If it were not for the efforts of Dave and the excellent contributions by the people that visit this site I would never have discovered Barth products nor would I have the foundation to maintain the one I own.

I am in my mid fifties while I no longer consider this old, the adage about learning new tricks being impossible is at least in my case not valid and if I may further suggest while learning is as difficult as it ever was, if it is not considered impossible the opportunity for a fuller and longer life may be the reward

According to a posting I found on a web site promoting a machine tool for cutting metal, Bernard Juchli is Jay Leno's mechanic at Jay’s Big Dog garage in Burbank.

While Jay enjoys an income that is at least two, heck make that four orders of magnitude higher than mine we share a common interest and joy in using elegantly designed automobiles. As not all elegant designs are new and as the ones that I can afford certainly are not the issue of maintenance comes to mind.

Mr. Leno addresses this in the same way I do, by setting aside the time required to do repairs fully and carefully. Mr. Leno employs a single responsible individual, Mr. Juchli and I also employ a single responsible individual, me. Mr. Leno has a place where work can be thoughtfully done, a dedicated garage and so do I, my driveway. I feel that using a person rather than an institution is the most effective path to a robust and well running motorhome, motocycle, boat, spaceship or car.


I think Mr. Leno and I do this because we recognize that everyone’s time has value and adjust accordingly. For most mechanical work on an RV or on an automobile there is a standard rate changed by most shops, this rate is called book time. Why yes friends Camping world will install your new thermodraculator for only $19.95, as we will discover this sort of has price driven approach is not without some concequences.

If a mechanic can do the work faster than the billed rate they can increase their income. For example if an alternator replacement is paid at 40 minutes and the mechanic can do the work in 20, they can do 16 hours of billable time in 8 hours. There are several ways to achieve this goal, even an uninformed person when inspecting a skilled mechanic’s shop will notice that there is an extensive assembly of tools. While the tools are not necessarily required, specialty or high quality tools allow mechanics to work more rapidly.

Now to the dark side, even with the best tools and an ideal work environment it is temping to cut a few corners. For example the wire loom for the alternator in question may be mounted with a nice clip that must be removed when changing the alternator; if this clip is not replaced when installing the new alternator then the mechanic can save some time and hence make enough to put a bit more hamburger into the hamburger-helper this week. At one point I asked a mechanic why they did not replace the belt when the alternator was replaced and was told that this was not part of the book time; understanding motivation can be quite revealing. Think about it, if the mechanic goes to the service writer and says I want to replace the belt he is not paid for than time and the car sits idle until the service writer gets your OK so you don’t complain about being “over charged”.


At last we come to my 1973 Barth and to other vehicles that are not quite new. My Barth was a costly device when new and there is every reason to think the first owners employed people motivated as we have discussed above to work on the Barth. Hence it is no surprise that the wires I found running to the engine were no longer mounted correctly and that there was a bit of work setting thing right. This is the sort of thing that should be expected on all automobiles or RVs. Setting things right means getting parts, maybe some engine cleaner and some paint, a collection of nuts and bolts or pop-rivets and then taking the time to restore, that is redo the work left to you by others. This is the only down side of older equipment, the older it is the more hands that were trying to make book time may have had their fingers in there.

While it is a relatively safe assumption that if what you buy is newer then fewer fingers will have been busy making book time on your coach but on the other hand it still no guarantee that you will enjoy fewer items that require your attention nor is it a guarantee that you will not suffer catastrophic failure.

It is my feeling that if a device is well built and designed for the long run as Barth motor homes are and if humans designed it and built it then humans can fix it. As a designer of industrial robots I can tell you with more than some assurance the newer automobiles are designed in such a way post assembly maintenance can be quite interesting. New is just new, it is not necessarily elegant.


So now to the core question, should you consider an older Barth motor home? I am not sure I am the person to offer the final word on what you should do but in my case and in the case many others who are enlightend, have smarter children and better more loving pets, the answer is a resounding yes.

Timothy

Tim: You should be on a pulpit. What a heart warming message. Stirred my inter soul and made me shout halla looyaa. Well done Timothy, well done............carl

"THE TOY" 88 33' Regal SE Coach #3448

Apropos the dark side - Some years ago I inadvertently bought a year-old Imperial that turned out to have a bad a/c compressor. I found a junkyard replacement, & BS'd with the mechanic while he finished finish diagnosing another car scheduled for a tuneup. He found everything up to spec & working nicely, then said, I think I'll "flat rate" it. He closed the hood, & noted on the work order that the tuneup was complete. The happy customer had the timing checked and a shot of cleaner in the carb, & paid parts & labor for a tuneup.

