Planning a 2024 Classic Mercedes Road trip – The Long way Euround

Each of the last two years, I have done an extended road trip in Classic Mercedes.   I have found them so enjoyable that it has become an annual event.   There is such a sense of adventure exploring our beautiful country in a classic car.   There is even more of a sense of adventure avoiding motorways and driving exclusively on back roads, through great scenery and interesting towns.

In 2022, I went with a group of friends to Adelaide via Victoria and The Great Ocean Road, before returning via Broken Hill.   Last year, we attended the MBCV concours event taking the mountain roads there, and the inland route back.

This year, the same group that went to Victoria are going back, but this time the Long way Euround.

Like last year, we have built the trip around a car show.   In this case, the Australian National Show and Shine in Euroa.   This is a big car show set in Seven Creeks park.   We had a bit of a scare earlier in the year when the show was slated to be cancelled, but the organizers were able to get more volunteers in time.

As with last year, these will all be classic Mercedes, including two 108s – a 280S and a 280SE 3.5, three 107s – two 450SLCs and a 500SL, a 126 380SEC, 123 280CE and three 124s – a 300CE, 300TE and E280T.

Day 0

To avoid getting stuck in Sydney traffic on the first day, our trip starts in Bathurst.   The plan is for everyone to make their way to Bathurst in their own time, refuel their car and allow us to make an early start the next day.   I’ll be working a full day, so this will be like another night drive for me.    The distance will be different for everyone in the group, but for me it will be 216km.

Day 1

On our first official day of the trip, we’re taking the inland route to the Murray river, before following the river west.   We’ll initially go through mid sized towns such as Cowra, Young and Gundagai, while avoiding the M31.   There is a very short section of about 10km which is shared with the route from last year, but otherwise it’s all different.

Once we hit the river, we’ll alternate between the NSW and Victorian side, going through some of the smaller towns before finishing up in Cobram.   We’ll cover 657km on the first day and it should be a fairly relaxed day as we don’t have any specific deadlines.

Day 2

The second day will be a busier day.   We’ll continue our Murray River tour, getting as far along as Robinvale.   This will take us through famous Murray towns like Euchca and Swan Hill.

In the afternoon, we’ll do a portion of the western Victorian silo art trail.   This is a series of grain silos with murals from artists painted on them.   The official silo art tour is quite extensive, however, due to time constraints we’ve planned to visit 7 of them.   Depending on how long it takes, we can cut out the last couple.    On Day 2, we’ll cover 746km, finishing up in Horsham.

Day 3

Day three will be an easier day.   We’ll start by doing a scenic drive through the Grampians National Park.   In the afternoon, we’ll visit a Benz wrecker, and optionally a metal working shop.   We’ll finish our day in Bendigo, where we will be able to wash our cars for the show on day 4.   On day 3, we cover 414km.

Day 4

Day four is the Australian National Show and Shine in Euroa.  We’ve got a section for our ten cars near where MBCV have their allocation.    We’ll stay at the show for the morning, before taking some scenic roads to the eastern side of Melbourne.   These roads are quite windy and should be far more interesting to drive on than the motorway.   We cover 510km on day 4.

In the evening, MBCV have kindly offered to host us for a BBQ at their club rooms.   Having visited their club rooms last year, our group from NSW has serious club room envy!

Day 5

Day five we leave Melbourne and tour through Gippsland hugging the coast.   Last year due to time constraints we took the more direct route through Traralgon.

In the afternoon, we’ll stop at the Gippsland Vehicle Collection in Maffra.   After that we continue along the coast through Orbost, before turning north to Bombala where we stop for the night.   Day 5 is a fairly relaxed day where we cover 604km.

Day 6

Our final day we head north from Bombala towards Cooma.   We couldn’t take the more alpine roads, as chains are required until after the long weekend, and we are driving on the actual long weekend.

From Cooma, we continue north towards Canberra.   This is the only repeat leg from last year, but in the opposite direction.   However, from Canberra, instead of taking the road through Oberon, we take the parallel road through Tuena.   This takes us up near Bathurst and Lake Lyall.

As with last year, we go our separate ways at Lithgow.   The shared drive is 515km, and overall I will do 658km on day 6.