Hello all from Maine,

I'm going to buy my first class A motor coach and when looking at all the options, it looks like the Barth is the way to go. I'm not rich by anymeans but am a mechanic of the past thirtyfive years or so. I have found a 86 36' with a 8.2. Just would like some basic info, is there anything that I should be looking for as in soft spots in these machines? Should I wait for the right priced cummins powered rig? I realy want a diesel pusher. Any pointers would be appreciated, great site by the way, I have spent alot of time here already reading some super storys!

Peace, The Rat

Fellow Mainiac here, Scarboro.
I'd wait for a 8.3 Cummins. Soft spots....I'd look over the exterior for corrosion, especially on the cargo doors on older models. I'd not want the chassis rusted badly.

If I were in Maine, I'd go south to buy a rust free vehicle. Of course, you still need to verify it spent its life in the south. You won't belive the difference.

Thanx for the reply Moonbeam, I was already thinking the same on one hand and the other thinks, repower with more power! As a engineer on a 100ft boat, and a friend with a marine John Deere dealership, 300hp of JD boat engine would be right up my alley. Also a good conversation starter. I'm going to give her a look and will look over the areas you pointed out. Is there any driveline pics or drawings anywhere on this site?

Thanx again, Wharf Rat

Welcome to the Forums! The Barth you're looking at is called an "MCC Barth", because of the chassis being built by MCC (rights to which were bought by Barth). They came "standard" with the DD 8.2L V8. A conversion to a C8.3 might be possible, but that engine will be much longer than the DD 8.2; there may not be enough room. The DD 8.2 is known to be very susceptible to overheat issues (like: DON'T EVER!).

The MCC chassis is considered to be among the best-handling of coaches of its era and size, having independent front suspension. The downside is that the brakes and front suspension components may need upgrades.

Good luck with whatever you settle on!

Being a 36 footer, it could be an Gillig. I thought MCCs were 35-footers. There were some '86 36 foot Gilligs.

Wharf Rat, is there a story behind the picture of that nifty streamliner?

Hi Bill, That's a pic of Frank Lockhart standing beside his LSR car, The Blackhawk Sp." he's was the best auto racer/builder there ever was. In the twentys he raced Miller race cars, straight eight, doulble overhead cam beasts that were super charged to boot! Frank won the Indy in one of these cars in the rain. A old dirt tracker he was givin the chance to run sombody elses car, when the rain begain Frank ran the brick yard in a drift and was several laps ahead when they stoped the race because of the rain! Later he built the streamliner using two of those Miller engines in a common pan, a "W16" twin turbo and intercooled, (Frank made the first intercooler and hid it from everyone else later at Indy). I have been a big fan, though he was way way before my time. Sadly the car in the pic took his life on Daytona beach, on his third pass he blew a tire. They estimated his speed at 226mph. That was in 1927! Well thats the long story on the little pic!
I hope to have more info on the 36' Barth mid week, I can't wait, after finding this site I can share my prize, be it this one or another, my new to me coach will be a Barth for sure!

Take care, Wharf Rat

Oops, I said twin turbo and it was twin compressor or supercharger, while I'm here I'll add that Frank cooled his machine with a big block of ice and H2O, that way he had no holes for air to enter and slow him down!

Peace, WR

quote:

Originally posted by bill h:
I thought MCCs were 35-footers.

We found one 34' Barth with an MCC Type Chassis but that was on a Commercial/Specialized coach.

8607-3345-34DFPO-A



That 34' was initially thought to be a Regency, but when the pics turned up on the roofline, it clearly had the smaller radius bends of a Regal or Commercial/Specialized unit.



2 facts made this one a tougher call...

1) You're looking at a predominantly Regency paint scheme. But keep in mind, this paint scheme didn't come out until late 88 and this coach was mfg in July of 1986. The original owner of this coach confirmed that Barth repainted it in early 1990 to that scheme.

2) The data tag says "INC VEH MFD BY" Regency But that only stands for the frame. The gov decided that the "INCOMPLETE VEHICLE MANUFACTURED BY" is in reference to the frame manufacturer, not the model of the coach. When Barth bought the rights to the MCC Chassis, they changed the name of the Motor Coach Corp. Chassis to Regency Products.



the 1RP of the vin stands for an North American, Regency Products as the Chassis only.

As always, in the land of Barth, you never know. Maybe there is a 36 footer, MCC Type Chassis, floating around.

If you can "Warf Rat", would you supply us a picture of that tag and one, or more, of the coach?

If this is an MCC or Regency Products Chassis, you might not be able to get too much hp out of it at the wheel. These axles are known to snap easier and any additional hp that you would gain with a bigger engine would be wasted on that egg that you'll be forced to mount on the throttle pedal after you snap your first axle shaft.

Bill the pic of the front won't work for some reason, or it's just my computer karma
Hope this helps, the owner said he was a member of this site but hasn't been active in qute some time.

Thanx for the help, Jeff aka Wharf Rat

I fixed your image links. You did everything right until the point of pasting the images in your post.

You do not need to add in the additional image tag

this is what you had

[IMG][IMG]http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv240/barth_upload/Barths/1309779525.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]

Just use the codes from the upload site and everything will work as intended.

This is the correct way.

[IMG]http://i687.photobucket.com/albums/vv240/barth_upload/Barths/1309779525.jpg[/IMG]

This is the way you'll get it from the upload site.

Thank you, it's been awhile. My computer adds that and I have to remove it, I emembah now!

So what's the call on this girl? I will be in touch with the owner soon I hope, he's camping right now for the holiday weekend. We had a bad conection (cell), told him to call when he gets home. I'm a in his fiftys kid, I love the paint job already. I hope it's not the soft axle breaker! I'll have some numbers soon, crossing fingers now. ..... I'm bad.

quote:

Originally posted by Wharf Rat:
So what's the call on this girl?

The roof radius and that extra light in the middle side leads me to believe it is a Regency.

quote:

Originally posted by Wharf Rat:
I hope it's not the soft axle breaker! I'll have some numbers soon, crossing fingers now.

Most of the coaches produced in that time frame was equipped with the Gillig chassis - so, based purely on the laws of probability, you probably have a Gillig.

It might be coach 8511-0063-36RDC

If it is, it is at the very end of the MCC run and one year into the Gillig production run.

At 36' - it is probably Gillig.

Get the data tag# and the Vin# - you are always better off getting an image of that tag.