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[classicjalopy]

Mercedes 140 Years, 140 Places event

In 1886, Karl Benz was granted a patent for his Motorwagon.  This would become the first car, and be the origins of Mercedes-Benz.  2026 is the 140 year anniversary of the company and the car.  Mercedes-Benz are therefore running a promotional event to mark this occasion, as well as the launch of the new S-Class. From what I understand, the event takes the new S Class to 140 different locations around the world.  The two cars had various stickers from some of the locations where they had been.  They were in Melbourne last week and will be in Brisbane next week. The Mercedes-Benz club of NSW was asked to help participate in this event.   The idea was to try and get 140 cars in a convoy to cross the harbour bridge together.  This is a pretty tall ask.  The plan was to get two groups, The S-Classes (and predecessors) and the other Mercedes-Benz cars. The task wasn't made easier by the weather.  It has been cold and rainy the last week.  Rain was forecast for the day.  The finish point was supposed to be Gough Whitlam Park, where the club old the German Car show.  However Gough Whitlam park closes if somebody wrings out a towel nearby, so they had to scramble to find alternative arrangements, which were found in Bass Hill. I thought club members did very well to put on a strong showing for the day given these challenges.   What struck me was the variety.   There was a really good selection of classic and modern Mercedes-Benz models.   There were even good showings of models that are rarely seen at club events like the W140.  While I probably missed a few, I counted about 80 cars: - Classic S Class and Predecessors (26) - W111 (4), W108 (3), W116 (7), W126 (7), W140 (5) - Classic Other Mercedes Benz (26) - W100, R/C107 (8), W110, W113, W114 (3), W123 (3), W124 (7), W463 - Modern Mercedes-Benz (30) - New S Class (2) I took my 250SE Cabriolet. I took two of my kids along, and gave a ride to a friend from Queensland who was visiting for the event.  We opened the roof and managed to do the entire event roof open.  Luckily, we only hit a bit of rain five minutes from home. We started at Macquarie university, which was a good meeting point. It took a while to leave the carpark and the kids an I were starting to wonder if the new S Class had broken down.  Luckily that turned out not to be the case.    The original plan was to have the S Classes and predecessors go, and then the other cars to follow 15 minutes later.  This didn't happen and they left right after.  I'm not sure that it was necessarily a bad thing. The challenge with such a distance to the bridge was that everyone was spread out a lot by the time we got there, so the visual impact wasn't nearly so great.  I was behind a Prado by the time I crossed it. The finishing spot was pretty good, and they had snacks and drinks there.  We all got a gift bag with some nice goodies, including a rather excellent grille badge.  I was quite keen to put it on my 250SE when I got home, but it doens't fit in the thin mesh of the W111 grille.  So I'll probably end up putting it on a different car. For me, the big attraction of the event was the 140 years thing, and the large number of club cars out on the day.   The new S Class doesn't hold a great deal of interest.  It's not really my cup of tea, I find the hundreds of small Mercedes-Benz logos all over it rather tacky.  It's better than the GLS though.   Considering the success of models like the W126, the S Class sells in tiny numbers in Australia now.  It is largely driven by China where SUVs do not have the cachet of a large sedan.  On that front, I think they have it right. The kids and I enjoyed the event and having a day out in the 250SE.   That afternoon I also took the car to visit the son of the original owner, who picked it up from Stuttgart in October 1965.  The strange coincidence is that he lives literally 210 meters from my house and has been that close since I moved there in 2014.

[classicjalopy]

Australian Motorlife Museum - NMHD 2026

Today is National Motoring Heritage Day (NMHD) for 2026.  It is held each year on the 3rd Sunday in May.  The idea behind it is for all the national car clubs to organize an event on the same day so the public see historic vehicles out and about.  This presumably promote the motoring hobby and showcases the depth of interest in it. In prior years I've often attended the big car show in Berry.  That was always quite a good event, but the location means it seems to be cancelled due to weather as much as is actually held.  The last time I was able to attend was 2023. This year I attended the event at the event at the Australian Motorlife Museum.   The Illawarra section of the Jaguar club were also there so I could have gone with them too.   I've been to the museum a few times before and it is always well worth the visit.   The last time was also in 2023. As well as the trip to the museum, the event also included a scenic drive to the Museum.  The meeting point was at Partridge VC rest area.   I took my 1987 Mercedes 560SEL.  I chose the 560SEL for two reasons.  Firstly, the forecast was for rain and the W126 is very stable in the wet.   Secondly, I had recently had the intake manifold gaskets replaced and this would be my first decent drive in the car since that job was done. This all sounded good on paper, but there was a small problem.  The club hadn't actually picked a route or nominated anyone to lead the drive from the rest area to the museum.  After waiting about 30 minutes, we realized nobody was coming. We set our GPSs to the museum and just headed there.   At least it wasn't raining at the time. While I have been to the museum 3-4 times, I had never been on event day before.   Going on an event day meant they had a number of the cars running and driving around.   There was a replica of the Benz Patent Motorwagon from 1986, a car from 1901 and another that I think was from the nineteen teens.   We actually passed the latter on the way to the museum on the motorway.   It was getting along rather nicely. One thing I learned was that most of the cars from the 19th century didn't have brakes.  I had assumed they would also have rudimentary rear wheel only brakes.  But apparently they didn't.   I wouldn't want to ride a pushbike without brakes, let alone a car - no matter how slow. The museum even had a steam car on display from 1901 with no brakes that was used until about 25 years ago.   Apparently driven to a church service each week.   I can't fathom driving on the public roads in 2001 with no brakes at all, even if the church was close by to the owners residence As well as the cars that were driving around, they had a nice display of club pre-war cars just outside the entrance. For example a bevvy of Austin 7's parked outside.  Going to the museum on a day like this was worth it and an extra benefit from the normal way of attending the museum. Inside the collection was good as always - focusing mostly on pre-war cars.   The collection does change from time to time, so while many cars were the same as from my last visit, there were a few changes.

My two favourite cars were the Minerva and the Black and Red Auburn.   The Auburn actually has an interior made from pigskin and during the restoration the owner had the pigskin tanned.  Apparently this wasn't that easy to have done. Cars from this era were painted with a brush. I found out that the way to get a good finish is to heat the paint as it means the brush stroke are not all that visible when it cools.  I had just assumed it was done with lots of wet sanding. For this event, I took my 11 year old daughter who enjoyed seeing some of the really old cars, as well as seeing some of the memorabilia they had on display.   This included automotive stuff as well as other things like typewriters and sewing machines. it was a good day overall, the car went well and we enjoyed visiting the museum.

[classicjalopy]

MBCNSW April 2026 Night Drive - Old Northern Road

Last night was our first night drive since January, the February and March night drives both being rained out.   After a bit of rain the night before, it turned out to be a lovely evening. This was also the first drive we using a new navigation app the club has purchased called 'Tourboss'.   I was quite keen to try it as at night. I can really only see two cars behind me, so its not always clear if the group is still together or not.   The tourboss app shows me the locations of all the cars on the drive.

We had a pretty good turn out, probably a combination of the good weather and not having had one for a couple of months.  I took my 1978 450SE.   As well as my car was a C123 280CE, R107 280SL, C107 450SLC, C126 380SEC, W124 300E x2 & E320 and S124 300TE. We had originally planned to meet on the eastern side of Galston Gorge and include that in the route.  The Gorge had been closed earlier in the year for roadworks. There was a lot of conflicting data about if it was open at night or not.   Since it wasn't that clear, I decided not to include it.   I left a bit early to get to the drive, and found it was in fact open.

Our new starting location was outside Galston shops. From there we headed out to Cattai Ridge Road, before taking Wisemans Ferry Road up to the Old Northern Road and then the Old Northern Road back down to Dural Maccas.   This is a route we've done a few times before and I always really enjoy it.   There is generally not a lot of traffic at night and there is a nice mix of tight corners and faster sections. Overall I thought the tourboss app worked reasonably well.   I used it to Navigate to the start point.  That experience was so-so as the route it took wasn't the one I would have chosen. More importantly it lacks speed camera location information, and Sydney is bristling with them.   So in future I would probably use Waze to get to the location. The experience for the users on our drive was pretty decent.  I set the route up in the admin portal which includes all the waypoints.  Tourboss the generates a six digit code.   That code was in our event booking system, along with details of how to get the app.   Everyone turned up with the app installed and with the code entered, so they were ready to go.

When the event is started, it then shows the location of all the other cars.  It also pre-downloads the maps, which is quite good if going through areas with poor mobile coverage.   As the 'tour leader' I had a few different views I could use. One as a normal navigation system and then one where it was more about showing me the location of the other cars.   Without reading glasses, I couldn't see the actual names of the people, but that probably wasn't important as I could see the spread of the icons.   For example, for a while two cars fell behind for a bit and then later caught up. Something I was able to see in real time. One of the best things was that you don't need to hit 'continue' when you get to a waypoint like with google.  For a pre-planned route it was pretty seamless.  On the downside, the lack of speed camera, roadworks and hazard warnings that waze gives you is a negative, as is the lack of dark mode at night.   We also had one member who has a phone with a square screen and the app couldn't handle that. There was also one situation where it went a bit haywire.  All of a sudden it thought a roundabout that was 7km away was actually 250 meters in front.  Then it got confused and started slowly increasing the distance to where it was.   I knew that section of road pretty well, so it was obviously nonsense, but it would have been confusing if I hadn't.  It wasn't just me that experienced that, and it happened on a bit of the drive where the route crossed over itself, which may have been the cause. Overall my verdict is that the app is pretty useful for running a group driving event. In an ideal situation I would probably want two phones running, one for this and one for waze.   It will be a useful addition to our night drives. The drive itself was great and all the cars performed well.

[classicjalopy]

MBCNSW Chrome Bumper day 2025 at Linnwood House

Last year MBCNSW held an event at Linwood House for the first time.  Linnwood house is a historic homestead in Guildford that has four open days per year.  Each of them has various car clubs and attractions attend. The goal of the event was to try and entice out some of the interesting older cars in the club that rarely come to events.   Last year seemed like a good start so we decided to run the event again this year.  I personally really like the Linwood house open days.  There are normally other really interesting cars, and its a very easy and relaxed day where you can come and go as you want.   I used to go as a spectator when the Rolls Royce club would display there. This year there were excellent displays from the Rover club, the Holden FB-EK & FE-FC Holden Car Clubs, Wolseley Car Club, MG Restorers Car club and Ducati owners clubs.  The Ducati club and Rover club were having their concours event.   I'm a big fan of Rovers, in particular the P5 and P6 models.  It was nice to see their display.   I don't really know much about motorcycles, but the Ducati display was large and impressive. Coinciding with the event was the 60th anniversary of the introduction of the W108 and W109 models at the Frankfurt Auto show on the 16th of September 1965.   It was an opportunity to celebrate the W108 and W109, as well as the 250SE coupe and cabriolet models that made their debut at the same show.  In fitting with this, I took my 1965 250SE Cabriolet which was made in October 1965. Our display was a bit up and down.  We had pretty good sign ups for the event but actual attendance was pretty limited.  That was a surprise given how nice a day it was.    On the positive side, there was a rare early 300GD which was a real time warp.   We also had a C114 280CE in amazing condition, plus an excellent original 220SE Coupe and 280SE 3.5 coupe.   In addition, a new member brought his W108 280S manual along.   The car has been in his family since new.  It was purchased new by his father in Singapore and then brought to Australia when the family moved here.  The car had been laid up for a couple of years and has recently been put back on the road. Being a car sold new in Singapore it was a CKD car, probably made in Malaysia.   And of course given the Singaporean Heritage, it has an elaborate Nippondenso boot mounted air conditioning system installed.  It would have been far more powerful than the factor air, and even has a small refrigerator in the boot for drinks.  The system is not currently working, but can hopefully be repaired. I think for next year if the club attends one of the Linnwood House open days, we should re-think the type of event.  There doesn't seem like there is a lot of interest in its current form. It seems like it would be better to combine it with some other event to broaden appeal and also have others to help with promotion.

