Hi all for those of you who know me I have a 1975 Barth 21ft class C silver and maroon. My question is what do I use to bring back the shine? any information will be appreciated.

For the painted areas, Astro-Shield or Nu-Finish; despite what the instructions say, bringing back the shine takes extra effort. Treat the areas polished as you would spit-shining shoes: Rub the polish in until the shine starts to bloom.

For the bare aluminum, Met-All or Alcoa Aluminum Polish. Avoid the use of mechanical buffers if you can; if necessary, use only low-speed, random orbit polishers. The "shiny" on aluminum panels is usually a thin cladding of pure aluminum over the aluminum alloy sheetmetal. One doesn't want to breach that film.

Lots of airplane folk like Nuvite, along with Met All, as Rusty mentioned. Old Airstream folks like it, too. Lots of bikers who have put up with aluminum forever like Wenol or Simichrome. Busch is popular with motorhomers, too. Lots of custom and show car guys like Mother's. Get on an Airstream forum for info, too.

Power buffing will get you varying opinions. My airline used power buffers exclusively since the 30s. They were, for the most part, the only unpainted airline. We tested for clad integrity with chemicals, and seldom found a problem.

That said, there are power buffers and power buffers. Certainly a klutz with the wrong buffer can do real damage. Ours were big fluffy rollers on long handles, air driven. I have also seen fine work done with a cyclo buffer. Aircraft stores sell them.

However, a power buffer is more apt to do damage to any cladding on the ribbed skin of a typical Barth than to a smooth airplane or an Airstream, as the power buff would hit the high spots harder. I don't even know if Barth uses clad metal or not. The way mine is reacting to the nearby ocean, I would think not.

Give this site a search for old opinions on polish.

BTW, when I had a Newport C, I lusted for either a Barth or a Lazy Daze. Could you post a picture or two?

thank you