October night drive to Palm Beach

Over the last couple of months I have been doing a monthly night drive with a few friends in the Mercedes Club.   This month was the first time it was an official event.   When they were unofficial we did drives such as the Old Pacific Highway, the Old Northern Road and down to Bulli.   This time we did a night drive to Palm Beach.   Turn out was pretty good given it had been pouring with rain for the last week.   We had 9 cars show up to the drive.

I took my 560SEC this time.   As well as my car, there was another 560SEC in Nautical Blue (but with a grey update interior), a Silver 450SLC, a concours condition W116 280SE with only 100,000km on the clock, a W108 280SE 3.5, a rare A124 E320 that belonged to a new member.   Representing the modern models was an SL500, an E-Class cabriolet and an SL500.    Not only is the A124 a rare car in its own right, but in Australia the 320 is particularly rare.  Most A124 models seem to be the E220.   I’ve driven an E220 sedan and I found the model very sluggish.   The same cannot be said for the E320.

The starting point was Shelly beach car park and the route took us up the coast past Manly, Freshwater, Dee Why, Collaroy, Narrabeen and other beaches until we hit Palm Beach.   At night the bends on Barrenjoey road are not as busy as during the day and can be quite fun event at legal speeds.

The weather was perfect for our night drive to Palm Beach.  Not a hint of rain and cool weather.   It was quite pleasant driving the 560SEC with the windows down and the heated seats on.    I’m still happy with my monovalve replacement, but am thinking of perhaps trying to modify the setup so the valve does not open when the car is off.   It means a blast of hot air after a quick restart, and a foggy windscreen.

The attendance today bodes well for future night drives with the Club.    We have already planned a night drive for November.   We also plan to keep them going for 2021.