2024 German Auto show Sydney

The Annual German Auto show is always a great event and this year was no different.   The event was organized by the Mercedes-Benz Club and includes the other German car clubs including BMW, Porsche, Audi, VW and the micro cars.

This year there was a big improvement in that the cars were not just randomly parked, and they attempted to park cars in sections.   The had a section for the older 60s cars, one for the 70s and 80s cars and one for moderns.   A few of the 107s and C123s got mixed up with the moderns, but otherwise it was pretty well done.

The event was well organized and there was a good selection of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, VW and Porsche.   On the downside this year the club elected to have a separate concours event at a dealership.   This meant that the concours level older cars did not show up to SGA.   I think separating the events was a mistake and it would be better to have them together.  An event like this works when you have the largest possible number of cars there.

This year there were a fair few cars I had not seen before.   Probably my favorite was a W108 280SE in anthracite with a cognac interior.  It looked immaculate.   There was also a really nice signal red 300D W124, more than six C123s, which must be a record.   This year there was a very good showing of W116s which is always nice to see.   On display was a silver 1978 450SE that looked in excellent condition and with low miles.  It was for sale and the asking price seemed very reasonable

While W108s, W116s and W126s were well represented, there was only a single W114, no W115s and only a couple of W123 saloons.   There was also no roundies and only a single finnie sedan.   There was a much bigger selection at the Victorian event last year and I would love to see more of these cars at our event in Sydney.

I took my 1965 Mercedes 250SE Cabriolet.   There was only one other W111 Cabriolet this year, and a single coupe.   Pretty poor showing given how many are in the club.    It was a nice day to get the car out.

Going beyond Mercedes-Benz, the Porsche club had a good sized display.   I’ve never really been all that excited by 911s but there was a nice 914, and a couple of very nice 928s and 944s.   If I was to ever own a Porsche it would be a 928 in manual and there was such a car on display.   It was in a great purple colour that is very much like the Mercedes Colour Bornite.

For the BMWs they had a good selection of old and new.   My favourite BMWs are the E9, E24 and E28.   The E24 in particular was well represented and there were some very nice BMWs.    For VW they had a good selection of Beetles, Karmann Ghia’s and the like.   It probably wasn’t as big as in other years but it was still a good display.

The event is held at Gough Whitlam Park in Earlwood, same as last year.   This location is central and generally easy to get to, but I feel the event outgrew it a few years ago.   I suspect the issue is most inner city venues are not car friendly.    The reality of the situation is that for this even to continue to grow, it will probably have to move to a location that is further out.

As well as the cars, this event is always a great place to catch up with other people from the club, and is a pretty enjoyable day.