Today I got back behind the wheel of my old W123 280CE. The 15 minute and 5km drive is actually the longest I ever took in that car! This was a car I rescued more than purchased. The previous owner had it up on ebay with no reserve, had mis-spelt Mercedes and it was claimed to have a leaky radiator. Despite...
Pretty much all the buyers guides I read when researching E-Types say that drivers over 6 feet tall should avoid SWB E-Types. This means they are allegedly restricted to the S1 2+2, S2 2+2 and all Series 3 models. I was never a fan of the styling updates to the E-Type as it aged, so was keen on an early car. ...
The Traction Avant had a number of small issues that were impacting the overall drivability of the car. The car is now much nicer to drive after resolving them. The original engine driven fuel pump had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump There was severe vibration on braking Front suspension was worn Valves were out of adjustment on #2 causing poor...
When I purchased my 300SE, the A/C worked well. I assume the overall Climate Control system did too. I never did test anything more than max A/C as the weather was very hot. Everything seemed fine, except for the little aspirator fan which was noisy. Unfortunately 3 weeks after purchase, the A/C stopped working. I was sitting at red traffic lights and...
Despite the newest examples being almost 30 years old, the Mercedes W126 is still a fairly common sight in Australia. Wheels Magazine awarded it the car of the year in 1981, a controversial choice for such an expensive car. They were popular both with private buyers, and the limo trade who racked up big mileages. 30 years later, good examples still change...
My ‘new’ 300SE suffered from a common problem with Mercedes of that era, a non functional odometer. The mechanical odometer is driven by a small electric motor instead of a traditional speedometer cable and associated gears. This is because the speedometer is electric yet the odometer is mechanical. This combination was common in the late 80s and early 90s before cars...
My ownership of the 300SE had been off to a good start until 3 issues reared their ugly head in the last couple of days. As outlined in the last post, the first issue was the A/C stopped blowing cold. I already knew I had to do a few things for the climate control – I could hear the little aspirator motor rattling away...
The 300SE didn’t come with much concrete service history. I started a full service on the car to establish a baseline. This will allow the car to be properly maintained to the factory schedule. The service items arrived this week, after a quick call to MB Spares in Canberra. So far I have done the following: Oil and filter change Renewed spark...
The Achilles heel of M116 and M117 engined cars is the timing chain. As the engine is an overhead valve engine, the chain is used to make sure the valves open and close when they should. On the V8 the chain needs to go to both heads and down to the crankshaft and so it is very long. This exacerbates the...
Today I purchased a 1986 300SE W126. I needed a car that had room for three child seats when necessary and was eligible for historic rego. It also couldn’t cost too much money. Enter the W126. I had originally agreed to buy a 1976 450SE in gold, but that car developed a major engine problem. I had never owned a W116 and...
I spent some time yesterday examining the P5 Coupe I purchased from the Flynn Action in a little more detail. Like a lot of the Flynn cars it has received a lot of mechanical attention over the years. It is clear that little to no effort was spent on the body or cosmetics. One feature unique to the P5 over the P5B is...
The photo below shows the various components that make up the C Pillar trim and boot hinge. My trims are on OK but not perfect condition. It is also clear how poor the previous paint job was with the over spray evident in the picture. All the parts will need a good clean and polish before being put back on the car. Despite being...
The next step to prepare the DS for paint was to remove the bumper bar. This also allows the number plate panel to be removed which needs to be repainted as well. In theory the whole bumper assembly can be removed by detaching the mounts, but I was not able to get the out. Therefore, I removed each piece of the...
While I was at the Flynn auction, I had heard that there were a few people who were interested in buying back cars they had sold to Dr Flynn some years earlier. This week I found a website that tells the story of a particular P5B Saloon (nicknamed Ken) that was bought back by its previous owner and how the car had been...
All these years I have owned the DS I assumed the boot lid was fibreglass. Fibreglass reproductions are available in Europe for those who want a cheap way of replacing rusted or damaged body panels. However, the DS19 had an aluminium boot lid until May 1957. The previous owner mentioned it was Aluminium, but since these boot lids are so rare I didn’t...
A few months ago I managed to damage the front of the DS while parking it. Insurance will cover the repair to the front of the car, but instead of having the insurance repair match the faded paint, I would prefer to have the front of the car painted well and then pay extra to have the rear panels painted to match. So...
This weeks ad features the Pontiac Tempest. I notice it is wearing the Winter Water Wonderland plate from Michigan – the same as I had on my Jag when I was living in Michigan. GM closed down the Pontiac brand during the global financial crisis but by that point its best was well behind it. During the 2000’s it was offering insipid models with...
Friday and Saturday the Flynn collection was Auctioned off. There were over 130 running cars for sale on the friday night and then the Saturday morning consisted of the parts and some non-runners. Nearly all of them were Rovers. There was a fair amount of interest right around Australia and the Auctioneers did a good job of generating excitement. Therefore the...
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