MB Spares and Service Clearance Sale

Today I traveled down to Canberra for the MB Spares and Service used parts clearance sale.   I managed to score a few bargains that will hopefully come in handy in years to come.

MB Spares and Service closed down the spares side of their business a couple of years back to focus on the service and restoration.    The spares business catered for both new and used parts.    So they can consolidate down into one building, excess used stock was on sale today.   Having a stock of good used parts is quite useful for a restoration and service business.  The point of the sale was not to liquidate the entire stock of used parts, but bring it down to a level that made sense.

I didn’t have urgent needs, but keeping these classic cars on the road can be quite expensive.  I’ve found its generally a good idea to buy commonly used parts cheaply when they are available.     It is difficult to predict what you might need in the future, so easy to get quite silly during these sales.   I focused on things that would not make sense from insurance.   For example, even though they had some good rust free C107 doors, if my car is hit and needs a new door, I will get this from insurance.    If on the other hand I crack a front headlight, having a spare one is better than $800 excess.

Considering the effort to dismantle the cars and store the parts, the prices were very reasonable.   I am surprised more people from Sydney didn’t make the trio down given the wide range of inventory.     There was so much there it was even tempting to look at parts for models I would be interested to own in the future!  In the end pragmatism ruled and I ended up with some things that I should be able to use easily, and are not too difficult to store.

Some of what can be seen in the boot of my 300SE includes a W126 front grille, a W126 alloy wheel, a 300SE radiator, a W126 front headlight, set of W111/W108 headlights, a window regulator for the 300SE and a mirror motor for the 560SEC.

The most pressing repair is the front left window regulator on my 300SE.   The good used unit I picked up should be great here.

This was also the first time I have taken a road trip in the 300SE.    Generally I am either displaying the 250SE in a show, or find the 450SLC or 560SEC beter road trip cars.   The 300SE was a better choice for this trip, as the MB tex interior is less likely to be damaged if I was carrying something inside the car (wrapped up of course).   Also, the 450SLC does not have rear brake calipers at the moment, and the 560SEC is still running lean.

The 300SE performed well on the trip.   I discovered that it has a minor vibration from the front suspension at freeway speeds.   The cruise control does not work either.   I’m not too concerned about cruise control as I don’t really use it much.  I will need to inspect the suspension.

While I was at MB Spares and service, I saw two barn find cars they are working on.   The first is a beautiful W108 250SE.   I understand it was taken off the road in the 1980s and it really is a time warp.   Normally I am not a fan of white cars, but it looked very smart in white with red MB-Tex interior.   They also had a unicorn in the shop, an Australian delivered 300TD W123 with a factory manual transmission.    My preference is the 250SE, but the 300TD is a really interesting car as well.

All in all it was good day – a road trip, some bargains and a poke around an Aladdin’s cave of Mercedes parts!