quote:

Prior to traveling several hundred miles it may be wise to pay for a professional inspection to ascertain the actual condition of the vehicle.

Amen! Before we bought our coach in Wisconsin (we live in the NW) we had a complete inspection by a professional third party which cost around $400. Then a member of this site offered to drive an hour and a half R/T to give the coach a once over for me (Thanks again TJ ). With this information I negotiated a price and flew to Wisconsin and drove it over 2,000 miles home. As aways there are many little issues along the way including having to re-core the radiator 100 miles before I got it home. But as others have pointed out I payed a third or less, including repairs, than I would have for a coach of this quality and we love it.

Bill, thanks for redirecting this discussion.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Bill N.Y.:
Once again, I'm put in the position of deleting or moving things around.

So, if anyone wants to talk about the merits of owning a nice older coach that needs work, you can have fun in this post.


So... have fun here - blast me for moving this comment

Nah. No blasting. This is a good place for these comments.

quote:

I think discussions and opinions should be posted in the "General discussion" arena or some other area of the site. This would give our fellow Barthmobiler's a fair chance at selling their prized possession..

Larry and Heidi from CA

I think the thread about a coach IS an appropriate for thoughtful comments about the coach.

Correct you are Boonton Jim, you don't know what the issues were or what representations the seller made, so leave it at that. Of course the Regal is going to have 27 years of wear-and-tear. But the difference of course is in how it was maintained over those years. Good pictures of the interior and exterior are a start, but I am always more interested in the mechanical end of things,(my vocation is aviation maintenance). The owner of this Regal was vary vague about a lot of the maintenance history. He advertised that the Barth had a new tranny, but upon being questioned about this, didn't know when the tranny was replaced. I knew that at 140K miles that the engine was probably on its last legs. These engines just don't last in motorhomes as they do in other vehicles such as pickup trucks. I insisted on a compression test and my suspicions were correct. My decision not to travel to Montana to personally inspect it were due to actions made by the seller, not necessarily by the condition of the Regal. I just didn't want to be overhauling an engine so soon after purchase. For someone wanting to tackle an overhaul, or hire someone to do it, I think that it could be purchased for under $6K, add $5K for an engine, $2K for tires, and you would probably have a nice motorhome.

Before I purchased the 94 Breakaway in CA and me living in FL, I had a mechanic meet the owner and go thru the coach with mostly focusing on the drive train part of the coach (Gillig). A few minor things were noted. It cost me $500 but worth it to me. I was able to drive the coach from CA to MI to FL and it is still going strong. I found a RR airbag that needs to be replaced since then and of course the headlight issues. Several things influenced me towards the Barth: aluminum exterior, interior mostly built by Barth and overall condition with it always having lived in CA or AZ. Go buy something like a newer Coachmen and see what that looks like with the fiberglass and many times cheaper components inside.

tom Taylor
94 Breakaway

Defending or expressing your opinion on the quality of the construction of a Barth motorhome is not needed. I have been researching these for sometime now,(thanks to the experiences of the folks on this website), and I am well aware of the junk that is sold daily in the RV industry. The problem is that so many people get the "fever" and are paying more for these coaches than they are worth. They then end up putting at least the purchase price back into them just to get them "useable". Instead of plunking down $10K for an old Regal, the initial investment should be half that. Of course price of the cost of the unit is an issue. Our economy is price driven. As long as folks are willing to pay,(or in the ballpark), for what a seller is asking for one of these motorhomes then the tone is set. Makes it more difficult for people trying to make good sound investments in trying to get into their first motorhome. I see it all the time in the aviation industry. People invest in an airplane at an inflated price "just because they gotta have it", then put a lot of money into it, and then lose their butts in it when they try to sell it when their "fever" has subsided. I wouldn't necessarily be proud of purchasing something for a given price and then having to put double that into it knowing all the while that if you wanted to sell it you're only going to get half the investment back.

As far as being supportive to listings in the "Barth for Sale", wanting to share information such as the results of a compression test should be there. That is a know fact that could help someone make an informed decision as opposed to someone shooting-off a "Looks well cared-for in my opinion". Which is the more usefull info for someone wanting to part with their hard earned cash? If I can save someone some money or a potential headache when making such a sizeable investment, then I will be on board with that every day.

