MBCNSW early December 2021 night drive to Bilpin

Last night was the first of two planned December night drives with the Mercedes Club.   This was now the 3rd time we’ve run the drive to Bilpin.   We did the route in May 2021 and November 2020.  The drive is pretty simple.   We meet at Windsor McDonalds and drive up to the Apple Pie Cottage at Bilpin.   The Apple Pie Cottage is run by a club member who puts on coffees, apple pie and this time Pizza as well.   Not only that but he is quite the comedian.

We’ve had some really wet and wild weather in Sydney of late and last night did not disappoint.    It was absolutely bucketing down.   Not surprisingly, the almost 20 registrations whittled down to about half that number.

What was surprising was the number of classics in attendance far outnumbered the modern cars.

In attendance we had two W116 cars – an anthracite 450SE and an astral silver 450SEL; three W126 cars, My signal red 300SE, a smoke silver 420SEL and a lapis blue 380SEC; and two W124 cars, a white E280 and a diamond blue 230E.  The W116 is starting to build in popularity again and its nice to see them regularly at club events.    For the moderns, there was a W211 E55, an E400 cabriolet and a CLA45S.

The drive up to the apple pie cottage at Bilpin was a bit slower than usual given the conditions.   Most of the cars have no driver aids of any kind.    Sadly we lost the E280 and the 420SEL.  The E280 had a flat bettery at McDonalds and the 420SEL had the low coolant light come on.   Better to be safe than sorry and overheat the aluminium V8.

It is great to see the classics out in conditions like this.   They are meant to be driven and enjoyed and this drive certainly allowed that.

I took my 300SE on this drive.   This was because its good in the wet and I wanted to get one last club drive in before I sell it.   Even in the 300SE I lost traction on a roundabout on the way to the meeting point.

After a feast of pizza and apple pie, we proceeded back to Sydney.   There was an unmarked speed camera hiding in one of the zones where the speed limit drops from 80 to 60.   The tolerances have been recently reduced in NSW, so I hope nobody was pinged by the camera for doing 65km/h.   I didn’t get home until 1;30am, but the drive was well worth it.

I didn’t take any photos at the Apple pie cottage as its too dark for them to come out properly.   The final night drive of 2021 is the week before Christmas, starting in Camden.