Shh... Don't tell anyone I'm here.

[Bill N.Y.]

Hello there,

I am the host at barthmobile.com

I came upon your site after one of our members purchased a Newell from here.

http://www.newellclassic.com/classifieds/index.php?a=2&b=380

I have to tell you, I was quite impressed with these coaches and was struck by the similarities in design and construction.

I placed this image in one of our threads and kind of inferred that this was one Big Barth.

http://www.luxurycoachlifestyle.com/attachments/photobucket/img_6262_0_a564eff0c0c15c025ba34af05979f145.jpg

As you can tell, that design and scheme was very close to the same as a Barth was.

http://www.luxurycoachlifestyle.com/attachments/photobucket/img_6262_1_c5c857bcd686e1119e2ce954d98a0eb3.jpg

If you would like a little amusement, read this thread here.

http://barthmobile.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9331087061/m/850102061

Bill & Sonja, from our site purchased this Newell, they have been an active participant in our Barth forums since 9/17/04. I hope he has a great time here.

His previous Barth has been given to his kids, so I'm sure we'll be hearing back from him on occasion.

Well, I better get back to my forums before someone thinks I jumped shipped. :rolleyes:

BTW: I'm a 60 Series Detroit Mechanic who has rebuilt many 8v92 and 8v71 in cement mixers and buses, so I am very knowledgeable in what appears to be the predominate drivetrain in your coaches.

[fulltiming]

Welcome Bill. I have always liked Barths. Hang around, we can always use the counsel and guidance of a DD mechanic. I am a member of one of the Blue Bird Wanderlodge forums. I find that although some of the systems are extremely different, the knowledge that I gain regarding the DD 8V92 is extremely worthwhile.

We don't discriminate against non-Newell owners in any way.

Your writeup and the comments are great. There certainly is an interesting resemblance between the two. Glad that the comments were so positive. Some sites seem to have members that enjoy bashing anything that is different from their choice. That's a shame!! At least based on that post it looks like a good bunch of folks over there.

My one comment involves the post near the end of the thread about the 48' sagging. To the best of my knowledge, Newell's longest coach was a 47'. There were a few of them made over several years in the early/mid 2000's at specific owner's requests. (Yes, there are places where they are legal.) I have examined one of them and met the owner. I have never heard of an issue with them, or any other Newell, ever exhibited frame 'bouncing'. The frame construction of a Newell was originally patterned after the 1950 FitzJohn bus and allows a tremendous chassis strength while eliminating the need for large front to rear frame rails to extend down into the bay areas. Since Newell custom builds each chassis, the longer the chassis, the longer the wheelbase. Typically a long wheelbase has less porpoising than a shorter wheelbase but I have never experienced nor heard of any discernible frame flex in any Newell regardless of length.

[chockwald]

When we first started looking for a Class A diesel pusher I came across several Barth's on various websites. The similarity in appearance with Newells is quite remarkable. Enjoyed the discussion on the Barth site speculating that the pictures Bill posted had been manipulated, or photo shopped.

[Bill N.Y.]

We don't discriminate against non-Newell owners in any way.We do just a little :rolleyes:. The owners of non Barths are knows as SOBs which means "Some Other Brand" or "Something Other than Barth". We do have several members who own orphans or are just looking for a site that isn't like the IRV2 site.Your writeup and the comments are great. There certainly is an interesting resemblance between the two. Glad that the comments were so positive. Some sites seem to have members that enjoy bashing anything that is different from their choice. That's a shame!! At least based on that post it looks like a good bunch of folks over there.Thank you, yes we do have a great group over at Barthmobile.com. I wasn't sure how you would take my posting over here, thanks for making me feel welcomed.My one comment involves the post near the end of the thread about the 48' sagging. To the best of my knowledge, Newell's longest coach was a 47'.I left your entire post in our forum for membership comments too. The frame construction of a Newell was originally patterned after the 1950 FitzJohn bus and allows a tremendous chassis strength while eliminating the need for large front to rear frame rails to extend down into the bay areas.Would you direct me to one of your post that goes into detail on the frame and construction techniques.

[fulltiming]

There are likely few posts that go into detail about Newell's chassis. I will quote Karl Blade, the Owner of Newell:
Today's Newell chassis is a much-refined version of the rear-engine chassis originally developed by L. K. Newell in 1970. The chassis has no features that Newell picked up from Foretravel. That said, Mr. Newell did do a bit of copying. He used the rear-engine chassis of a 1950s era Fitzjohn bus as his model when he designed the Newell chassis.

Mr. Newell purchased a used Fitzjohn, took the body off of the chassis, and built the first rear-engine Newell frame using the Fitzjohn as the model. The features Mr. Newell found attractive in the Fitzjohn were the bridge-construction frame vs. conventional frame rails, allowing open bay storage below the floor; and the fact that this style frame was strong enough to support the vehicle without relying on the sidewalls. Some 25 years later, the strength of the Newell frame allowed for multiple slide-outs, eventually four, to be incorporated, cutting large openings in the sidewalls, with very little modification required to the rest of the structure. The self-supporting chassis is also the key to understanding why Newell has been able to utilize more and larger slide-outs than monocoque bus shells.

This style frame was a Newell exclusive for many years. However, after rear-engine motorhomes began to become popular in the 1980s, many manufacturers developed frames very similar to Newell's, including Foretravel, Monaco, and Country Coach. However, to this day, Newell is the only rear-engine motorhome that combines this style frame with an aluminum framed, aluminum skinned body rather than fiberglass laminated sidewalls and roof common to most Class A motorhomes.

Attached at the bottom of this post are a couple of photos of the Newell Chassis. The rear radiator model is a 1990 model and the side radiator model with slides is a 2006 model I believe.

This is a photo I took of a chassis under construction at the factory in Miami, Oklahoma a couple of years ago.

http://newellowner.com/photos/NewellChassis_4447.JPG

This is a photo of the slide being constructed. The lower brace on the slide is the same bridge type construction used on the chassis.
http://newellowner.com/photos/NewellChassisNoSkin_4448.JPG

[Bill N.Y.]

I will quote Karl BladeStraight from the owner http://www.newellclassic.com/forum/images/icons/icon7.gif... Couldn't ask for a better spokesman. Interesting post, thanks for the reply! http://www.newellclassic.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif