Today I attended the Wheels car show in Canberra. Wheels is the largest multi-marque car show held in the ACT. I’ve been a couple of times before, in 2022 and 2024. The ACT club normally try and make a theme of the event, as there are prizes for the best display. They have won it on a few occasions too. In 2022 they had...
Before my 300TE could be repainted, the rust uncovered in the rear window apertures had to be repaired. The rust was cut out and the area welded – we didn’t use any specific repair panels in my case. Once all the rust was repaired, the next step was obviously paint. Since the whole car was not being resprayed, just the rear quarters and roof...
With all the parts procured, my 300TE went into the body shop. The repair started out as routine, removal of the old bumper and disassembly. However, things quickly went sideways with the removal of the rear windows. While I was aware of the rust traps in the S124 rear window design, I wasn’t prepared for how bad the rust would be would be...
Back last year, my 300TE was in a minor accident. The rear bumper took nearly all the impact, other than some scratches to the paint on one side. Before I could get the car repaired, I had to source some parts for my repairer. The most obvious part was the rear bumper. Mine was cracked in a few places. My repairer said worst case...
Every two years one of the state based Mercedes-Benz clubs organizes the National Rally. I attended the 2022 event in South Australia. 2026 is being jointly held by the NSW and ACT clubs and the location was Bathurst. I think the club made a good choice to hold the rally outside Sydney. Sydney is no place for a car event Terrible traffic, expensive parking...
With 2025 completed a few months ago now, it is time for an update on the fleet. As with both 2023 and 2024, I drove my fleet of classics around 18,000km over the year. Unlike last year, I needed to be towed twice this year, although one of them was my own fault for running out of fuel and my wife’s modern cars also...
In my first drives of the Daimler, one of the things on my list to fix was the tachometer. When I first got the car, I had it converted to modern electronic ignition. The Jaguar V12 always had electronic ignition, however it originally used a system called OPUS. On my car, the ignition system had been messed with and the OPUS box wasn’t working....
Back in 2013, I visited the Louwman Museum. I’ve always regarded it as the best automotive museum I have ever visited. A few weeks ago I was in Belgium for work. I had a Saturday free, so decided to visit again and see if the collection had changed. Since I was in Brussels, It was just under two hours on the train to get...
Autoworld Brussels is a rather excellent car museum in Brussels, Belgium. I’ve been a couple of times, in 2013 and 2025. While the core collection doesn’t change all that much, there is a section that is probably about 20% of the museum that is for rotating special exhibits. When I visited last year, the special exhibit was for the cars of Maserati. I really...
Today was the final day of the 50th anniversary of the W123 event and what a great event it was. Originally the plan was to have a farewell breakfast at the Girl Guide hall of Queanbeyan. However, they suffered a plumbing disaster, so instead of going to the hall, they made breakfast at MB Spares and Service, in Fyshwick. Considering the last minute change,...
Day 1 was about getting to Canberra. Day 2 was all about using and enjoying the cars. And Day 3 was about getting as many together as possible. We started out with a cars and coffee event in Fyshwick. This was somewhat of a warm up for the main event, and allowed cars within a few hours drive of Canberra to come in for...
The second day of the 50th Anniversary of the W123 started with a swap meet. Day 1 had been about getting to Canberra and a welcome BBQ. We assembled at Black Mountain parking lot, which was the departure point for the Scenic Drive we would do later. This was a great location to do it, as the parking lot was basically empty. There was...
In January 1976, the W123 was launched on a cold and snowy day in Stuttgart. It would prove to be one of the most iconic models in Mercedes-Benz history. The W123 has since become a bit of a cult classic. It is still probably the best entry point into classic Mercedes-Benz ownership. 50 years later, the Australian Mercedes-Benz clubs and the W123 facebook group,...
Led by the MBCACT, the state based Mercedes-Benz clubs are planning a major event for the 50th anniversary of the W123. The W123 is one of the more significant models in Mercedes-Benz history and so it is an important milestone. I’ve been slowly tidying up my W123 since I purchased it. However, I had a couple of last things I wanted to do before...
The old Pacific Highway is an old favorite and was actually the first of these night drives, back in 2021. It had been a couple of years since we did it, so I added it back to the schedule with a slightly adjusted route. Due to the W123 event and the Australia Day long weekend, we had the drive a couple of weeks earlier...
This morning I attended the monthly St Ives Auto Brunch event. Most of the other cars and coffee events in Sydney are quite one dimensional, but St Ives is all about variety which I like. I last attended in September last year, and it was a lovely summer day today, worth going before it got too hot. I took my 1973 Daimler Double-Six Vanden...
When I first got my Daimler Double-Six, I had been using the drivers side petrol tank only. The one on the passengers side looked a bit gungy when I opened up the filler cap and looked inside. The drivers side tank looked nice and clean. Each tank is 45 liters and is mostly independent. Jaguar went to the dual fuel tank system with the...
In the state of NSW, we have very strict rules around using mobile phones, and and increasing number of cameras to detect their use. As I like to stream music from my phone to the original radios in my cars, I needed a system to be able to skip tracks, change volume and answer calls without touching the phone. Most of my cars use...
Back in October, I purchased a 2012 S212 Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon as a new family car to replace the 2007 S211 Mercedes-Benz E350 wagon. This is a car that my wife primarily drives, I mostly drive my classics. It wasn’t actually that easy a choice to find something we liked. Specifically we wanted: A car, not an SUV or Ute. Large cargo area that...
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