The Re-Birth of Barth

Bill Prinz, president, Barth RSV, Inc.

In a 1957-1963 popular western television series, Paladin's business card read simply, "Have gun - will travel-Wire Paladin - San Francisco." In kind, Bill Prinz's business card today might well read, "Have company - will manufacture." Prinz is the president of Barth RSV, Inc., and he is working hard to bring the company back from the brink of extinction. And he is doing that by being open minded about the types of projects Barth can and will accept. Since he and partner, Richard Miller, bought the company in 1995, Barth has manufactured campers for a Japanese motorhome manufacturer, bookmobiles, medical units, mobile police and fire department's command post units and even "old time" trolleys.

Trolleys? That's right. The day RV News visited Barth, the manufacturing line was crawling with trolleys, the kind that look like cable cars.

"That was by accident," Prinz explained. "An old friend of mine came to me and said that he had an order for a couple of trolleys. He wanted to know if I would be interested in building them for him so I told him to send me the specifications. We took a look at the specs and said, 'Heck, if we can build a big old motorhome, we can build that-there's nothing to it.

"So we basically designed this new trolley product from the ground up. About that same time a company in California, called Specialty Vehicles, found out that we were manufacturing trolleys. They called and asked if we would build trolleys for them. They found us because someone had told them that they had seen a trolley with the name Barth on it. We put a long-term agreement together where they marketed the product and all we do is build it for them so we have no sales and marketing costs. They have a marketing organization and are basically selling trolleys all over the world. It's been a tremendous market. We have them all over the country now."

It's not surprising that a friend brought Prinz the idea that developed into a very lucrative business. Anyone who knows him would agree that Prinz is a class act. Prinz has been building personal relationships in the industry for 28 years.

Originally from Dayton, OH, Prinz started working for a supplier in 1968 in Dayton. Then in 1971 he went to work for Fleetwood when they opened a plant in Decatur, IN. Continued