Classic Jalopy Blog

Flashback: Sunday, April 20, 1972. Mercedes M110 Engine Launch 0

Mercedes

Flashback: Sunday, April 20, 1972. Mercedes M110 Engine Launch

EMBARGO: Please do not publish before Sunday April 30, 1972 SUPERB NEW TWIN OVERHEAD CAMSHAFT ENGINE FROM MERCEDES-BENZ Confounding the criticism that today’s automobile engineers are too heavily engaged in meeting safety and pollution requirements to produce better vehicles, Mercedes-Benz has just unveiled a superb new twin overhead camshaft engine. As well as meeting the conflicting requirements of performance with economy, the new engine...

280CE Tie rod replacement 1

Mercedes

280CE Tie rod replacement

The 280CE was making a knocking sound while steering and it had failed its rego due to a bad tie rod, necessitating a replacement.   The job is not that difficult, especially if you have the right tools.   There are a few good resources on the Internet, but a few things I found: I couldn’t remove the ball joints with a pickle fork,...

280CE, Runing, registered and sold! 1

Mercedes

280CE, Runing, registered and sold!

The 280CE is finished.   New muffler, passed blue slip and sold.   My brother has purchased the car as he wrote off the BMW that we ‘dismantled’ earlier.    That means that it will still be featured on this website from time to time even though I no longer own it. There are still a few things needed to do on the car,...

Small rust hole causes the CE to fail its blue slip 1

Mercedes

Small rust hole causes the CE to fail its blue slip

After replacing the water pump and test driving the 280CE, it was time to get it registered. Unfortunately it failed due to a small rust hole in the body work.   This is not structural, but NSW is very strict in this regard.     There was also a minor leak from the power steering and minor leak from the rear muffler.   All...

The 280CE runs again 0

Mercedes

The 280CE runs again

The 280CE finally has a new water pump and no longer leaves an embarrassing puddle where it sleeps. After fighting with the bolts on the visco fan, it was finally able to be removed with a combination of drilling and vice grips.    After that, the rest of the disassembly was not nearly as bad.   In total, to get to the water pump on...

280CE sticking ignition key 1

Mercedes

280CE sticking ignition key

I had a problem with the 280CE sticking ignition key.  This can turn into a real problem as the way to change the tumbler requires you to be able to move it, so if you cannot, then you end up having to take drastic measures to remove it.   It is much better to replace it while it can still move. You have two...

2014 French Car Day 2

Citroen / Shows

2014 French Car Day

Today was the 2014 French car day.   Like last year, the event is put on by the French car clubs in Sydney, i.e. Peugeot, Renault, Simca etc.   It was a lovely day and a good turnout – especially of DS including a few cars I had not yet seen in the club.  A couple of cars in particular: – A yellow D Special...

Scrapping an E39 BMW 2

Misc

Scrapping an E39 BMW

My brother has been removing items from the interior of the E39 BMW before it goes off to become beer cans.   Scrap dealers only offer a few hundred dollars, so this can be a good way of making a bit more from the wreck. The black leather front seats will make great chairs in the house too!

Rigid passenger safety cell at work 0

Misc

Rigid passenger safety cell at work

These photos are a good example of how the Rigid passenger safety cell works.   You can see how the front of the car has crumpled, the bonnet is crumpled, both front wings are crumpled – as they are all designed to.   However, the passenger cabin is still intact, all four doors open and close properly and there are no intrusions into the...

Car manufacturers influence proposed NSW car registration changes? 0

Misc

Car manufacturers influence proposed NSW car registration changes?

NSW already has the most expensive car registration in the country, with no change from $1,000 to register the typical car – and that is just the Greenslip, Registration fees and other Government taxes. NSW also has a particularly useless conditional registration scheme, whereby collector cars can go on ‘club’ plates and be used only for club events.   Great if you are able...

Attainable Classics: #2 – Volvo P1800 1

Reviews

Attainable Classics: #2 – Volvo P1800

This is the second in a series about interesting cars that have not had their prices driven up so much they become trailer queens. While Volvo is still known for it’s boxy and unbreakable 240 series from the 70s and 80s, in the late 50s, Volvo was still looking to add a sports car to their range, despite the failure of the P1900.  ...

Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park 0

Drives

Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park

Sydney is bounded by National Parks to the north and to the south – With Ku-Ring-Gai Chase in the north and the Royal National Park in the south.   The Royal National Park is the second oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone in the USA. These national parks are also great for going to a drive in a classic car away from...

20 hours later, the rounded bolt still clings on 0

Mercedes

20 hours later, the rounded bolt still clings on

In order to get to the water pump on the 280CE, the fan assembly had to be removed, which is held on by four rather inaccessible bolts. Two of he bolts came out ok, but two were stuck firmly and became even more rounded in trying to remove them.   Mercedes must have used high quality bolts, as 20 hours and 5 drill bits...

Grand Pacific Drive 1

Drives

Grand Pacific Drive

I had wanted to check out the Grand Pacific Drive for a while, and had a few hours free the other day so took the 250SE.   The 250SE’s transmission linkage was still playing up, so I didn’t make too many stops (as I didn’t want to crawl under the car and reset it every few times I put it into park), but once you...

Finally, a cool running DS 0

Citroen

Finally, a cool running DS

Even on winter days, the DS had been getting a bit hot under the collar.   Granted, D’s have never been the coolest running cars, and the heat of the Australian summer can tax them and their passengers, but they should easily cope with most days, especially outside the summer months.  I had a few problems – the water pump was leaking and getting...

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