Born Free in Germany - front page cover of 1993 Mobil-life

[dmews001]

Most of you may not know that, but in the early 90's Born Free made a splash on the German RV landscape. I've attached a couple of pictures with text which may tell (part of) the story.

While living in Florida and after viewing a Born Free at an RV show there, we (my wife and I) were so taken by that encounter, that we decided to visit the factory and import a few to Germany. The Deutschmark (this was before the conversion to EURos) was strong, we were young (and ......) and most importantly, we found a very knowledgeable company doing the conversion to very stringent German DMV requirements. Although conversion of the electrical system from 120V/60 Hz to 220V/50 Hz and many other required modifications were already done for us at the BF factory, the entire LP system and the gas lines needed to be replaced - plus some of the LP appliances (like the furnace) along with that.

The response was overwhelming. The German MOBIL-life Motorcaravan & Van- Magazine ran a full test with front-page cover of the Born Free (a 24 Rear Bath) with the Diesel Engine. This was the first time ever a US-made Motorhome made front-page cover. These people knew a thing or two about RVs. They just loved the BF. "Close to perfect" was their verdict. Of course they liked the roll bars and we made sure they cited John Dodgen's plus wife Wanda's well documented "little" accident. They just had to print that. The text is in German of course, but if you look closely you'll find mention of the word Ferrari. Seemed like people on a German Autobahn-Rest Stop were more interested in the Born Free than in a Ferrari.

Things changed and for a number of reasons we discontinued that endeavor. Still love Born Frees.

By the way, the people pictured - that's NOT us.

Hope you enjoy the viewing/reading,
Detlef & Ursula

[David and Susan Bratt]

How many did you import? And are they still on the road? We understand there is at least one in The Netherlands.

[dmews001]

The Netherlands -that may well be. I believe later a Dutch guy got into importing Born Frees. The very few we imported found homes in Austria, Belgium and Germany.

[PA0AAH]

Reading the article, it looks like I have one of the imported one's
The RV I have is a BFT 21 RD. 7.3 L Powerstroke.
Imported in Holland in June 1995 by the first owner. He had the BF upto Sept ´07.
I am the 3d owner as from Aug 2008.
It has a small tag beneath the rear door pointing out the weight and so on ( in German ). No generator and no oven.
I am curious , who was the mentioned Dutchman, that was importing
the BF after you stopped doing that.
It is also not easy to find a Ford-workshop, that can handle Ford USA.