Classic Jalopy Blog

New coil, cap and rotor bring the SLC back to life 1

New coil, cap and rotor bring the SLC back to life

As outlined in a previous post, the 450SLC broke down a week and a half ago and the NRMA helped me diagnose it down to a bad coil.   Yesterday, my new coil, cap and rotor arrived so I got down to getting fitting them t the car. A quick test of the new coil had the car roaring back to life, so I...

Mercedes W111 Coupe/Cabriolet RHD Manual vs Auto 4

Mercedes W111 Coupe/Cabriolet RHD Manual vs Auto

I recently had a question on my previous post around RHD/LHD 111 Coupe/Cabriolet about the numbers of Automatics vs Manuals. This is an interesting question and not one that I have the answer to.   However from my own observations of RHD models for sale and at shows,  manuals are fairly common in the 220SE, rare in the 250SE and 300SE and then extremely...

After 10 years of ownership, the SLC finally leaves me stranded 1

After 10 years of ownership, the SLC finally leaves me stranded

During the 10 years and around 40,000 kms I’ve owned the 450SLC, it’s proven to be extremely reliable.   Sure i’ve had a flat battery once a couple of times, and a fuel pump that would cause the engine to occasionally stall until it was replaced, but it has never left me stranded, until this weekend. About 100 meters from my driveway, the engine...

Auto Collections Las Vegas 0

Auto Collections Las Vegas

The Auto Collections Las Vegas bills itself as the worlds largest Classic car showroom.   It is basically a classic car dealership that also allows the general public in to ‘view the collection’ for a fee.   This means that the cars are changing (except for about 10% that are not for sale), and it is a nice escape from the smoky environments of...

450SLC gets a new blower 1

450SLC gets a new blower

I’ve had issues with the blower on the 450SLC for a few years now.   I would get all sorts of noise and irregular operation from it.     Unlike in some models, the blower is actually pretty easy to get to in the 450SLC, but the problem was new blowers were very expensive (I was seeing them for over $1,200) and used units...

Citroen DS rear interior lights 2

Citroen DS rear interior lights

The Citroen DS Comfort (non Pallas) has four interior lights.  Two on the inside of the B pillar and two on the inside of the C pillar.   The DS Pallas has two lights on the B pillar, but upgraded ones from the regular DS.  The ID Models (and D Special, D Super) have the same B pillar lights but not the rear ones....

Autoworld Brussels 1

Autoworld Brussels

The last museum I visited while in Europe was Autoworld Brussels.    It is a large museum right in the middle of Brussels and has a large collection of interesting cars, including former royal cars of the Belgian royal family. It was a very nice museum, although not as good as the Louwman Museum.  If you’re in Brussels it is worth a visit.   ...

The Louwman Museum 2

The Louwman Museum

During my recent trip to Europe, I went to the Louwman Museum, in The Hague, Netherlands.     I cannot recommend this museum highly enough.   It is superb.     The collection is excellent, it is well laid out, and has good descriptions in English.  I’ve included the descriptions in the photo gallery below. Some highlights: Rare and interesting cars from before 1900...

The E-Type gets a new set of balls 0

The E-Type gets a new set of balls

The E-Type went in for a service this week, and came out with a new set of ball joints for the front suspension.   It will also need new front wishbones at some point as a number of shims were needed to get it all put together right, so I’ll keep an eye out for a good deal on those.    Next time I’ll...

2013 Volvo V40 D2 Review 0

2013 Volvo V40 D2 Review

After spending two weeks with a Volvo V40 and covering over 3,100 km, I felt like I well and truly knew what this car would be like to own. The Volvo V40 was owned by Hertz, and I rented it from Oslo, Norway to Brussels, Belgium.   Hertz were the only company I could find willing to do this rental. Overall the car is...

Troubleshooting the Retrosound Model 2 in a Citroen DS 3

Troubleshooting the Retrosound Model 2 in a Citroen DS

The Retrosound Model 2 is finally working in the Citroen DS, and working well! The issue if you recall was that the unit would reboot any time I turned up the volume, used the bluetooth, etc.     I had wired up the radio to the accessory point behind the dashboard, however on closer examination of the DS manuals, this is rated 10A and...

2013 ACT German car show 2

2013 ACT German car show

I was in Canberra this weekend, so I went along to see the annual German car show (organized by the various ACT clubs including the Mercedes Benz Club ACT), which was held in the carpark near the treasury building.   it is normally held on the lawn in front of the lake but poor weather forced the change.   Poor weather was also most...

The Volvo Museum 1

The Volvo Museum

While I was in Sweden, I stopped by the Volvo Museum in Gothenberg.   Seemed fitting since I was driving a rental Volvo! I’ve always been a fan of the P1800 Coupe, which was good to see one in there with some interesting extras we don’t see here including headrests, a fan for the rear passengers etc.   There was also a prototype of...

A visit to Citro Classique / Citro Toon 1

A visit to Citro Classique / Citro Toon

While I was in Europe, I stopped off at Citro Classique (also known as Citro Toon) in Borculo, about an hour outside Amsterdam.   My idea was to make good use of the 60kg of luggage space I had available to me for my return flight to Australia and the use of a rental car to pick up a few things and save the...

Ribe classic 0

Ribe classic

I visited Ribe, yesterday, the oldest city in Denmark.     It just so happened that Ribe is the home of a weekly grassroots car show (each Tuesday night, 6-9pm).    While my main purpose in Ribe was to see the old town and some of the tourist attractions, it was a lucky coincidence that this show was on, I decided to stop buy...

Rebooting Retrosound 0

Rebooting Retrosound

While I had completed the Retrosound Model 2 install in the Citroen DS a while ago, the radio was rebooting, at times when it appeared that it was trying to draw a lot of power.   (e.g. higher volumes). I had connected it to the accessory point behind the dash, however I don’t think it was getting enough current. Therefore, I have now removed...

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