[classicjalopy]

MBCNSW Amazing Rally 2025

Back in 2023, I attended the MBCNSW Amazing Rally with my three kids.   They really enjoyed it and had been asking me when it was going to be run again every couple of months.   After a false start due to bad weather, event came back for 2025.  My kids (11, 8 & 8) were keen to go.

This year, the event was held in the southwest of Sydney, in the area between Mulgoa and Lakesland.  As with last year,  each team was given a sheet with a series of clues and directions to follow.   It was an observation rally, so the idea was to spot various things and then answer the questions on the sheet.   We also got a goodie bag at the start. This year I took my 1981 240D.  With a team of four, a four door car is a must.   The 240D did well on the day and I didn't have to worry about fuel at all.   We started the day with about half a tank.  After doing almost 350 kilometers, we still had between half and a quarter of a tank left. As well as each of the clues, there were four to five lolly stops along the way which my kids really enjoyed.  As far as I could tell, we came around middle of the pack which I was pretty happy with - we even won a prize for being the team that had travelled the longest to get to the event.

Compared to the last time we did this event in 2023, my kids were able to do more of the navigation, being that little bit older. The Mercedes Club has always been quite family friendly.  I think events like these are a great way to get children and different type of members involved.  I know my kids are keen to do it again next year if we are able.  To me an event like this represents some of the best aspects of classic car ownership.  Its not about just owning the car but the experiences you have with it.

[classicjalopy]

2025 Shannons Eastern Creek Car Show

The annual Eastern Creek car show is an event I always try to get to.  At once point it was probably the largest car show each year in Sydney, although it has been scaled back in recent years.  While that is a bit disappointing, it is a very family friendly event, that my kids always enjoy going to. We've had terrible weather the last couple of weeks here in Sydney.   Earlier in the week I expected the place to be a giant mud bowl, but surprisingly it cleared up and we had a lovely sunny winters day.  The sort that Sydney is normally renowned for, but we have missed out on this year. That was a great opportunity to get out my 250SE Cabriolet for the show.   Due to the weather its been months since I last used it.  I had originally thought to take my Citroen DS this year, but the Citroen club sold out of tickets really quickly, and my car has a leak from one of the rear suspension boots.   Perhaps next year.   In any case the weather turned out so nicely, it was a good day to take out the 250SE. The Mercedes-Benz club had quite a good display given the limited number of tickets available.   There was a good variety of vehicles and most of them participated the Parade lap around the track.   Doing the parade lap in a convertible makes it fun even at the quite slow speeds allowed.   My kids also enjoy the double decker bus ride around the track too, so we end up with two laps. Given the event has the massive advantage of the race track and support from organizations like the Sydney Bus Museum, I'm still confused why it seems to have been scaled back since COVID.   The Mercedes-Benz club had 20 tickets available, and it sold out early. I'm sure they could have easily sold another five to ten.  The Citroen club had 15, and they all sold out weeks ago.   The Jaguar club had 25, which also looked to be sold out.   There is a whole section on the other side of the grandstand that is inexplicably no longer used.   In addition, the main parking areas could have easily accommodated more cars.  Section F was only about a third full. Before COVID this event used to be buzzing and now it feels a little threadbare.  Instead of the niggardly allocation of tickets on offer, if each club received five or ten more, it would have made the event so much better. Despite that, I still enjoy the event and of all the car shows I go it, its the one my kids enjoy. Read the full article

[classicjalopy]

