaks in roof then when it was at rv shop parked at certain angle I saw wet spot in ceiling.it was after a monsoom. they went over it with fine tooth comb found nothing but they did cauk the three radius on both sides. those seams where never caulked before. I had the coach at home for three wks before they could ck it out and one storm after another and nothing. I think they caulked to make me feel good. I also have diamond plate on roof. as for the 3208 smoking mine does too and has fresh heads. I dump the air on the air ride when parked so it would look squatted.Every thing is run by air same as mine. IF I didn,t have this one I would be taking a look. I think the generator is a kohler and those where to be enclosed.I went to have new mufflers put on mine and they where almost new thats just the nature of the beast. Lloyd

Thanks Lloyd, I alway thought about the air dump situation. I have seen some of these Gillig chassis sit almost on the ground. One other thing this owner wanted me to point out is that it has a $1500.00 sleep number bed..

Dave I forgot the engine issue mine was all oiley too ,but it was just a matter of re torquing the covers and cleaning the engine.it,s fine now. front end issue could be just alingnment. If the guy is 80 years old he is not going to do this work any more and no dought the coach has been sitting causing most of the issues, these coaches are very good rv s and we schould all look deeper before we critcize. I would be thinking mileage ,oil pressure ect ect. ITS UNFOTUNATE it had leak but if it been taken care of tha wouldn,t stop me from considering it. there is nothing on the market even close to these coachs.Just my thoughts.
Lloyd

quote:

Originally posted by Lloyd Knudson:
front end issue could be just alingnment.

Sure it could. It could also be something more.

quote:

Originally posted by Lloyd Knudson:
...these coaches are very good rv s and we schould all look deeper before we critcize.

Agreed! It's nice that Ed Chevalier has offered up a report. Dave even went so far as to call PPL and he stated that "I talked to the sales guy on this coach, it is a consignment vehicle so PPL will not do anything to fix anything and it is "as is". He also verified that this coach is unfortunately in very rough condition."

quote:

Originally posted by Lloyd Knudson:
ITS UNFOTUNATE it had leak but if it been taken care of tha(t) wouldn,t stop me from considering it.

Yes it's unfortunate. It would also be unfortunate to have someone fly in to see this and see buckets catching water from a roof leak.

quote:

Originally posted by Lloyd Knudson:
there is nothing on the market even close to these coachs.

We can all agree on that.

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I wish the seller of this coach well. I hope he gets top dollar for his coach. I also hope that he wouldn't allow someone to fly out and look at a coach with catch cans of water and a smelly interior.

I applaud anyone who has seen a coach first hand to tell us there thoughts on it.

Dave is in a rough spot. He offered a follow up based on the persons assurances that it was all very minor. It just might be that simple. If I was serious about buying this coach I would contact the seller, PPL, and Ed Chevalier who saw it first hand.

I'm in a ruff spot too. There's another coach for sale on this site that is "not as listed". I have seen the pictures of this Barth and heard the report from a person who saw it. I can not in good conscious say anything negative about it because I haven't seen it first hand. I have asked the person who did see it to report back but he refuses. Do you see why I stated "I applaud anyone who has seen a coach first hand to tell us there thoughts on it"?

Just my thoughts.

Here's the bottom line. Ed has been on this site for almost 7 years and has offered very important and helpful data and I trust him.

The buyer called me. He is a very nice elderly gentleman who has owned 8 motorhome and at the moment owns two Barths. He had a reasonable return on every issue.

PPL is a consignment company. Someone takes a coach in there and they tell them how much they want for it and PPL adds what they want on top. PPL doesn't fix up or warrentee the coaches and in many cases they don't even see the coach. So the guy who told me it was rough might have been echoing my statement, "I heard that it is pretty rough?"

I think there has been enough info on both sides that would say to me at least that if I were looking for a 32 foot Regency, I would definately look at this one.

By the way, Deb and I a couple years ago were caught in a storm that was so scary that Deb sat on the floor between the beds. We do not have levelors and I was sure we were going to turn over. We had water dripping in around the vend in the bedroom. We never had a drop of water before or after that storm.

quote:

The buyer called me. He is a very nice elderly gentleman who has owned 8 motorhome and at the moment owns two Barths.

Dave,
Do you know this person personally?
Kit

I do not know him personally.