This last week my 250SE has been at the workshop having an alternator upgrade. Back in 2020, my alternator gave up, and I replaced it with a rebuilt 35A alternator. Ever since then, that alternator has struggled to charge the car. It would charge the battery when driving along during the day, without any accessories. But as soon as the A/C was...
The sunroof on my 280SE has not worked properly since I bought the car. It would sometimes move a bit, if I played with the switch, but not often. Since I didn’t want the roof stuck open, I didn’t use it. Based on that, I figured my issue was the W116 sunroof switch. The car is booked in for the Shannons auction in...
Earlier this year, I had the suspension spheres on my 1970 Citroen DS checked for pressure. The ride had become pretty terrible, so it was obvious there was a problem. We were able to successfully regas the fronts, but one of the rears was completely dead. It was time for some rebuilt rear spheres. My mechanic sent them away to Pleiadies in Queensland. They...
When I first got my 300TE registered, I had the A/C regassed as it wasn’t very cold. That made a huge difference as after that the car was ice cold. According to the service history, it had been a couple of years since it was last done, so it was probably about due. At the time, my mechanic suggested I replace the...
Ever since I purchased my 300TE, I had wanted to replace the aftermarket roof racks with the S124 factory cross bars. The car came with a set of Rhino Sportz roof racks, which looked like a decent, name brand roof rack. However, my wife was quite keen for a set of roof racks for her car, and these would fit perfectly. In addition, I...
After last month’s inner city night drive, for February we were back to our normal formula of less trafficked roads on the urban fringe. The drive route came from a suggestion from a MBCNSW member to visit Hawkesbury Lookout and Krispy Kreme. Penrith Krispy Kreme would be our starting point, as it closes at 11PM on a Thursday Night. It turned...
One of my friends in the Mercedes Club recently bought a nice original Mercedes-Benz 450SE. Is a 1979 model in Silver-Green metallic with date leather. It is equipped with a sunroof, which is surprisingly rare on an Australian delivered 450SE. The cars came well equipped with standard leather seats, self-leveling rear suspension, AC, power windows etc. The two features that they surprisingly didn’t have...
by Nick Gruzevskis · Published February 19, 2023 · Last modified September 20, 2024
I’ve lost count of how many marques I’ve owned, but I’ve never owned a Ford. My father did though, and it was the proud replacement for his 14-year-old Volkswagen 1600 Notchback, a rare car now, but also assembled in Australia. In 1985 my father purchased a brand new XF Fairmont from Cam Dawson Ford in Geelong. He optioned power steering, air conditioning and alloy...
I’ve owned my 420SEL parts car for a while now, and not really provided any updates as to how it’s going. Overall, I’m glad I purchased the car, although it’s hard to find enough time dismantling it. I’ve been able to recoup some of my money selling a few parts, but I really need to put more effort into this in 2023. I’ve...
Now I’ve had the 300TE registered for a month or so, and have put about 600km on the car, I have a better idea of some of the improvements I want to make to it. I was able to take care of some of the most obvious ones right away. I’ve been ordering some parts over the last couple of weeks that...
For years the W116 has lived in the shadow of the W126. The W126 is often lauded as one of the best cars Mercedes-Benz ever made. Under its skin it can trace its lineage back to the W114 models of 1968, but the styling was fresh and modern and it was light years ahead of everything else on the market. Today,...
I bought my 300TE in generally good condition, but there were a couple of things I wanted to do right away to improve the car. I find this is pretty typical with a ‘new’ car even in great condition as every owner has a different idea of how they want the car and what they care about. The first was the A/C. I...
Now I have sold my 1986 Mercedes 300SE, time to introduce its replacement, a 1990 300TE. I had been keeping my eye out for a good driver quality S124 wagon for a while. I wanted a car I could use for things like taking my kids bikes around and so on. The S124 really fits the bill for this. I think these...
Today I sold my 1986 300SE W126. It was the right decision to sell, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to miss the car. It wasn’t the nicest 300SE in the country, but in some ways it was like a favorite pair of shoes, comfortable and familiar. I originally bought the car as a daily, and I was on full registration for...
Last night was the first MBCNSW night drive of the year. This month we tried something a little bit different. Previously inner city drives have been a bit of a failure as the group got separated and lost. This time, we tried again with a few changes. Firstly, we kept the route quite simple. Secondly, we had a muster point halfway along the drive. ...
The Citroen DS is known for the quality of its ride. The books use epithets such as ‘Magic carpet ride’. There is a bit of puffery in that statement, but the sentiment is right – the ride is normally very good. Recently my DS has become the worst riding car that I own. Something was clearly wrong. The biggest impact on ride quality...
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