2024 ACT German Car Show
Today was the 2024 ACT German Car Show. I always enjoy this event, so was keen to go again this year. I had originally planned to bring my 1977 450SLC. However, it wasn’t back from the workshop due to a leak from the A/C. In its place, I took my 1987 560SEC, same as last year.
Unlike last year, there was a fairly decent size group from MBCNSW going down for the event. They were driving down early this morning. In the last couple of years I have been going, I prefer to drive down Saturday afternoon, attend the pre-show dinner and stay over in Canberra. It makes for a far more relaxed weekend. I stayed in the Ibis Budget hotel up the road from the event for only $90 per night. I thought this was well worth it. That meant I didn’t join the rest of the NSW group, who arrived later in the morning.
As well as attending the dinner, which I always enjoy, I was also able to take the car for a wash the evening before the show. I entered my car in display only this year. MBCACT has a great system where they have gold class, which is proper concours, silver class which is basically a road class for cars that are regularly used, and then display. This is a system I wish we would adopt in NSW. One of the things that works well about it, is that if you have won road class, you have to compete in gold class the next time.
Most of my cars are suitable for silver or road class. However, my 560SEC is more of a driver and fits better in display only. I was parked next to a very nice 380SEC with only 104,000km which was naturally being judged.
As well as the system of judging, the other things I like about the ACT event is how they try to park the cars along with other similar models. For example 123s and 114/115s together, 126s and 116s and so on. I think this makes for a much better display. The ACT club also normally do very well with older cars, like the 170D that was on display this year. In other years they have had good displays of roundies, W110s, 114/115s etc.
This year the event was in a new location. I understand the council in Queanbeyan no longer allow cars on Queanbeyan park, which is a shame as that was a superb location. This event was held at the racecourse. It wasn’t a bad location, but it was a bit cramped compared to the last few years.
As this was the 2024 ACT German car show, the other German car marques were on display. The BMW and Porsche displays are far more focused on modern performance cars that don’t hold a great deal of interest for me. However, the BMW display had a few really nice models on display such as a nice E24, nice survivor E3, and plenty of E30s. Didn’t see to many E28s which is a model I like. The VW display was tilted towards Beetles, Kombi Vans and Karmann Ghia’s, with some modern VWs for good measure. The Audi display was quite small, and there was a Borgward and Trabant.
Overall the Mercedes-Benz display was a bit smaller than in other years. Not sure if this was the location, or perhaps there were competing events in Canberra this year. In addition, it was such a shame to see the 170D have its guard bent by a W126 LWB that misjudged the turn. The damage is eminently fixable, but that won’t make the owner feel any better. Despite that, there were still some real highlights in terms of the cars on display.
The biggest one for me was the pristine 1981 300TD Wagon. It really was immaculate. It had a little over 200,000km on the clock, but it looked like it had less than half of that. Most of these cars were used up as family cars, yet this one remained totally original, even down to the radio delete plate. I would own it in a heartbeat. There is a big W123 event planned for the Australia day long weekend in 2025, to celebrate 50 years of the W123. I suspect this wagon is one of the best in the country and it will be interesting to see it against the other wagons at that event. I’m already starting to get my 240D ready.
Next I really liked the Black 220SE Coupe. I have a soft spot for the W111 coupe and cabriolet models, and this car was very nice. Black with a red interior is also a colour combination that suits the model far better than the more ubiquitous white. Given our climate, not many were delivered in that combo, and I am not sure if that car was originally sold in Australia or not.
I also liked a W115 240D. I’m not sure of the name of the colour, but it was a sort of burnt orange. It was a lovely original car from Wagga. It also had all the things you would expect to see in a country delivered Australian W115, such as the stone guards, AWA speakers, towbar etc.
There was also a nice selection of cars from MBCNSW. MBCNSW members did quite well with some of the awards on the day too. My standout pick was the 1985 280SE in Manila Beige. Like the 300TD wagon, it is a real time warp and such a lovely car to see.
I really enjoyed the day and was glad I made the trip down.
