One of the few motorhomes that competed with Barth was the Airstream. I'm looking at an '81 that is 28' and appears to be in very good condition. It's on a 178" WB, P37 chassis, with a 454, airbags in the front, dual a/c units, etc. Would appreciate some comments since I don't want to drive 4 hours for nothing. There does not appear to be much of any outside storage, even less that a Regal of similar vintage. And at $25000, it's pricey. And there are no service records of any kind available. Three owners, always under cover. If this is the wrong forum, please move to the correct one. Thanks.
Jim

When I worked at Dometic they had an Airstream of about the same vintage, Dometic liked its engineers to go to rallies and camping so I used that unit on several occasions.

I found it easy to drive, and pretty quiet on the road. The inside was high quality stuff also, it did burn gas like a hog but and had an exceptionally big fuel tank, close to 100 gallons if I remember right. I remember being in Iowa City for a Football game and shocking the fuel station attendant with the quantity of gas it took. This one was 30 foot or so.

My guess its because there are a lot of folks that believe Airstream to be a top of the line unit, the price remains quite high. They also have kind of an iconic lure about them I think due to the rivets.

We could but for some reason folks think the Airstream is better than Barth. There are plenty of Barth motor homes in the $25000 price range for sale right now. Some are even diesel powered.

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Humbojb, I am going to say buy what YOU want. Makes no difference what the Barth Junkies think.

The coach itself is very well made. You can still get it serviced and/or modified at Jackson Center OH. I’ve toured the factory in recent years.
Of course, it has all the foibles of the p3_ chassis and 454 engine.
The high price reflect the Airstream cult/mistique. $eem$ like too much to me.

I have an '82 25' Euro (Glass Nose) you can have for 2500.00 bucks; add 10grand and you can have a fine Barth for half the price.

Were all the Airstream coaches aluminum? When we stayed at Eustis last year, our site was near the end of the park, near the RV storage area. In that storage area there was an Airstream gasser coach about 30 ft long, vintage early 2000's(?) It appeared to be made of fiberglass and had a large vertical crack about 2/3 back. I was not impressed...

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Dubbs:
I have an '82 25' Euro (Glass Nose) you can have for 2500.00 bucks; add 10grand and you can have a fine Barth for half the price.

Dick, I bought mine for 2k nothing major really wrong with it, but lots of little stuff that I needed to fix. I would love to paint it, and up grade the couches and interior. I have about 6k in it now, did most of the work myself so with a new paint job I would guess a 10k addition is about right for a really nice Nose 25, if one is into a classic distinctive look. I really love the old Nose although my spouse is not a fan. So I do not get to use it as much as I would like.

Next GTG I am hoping for a cruise control expert in attendance, see if we can get it working. I have come to believe a conversion to a TBI fuel system is mandatory also, there is no other 100% fix for the vapor lock.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane88:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve VW:
Were all the Airstream coaches aluminum? When we stayed at Eustis last year, our site was near the end of the park, near the RV storage area. In that storage area there was an Airstream gasser coach about 30 ft long, vintage early 2000's(?) It appeared to be made of fiberglass and had a large vertical crack about 2/3 back. I was not impressed...

Steve, Airstream made another coach damned if I can remember the name something like "Argo" the shape was similar to the metal one, but it was fiberglass steel and aluminum most of them were beige and brown. I think everything else was the same.

Argosy, little data on the motor home version, more on the trailers. Airstream was not proud I guess ..lol I think they made the motorhome version from 73 to 78, then went to aluminum.

https://drivinvibin.com/2018/0...he-airstream-argosy/

Not beige for sure!!
https://i1.wp.com/tincantouris...pg?zoom=1.5625&ssl=1

Steve
The newer Airstream coaches were fiberglass. They built a coach with a recessed roof deck with folding benches and a stairway to it from inside the coach. I see rentals at Talladega. Good looking coach.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-...2309&redirect=mobile

For you Jim

My brother just got a 2000 Land Yacht 39xl and drove it from Florida to NY with no issues. Check out PPL in Cleburne Texas for information. Freightliner chassis, Cat C7, one slide out and 40 feet. Airstream does not produce them anymore but they do support them. Seen prices for about $40k to $90k.