MBCNSW July 2025 Night Drive - Seven Bridges

Our July 2025 night drive was a bit unusual.  Instead of the suburban outskirts where we normally drive, this was an inner city route.  I generally avoid inner city routes, as they are so hard to keep a group together at night.  The advantage they have is they require less travel to get to and from the route from most participants. The Seven bridges route was not a new one, we did it back in January 2023.  It had worked fairly well last time. We started at McDonalds Drummoyne.  Even with a group of 8 cars only, there was not enough parking so if we did the route again, I would change the start point.  The turnout of 8 cars was quite good given the rain.   I had originally planned to take my 450SLC, but with the rain, I chose the 300TE. On the drive we had a good variety of cars.   Oldest was a 1972 280SE 3.5, followed by a 1977 450SLC and a 1983 380SEC.   Then we had the strong W124 contingent with two 300Es, a 300CE and my 300TE.   We also had a modern GLA35 AMG.

The point of the route is to make Sydney harbour the centrepice of the drive.   The drive was a big loop, starting out north and heading clockwise.  We headed North and crossed the Gladesville bridge, followed by the Tarban Creek Bridge.    Even getting out of the Maccas parking not was not easy and our group was already split up by the time we hit Gladesville Bridge. The next part of the route took us up towards Roseville Bridge.   Once we crossed Roseville Bridge, we had planned a stop at the start of Wakehurst Parkway, but I had sent an older version of the directions so we missed it. That didn't matter as the group was largely together by this point.   However, once we passed Spit Bridge, Google Maps had a bit of a panic attack, and decided that the waypoint for Spit Bridge was actually the parking lot underneath the bridge.  It then sent a few of our group off on tangent. It got worse when we arrived at the approach to the Sydney Harbour bridge.   Road works crews were just closing the entrance to the Harbour bridge.   There was a diversion through North Sydney via Berry St.   This was a traffic nightmare, and google had another panic attack and decided it wasn't possible to get onto the Harbour bridge via Berry St. These issues with google and the roadworks completely split up our group.  A few people decided to head home at that point vs continue over the Anzac bridge.  I kept going and eventually headed back to Maccas.  For a while I was the only car there, and I was wondering if this would be a drive when only one car managed to complete!  In the end three more arrived and we completed the route.

I think while the drive was enjoyable, this drive was a good example of why we generally avoid inner city routes.   It was still good to get out for a drive though.  I had been quite busy with work this week, and it was good to get out and cruise around in the 300TE. Read the full article

[classicjalopy]

MBCNSW March 2025 Night Drive - Hawkesbury Lookout

Thursday was the March night drive for 2025.  It had been a rainy day in Sydney the day before and in the morning, so at lunchtime, the prognosis for the drive did not look good.   We only had a couple of sign ups and the weather looked iffy.

Luckily for us the weather cleared up and we were set for a good drive.   Our meeting point was Krispy Kreme in Penrith, where people could get a donut (or two) if they wanted.    We had seven cars come for the drive, which is a good number.   I took my 560SEC, fresh from the repair to the crank pully.   We also had another W126 - a 380SE.  The owner of this car was attending his first club event and the car had been in the family for over 30 years. We also had a good showing from the W124 contingent.   The M103 was represented well with a coupe, wagon and a couple of sedans.   We also had a more modern W203 in the group.

Our route took us up the steep and winding old Bathurst Road through Blaxland, before joining the great western highway for a while.   At Springwood, we turned off and headed along Hawkesbury road.   We stopped at the lookout to admire the view.   This time there were no other shenannigans from the locals.   We encountered a few slow P platers but otherwise the roads were pretty empty. After trying to identify all the sights from the lookout, we continued along Hawkesbury road until finally arriving at Windsor McDonalds.     It turned out to be quite a good drive and the weather held off.

I had no issues with my 560SC other than a flat battery when I set off.  This is not surprising, as I hadn't taken the car on a longer drive since December.  A consequence of the crank pully being damaged meant that even when started briefly, there was no charging from the alternator.

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