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Not everyone wants an older coach project, Heck I paid 10K for mine, got at least 10K more into it and I'd be lucky to sell it for 10K even if I wanted to.

Ain't that the truth, it's all about what you want out of it. I got more into my Barth than I'll ever get out of it, but I don't care, for me it's all about having fun. Anytime you buy something used you take a chance. The PO of mine said everything worked great but than he said well I've only used it once in the past two years. Nothing could require more potential work than a used motorhome. What sealed the deal for me is that it looked great inside and out. So I got a great looking coach that needed some work haha like everything else I own.

I paid more for this used Barth than I would be willing to pay for any other SOB out there.

Exactly! I didn't intend the 10K investment as a complaint.. far from it. As someone has said, "If you can only afford a 5K coach, then you can't afford a 5K coach. There's no such thing as a 5K coach for 5K. You buy it for 5K and put 5K more in it.."

Compared to so many RVs out there, what we pay for ANY Barth is chump change. (I just get a kick out of the fact that mine went for 175K new!) Some have monthly payments more than ours are worth! That's why I look at these more in terms of time than money.

In the grand scheme of things, these coaches are cheap to buy and most are worth restoring/maintaining. As someone has said "You can fix them faster than they break."

I love to hear people complain about fuel costs. Well duh, wud you expect? Things things are big heavy moving objects, take lots of fuel to move! I just think, I could have easily paid 20-30K more for a newer coach but I have the money left for gas. Even at heavy 454 Barth rates this pays for fuel for about 50,000 miles!

Think about it, you gotta love the Barth

I feel lucky to have found our coach 2 mile from home. 37,000 miles. Work on it, Upgrade it, most of all use and enjoy it. Bought it for 4 months payment of what the original owner paid for it, He had a 10 year loan on it.

Fuel cost have more impact on value of coaches at this age than anything else. If gas drops to $1.00/gal. our coaches would triple in price. Lets face it is much harder to put $3000 worth of tires on a $10,000.00 coach than a $30,000.00 coach.

One of the best value of owning a Barth is the quality workmanship and contruction of our coaches, but most of all, the owners and members that I have met at GTG or have a connection to and help from thru Barthmobile.com. PRICELESS

To me, 'Old motor home' and 'sound investment' are contradictory terms. While very well made, Barths are not Bugattis. Even nicely restored or maintained there is a very narrow market for them. I bought mine for the same reason that I buy other things that need attention. I like messing around with it. If everything we spend money or time on had to make financial sense, things would get bad in a hurry.

Well, there's room for disagreement. I didn't buy my Breakaway with the thought of selling it. I probably have well over $50K in a coach I'd probably get less than $30K if I sold it.

Nevertheless, StaRV II's a GREAT investment for me (and Casey and Nelson), as it provides plenty of value in return for the costs.

quote:

Nevertheless, StaRV II's a GREAT investment for me (and Casey and Nelson), as it provides plenty of value in return for the costs.

I'll drink to that, CHEERS!!

Me, too, Rusty. What I meant was that if you buy an older Barth thinking that you're going to make money by putting a little money in it and selling it for a profit, you will probably be disappointed. But if the word 'investment' means the personal pleasure and enjoyment and usefulness of the thing purchased, then Barths and a lot of other stuff fit the definition. We have well over $30K in the Regal, which is probably $20K more than the market price, but it has provided us, particularly Tere, with a lot of pleasure, both working on it and driving it.

Statistically, you will never make money on any motor vehicles in the "investment" sense. (Even many collector cars might seem valuable, but often barely keep up with inflation compared to their original selling price.) Vehicles constantly depreciate, and motorhomes are among the worst based on their high starting prices.

But the experience and enjoyment is a whole different aspect, and cannot be measure in dollars as others have said. Still you've got to be realistically prepared for the potential repair/maintenance costs when you buy a used RV, so it doesn't sink you emotionally or financially.

I was at a car show today and a guy i have known for a long time was telling me about a couple that bought a supernice Provost with a Cat engine. This particular cat was only made two years and had split pistons (I have no idea). Anyway, he got up north somewhere and the egine took a dump. $20K to fix it (sleeves, new solid pistons, etc). Man left it up there. I think he had financed a lot of money on it and just told the finance company it was theirs. I hear that a lot now. People just walking away. One of my offspring quit making payments on the house 18 months ago and so far nothing from the finance company....Jeez.

Tom Taylor