This is my first post. My name is Mark , I live in southern central Tennessee. For around 8 years I looked for a 19 to 25 foot Barth somewhere close in the southeast. Last fall, after much frustration, I finally found this this unit 750 miles North of us. I committed to the purchase, picked it up in Michigan and I drove it home on 6 completely rotten tires and with only 1 (left front) brake. Now after 6 months and countless hours, this little 73' Barth is finally road worthy again.


Things completed,
New pads, rotors turned, new brake lines front and back, new calipers, front wheel bearings and seals,
new rear shoes, rear brakes modified to accept late model drums, new drums, cylinders rebuilt, new master cylinder, rear seals, all new parking brake cables,6 new tires, new aluminum 40 gal fuel tank, new alternator, new Norcold Refrigerator.
Lower skin frame replaced on right side,( still a lot of 1 x 1 tubing to replace. Replaced rear spring right side.
We have begun paint prep and polishing. Still got a bunch of plumbing to get sorted as well as many bits and pieces. Plan on being ready to make our first trip Memorial day weekend.
Love this site.

Nice looking, 1 more saved Barth. Don't be surprised when strangers want to talk to you about it. Be proud of having a 40+ year old coach running down the road. The rear bustle is a classic look.

What did you have to do to modify the rear brakes? Are you still running 16.5 wheels.

Still running 16's. Late model, as in 90's, K2500's and some others, have almost identical rear drums. You have to space the backing plates out and do a little machining to the drums to clear the rims. 16.5's would probably fit with no mod to the drums.
FWIW I looked hard for a Barth because I love the classic bread box look, and being the owner of a fab and machine business, the construction fascinated me. But the one thing that really had me sold was the fact that it was built on a GM chassis. Easy to find parts....... NOT SO. 1971-1973, probably when GM made the change from front drums to disc, was undoubtedly a BAS...D year. We still have really good Mom and Pop auto parts houses here in the town I live. Thing is, the parts for some of the 40+ YO stuff is not out there, even in the Junk Yards. Thank goodness for the internet and Cad-Cam.

quote:

Originally posted by Flathead:
. We still have really good Mom and Pop auto parts houses here in the town I live. Thing is, the parts for some of the 40+ YO stuff is not out there, even in the Junk Yards. Thank goodness for the internet and Cad-Cam.

That late model 90's stuff is even getting hard to find in the Yards any more. There is no comparison to the construction of Barth Coaches. Your 40+ year old coach will probably outlive most new ones being built today.

If you get a chance post a pic of your Data Tag. Not many of your age still staying road worthy.

Nice looking coach! I can appreciate what you are doing… I am five years into mine and still lots of projects left but OTOH I have put 35,000 miles on it, too.

Mid 80's GM parts have been easy to find for my 86. It has disc brakes front and back. I commend your thorough brake system rebuild. Brakes lines often don't get replaced before they fail.
Take care of those windshields, it looks like they are the rare early style. We know of no source for these. I started a search a while back and dropped the ball, should try again. Your data tag will tell the month and year of manufacture. I think they switched over to the larger windows in about Oct of 72.

Enjoy that nice Barth. I am sure it will get a lot of attention.

Beautiful

Love it. Hope to see it in person someday.
Bring'er by the Pigeon Forge rod run in the fall.

Here's the data tag.
December 1972
Titled as 1973

Cool! One more for our records.
Great to see these older ones looking so good.

7212 1204 MC25

year 72, month 12, unit#1204, motor coach 25'

Nice work, Flathead!

With being able to stop when you want, you now have something that will simply get more valuable as time marches by.

Hope you enjoy this coach as much as the rest of us enjoy looking at it. Best of luck,

Lou

Nice job Mark, you can be proud of that coach. Look's sweet.
Ken