Some years later, trailing South, the water pump in my Dodge van went out. I limped into town, dropped the trailer & found a garage that would sneak us into their schedule. Their main business was engine rebuilding, & once again I BS'd with a mechanic busy installing an engine in a Ford pickup. Out of curiosity I asked him how much the job cost. He said, well the Ford dealer charges $3400. Pressing my luck I asked, "And how much do you charge?" He said, $1200. Pressing further I asked how much he would charge me. He said, $1200.
That Ford dealer had a good thing going.

I hope my posting is not just read as a rant. That is not what I intended. While, oh yea I have a few stories too, all things considered the larceny in the average mechanic’s heart pales when compared to a physician or a few other professions that come to mind.

As we see on another discussion, a skilled mechanic armed with off the shelf as well as purpose adapted tools can do work much faster and more effectively than several well intentioned people I have run into over the years that posses nothing more than a rusty pipe wrench and a hammer. There are many parameters to consider. Hence a labor rate of $150.00 an hour can be less costly than a labor rate of $5.00 a day or $150.00 an hour can be more cost effective than $19.95 at Pep Boys.

I think my point is personal involvement goes a long way, if it is your involvement as it is in my case, may I suggest it can be deeply rewarding. If you prefer to find someone else to work on your products then learning what they do, becoming involved and extending praise when you see some one that is doing work in an graceful and well-designed way is good behavior.

What I am trying to convey is that as long as parts are available it is possible and cost effective to keep our older coaches running in tip top condition. And I am sure when your are at the pearly gates God will cut you a little extra slack for those oaths you swore to honor when you were and sea and forgot when you got back to port if you do.


In closing I plagiarized the closing about Barth owners from a posting Dave did a while back, hey if like our Barths, you find something elegant use it. The sailor quote was plagiarized from Melville.

I focused on the rant portion of Tim's post, but another aspect is the reason why I have done as much of my own work as I can, for as long as I can.

When I was 15, working after school & weekends for 35 cents an hour, taking home $4.50 a week, I had just learned to drive. I backed my dad's '36 Chev into a ditch across from my buddy's house, & when his dad hauled me out, one rear spring shackle was reversed, & the spring was kinked.

My father was insistently reluctant to pay for the damage, so I made one of my first junkyard forays & bought a spring for $2.00. The local service station charged me 2 hours of labor @ $2.00 an hour to replace it. Total - $6.00, a week-and-a half's pay. He let me pay it off @ $2.00 a week.

I resolved then that any service that cost more than I earned, that I could possibly do myself, I would learn to do. The result is uncounted old cars that left my hands in better shape than I got them, plus a few that left with different, usually more powerful engines, 4 boats, and several RV's.

The number of finished items on my do-list for the Barth aproaches 50, & I'm gaining. I only average one new one now for each one I complete.

I have to agree that franchised dealerships overprice everything (but then, they usually make their profit on "service" not sales).

Until I retired, I did consulting on the side for non-franchised repair shops that had a potential insurance claim against them.

1. A newer Chebby pickup had the transmission serviced by a repair shop. After the work, the tranny wouldn't upshift smoothly. The shop referred the truck to the local GM dealer. Diagnosis: Rebuild at $1,800. I removed the valves, found a bit of crud loosened during service sticking one of them. Cost: $0

2. A Dodge pickup also had its transmission serviced by the same shop; complaint was that it wouldn't shift into 4/OD. Dodge dealer: Rebuild, $2,000. I reseated one of the bushings on the shift linkage. Cost: $0

3. A shop sent road service to jumpstart a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The tech hooked up the jumper cables, and the battery popped, spilling acid on the radiator, condenser and grille. The customer wanted the shop to pay for $1,200 in repairs, claiming the tech had reversed the battery leads. I stopped by a Jeep dealership where the sevice manager was also a friend, and he let me go through the TSBs. There was a recall for batteries (internal shorts) with that VIN included; the customer had never taken it in.

Tim and olroy have illuminated a sad reality of the car service marketplace...the customer really has to know a lot about the vehicle and some about mechanical stuff to avoid being ripped. There's also a certain satisfaction about massaging a classic vehicle and keeping it in great shape.