What a great site! I admit it, I've been visiting for several months now. I was looking for a quality, classic, gas coach and saw an ad for a Barth. It was too far away to look at so I surfed and found this site. My wife and I have been outgrowing our '83 Lindy Class C. When we bought it ten years ago the over-cab bed didn't seen that hard to get in and out of. Now it's downright scary sometimes. The Barth construction looks like what I want.
I currently park our coach in the driveway and since it's only 22' long we still have room for each of our daily drivers. I can go up to a max of 28' and still do this.
I have a small collection of Austin-Healey sport cars that I restored and we sometimes tow one to an event when we can stay in the rv.
Question for the group. What models came in a 28' length that would have a class 3 or better hitch. I currently use an open flat bed trailer or tow dolly but would like to get an enclosed trailer for the weather and security benefits. The total weight of Healey and trailer would be just under 5000 lbs. Is the tow rating better on tags? Did they make any tags in 28' lengths? Would a Cummins Breakaway have sufficient power for me to climb the Grapevine, between LA and Bakersfield, at 40 plus mph? Would the 454 be enough if it had a 5000lb hitch?

As you can see, I'm full of questions. If you can share your experiences with me it would be appreciated. Please suggest what models of Barth I should be looking for.

Redlands Ron
'83 Lindy ( for now )

I have a 28' non-tag with a 454. It tows great with a motorcycle rack & cycle plus the car total weight about 3500 lb. with a tongue weight of about 350 lb.



------------------
Eddie Chevalier
'85 Barth Regal 28' P-30 454
'91 Honda Accord/'87 Yamaha YSR 50 Toads

Hi Ron, Welcome to the world of Barth...

Eddie and I have the same coach. You are probably limited to under 5000 lbs for these coaches. But I bet the trailer weighs almost as much as the Austin doesn't it? Aren't they pretty small cars?

You can really kick up your pulling ability on these coaches by adding headers from Thorley, Banks etc. Bill H. can chime in on over under transmission addons. These addons will really add to your hp and torque to get you up the Grapevine. You might want to scroll down to the archives which have a lot of info on engine and tranny cooling.

You know in my opinion the Barth, especially the 28 and 33 foot Regals are some of the only coaches which I (and I am tight) think are well worth the coast of upgrade. You can buy a 1985-1987 Regal for $15-18K and if you stick another $5K into it you will have a coach which will out do any other coach that size period and it will still turn heads no matter where you go.


------------------



[This message has been edited by davebowers (edited October 16, 2004).]

Thanks Dave and Eddie...

Eddie, I'm only a few miles from Beaumont California. Too bad it's the wrong one, I could drop over and see your Barth. Dave, is the coach in the picture yours? Is that a 30 footer?

Your right Dave, the Austins do weigh about the same or less than the enclosed trailers I've looked at. The Breakaways in the for sale list show an 8000lb. hitch. That would be great but do they climb hills as good as the 454? Actually the Breakaways are probably still out of my price range.

I could post a picture of my Healeys but I don't see how to do that in the options.

Yes that's my coach and it is a 28 foot Regal with a 454 engine.

As far as the breakaways are concerned they are rear diesel coaches. Most of them are 30 footers. I had never seen a 28 foot Breakaway and actually told someone that I didn't think there was one and then we all of a sudden had two of them for sale at the same time. They are both sold now.

When you are pulling a load up a hill you are interested in torque more than HP.

Bill H. supplied us with the following numbers.

a 454 has 260 hp and 360-385 lbs of torque

a 5.9 Cummins like is in a Breakaway has 235 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque.

You can substantially increase the 454's numbers by adding exhaust and airflow addon products. If you have a later year breakawy ('92-93) You can substantial kick up the numbers on it also.

------------------

Thanks to Bill H. help I need to update some of the horse power and torque numbers above. The 454 numbers are correct. However, Cummins engines came in 160, 190, and 235 hp ratings for the 5.9 L. the stated torgue reading s are for the 235 hp. I do not at this time have numbers for the 160 and 190 hp Cummins engines.

Read these posts for more complete info:

https://www.barthmobile.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000471.html

[This message has been edited by davebowers (edited October 17, 2004).]

Hey Dave,
Your Regal looks almost identical to the '84 I recently aquired from Ron, except mine has two roof airs and more basement compartments. When I first got it, I was planning to use it for just one important trip and then resale, but since that trip is over, I'm forever finding new excuses to hit the road. The upgrades Ron had made with the headers, Fan-tastics, air rides, etc. make it a pleasure to drive and is the perfect size for us. I'd have to be hard pressed to even consider 18K for it after seeing what 18K gets in other coaches, regardless of what the book says. I didn't know Barth existed until Ron and Donna dropped by one day out of the clear. I looked at a lot of higher priced, later model coaches before buying Ron's Regal and the quality of construction of this coach is unmatched. If we were planning a 15K US tour, a diesel would be compelling, but with my 500 mile travel radius, it is a moot issue. I loves me Barth.
Dogill

Hi Dogil,

I absolutely agree with you, We had, just before finding the Barth, looked at a used Tioga Class C for $44K. We have never looked back. Two years ago we did the circle tour around Lake Superior. 1900 miles in 10 days. At the end we wanted to keep going. We never once said that we needed a larger coach. In fact, we were followed around the entire trip by a huge 40+ ft. Bluebird. I did not envy that guy at all when we were driving 21K down a dirt road to Sleeping Giant Campground. However, I would like to have 2 airs, and the headers too when we get that Ranger to pull. We really needed the 2 AC's when we drove to Hannibal, MO. It was around 100 deg with unbearable humidity.

Here's where we came out at. When Deb took that picture of me she was hip deep in Lake Superior.










[This message has been edited by davebowers (edited October 18, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by davebowers (edited October 18, 2004).]

Wow, great picture. I had to look twise at the picture of you cause at first it looks as though you are in HEVEN looking down on the lake. But then one is in Heven when you own a Barth. Rather see a picture of Deb though. Sorry my friend.

Dave's coach is a class act for sure! The notion of headers came up here again so to avoid thread drift I'll post a new thread in the tech forum. Any response will be welcomed!

------------------
Dan & Suzy Z
'81 Euro 28