Our almost 5,000km road trip to Longreach had seven cars participate. All seven completed the trip successfully. Of the four such road trips we’ve done, this one probably pushed the cars hardest. Yet we had the fewest mechanical issues. Most of the issues were comparatively minor. As well as the seven core participants, we also had an eighth car – a 1989 420SEL –...
Our final day of the trip started much the same as the others. We set out from Coonabarabran at 6:30AM as we headed towards Sydney. It was quite cold and overcast, so we had to take it slow to ensure we didn’t hit any wildlife. I saw a couple of kangaroos plus some feral cats. According to my car’s outside temperature display, at one...
The penultimate day of our trip had us starting in Queensland not far from the NSW border. Yesterday we had finished up in St George. The morning was yet again quite cold and we rolled out of the hotel at 6:30AM. Our breakfast stop was the bakery in Dirrenbandi, about an hour away. We we drove south, we were greeted with a very impressive...
During my road trip to Longreach, I attended the Qantas founders Museum. Qantas is the second oldest continually operating airline in the world, after KLM. It was founded in Winton, Qld in 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (Q.A.N.T.A.S).. The home base was established at Longreach, based on the railway. The museum covers the early history of the airline as a pioneering...
Day six was a shorter drive than usual. This was largely because we are travelling through Southwest Queensland, a very sparsely populated part of the country. There are only so many towns that have good accommodation facilities for our party. We started in Tambo, to another very chilly morning. Our party was only six cars, as one of our group had an issue with...
The fifth day of our trip would be the day we finally arrive in Longreach. This trip has been much more about the journey than any one destination, but Longreach is the furthest point from Sydney we will reach. It also marks the transition from our journey there to our journey home. We started out early in Barcaldine. As with our start in Monto,...
After travelling mostly northwards for the last few days, today would be heading west. We started out In Monto at 6:30AM. Due to the clear skies it was quite cold and frosty, 3.5C according to the car. Our first destination was Moura, almost two hours west along the Dawson Highway. While the day started cold, it was already warming up by 7AM. Around...
Our arrival into the sunshine state brought with it heavy rain overnight. By the morning, the rain had stopped, but a thick fog was over the region. Visibility was down to only a car length or two in various sections. I was quite keen to do the Mt Nebo road for our final crossing of the Great Dividing Range before we headed inland. Therefore,...
The second day of our classic car road trip to Longreach and back started in Grafton. As we were able to stick with the planned route, we slept in and met at 6:15AM for a 6:30AM departure. Our first two legs were to take us on the Gwydir Hwy across the great dividing range to Inverell. Our route up NSW has largely had us...
The first full day of our 8 day road trip to Longreach and back started in Maitland. Due to a major landslide on Thunderbolts way, we had a lot more distance to cover than originally planned. If we were going to make it in a reasonable time, we were going to have to be very disciplined around timekeeping and stops. To try and maximize...
Our trip to Longreach in classic cars starts tomorrow morning. One of the things we learned in the first of these trips is that it is a bad idea to try and start out from Sydney in the morning. I would be doubly worse on the first day of school holidays. Therefore, the first leg of the trip starts from Maitland. This means there...
The last three of our big classic car road trips have headed south towards Victoria. This year it was time for something different. We are heading north to Queensland. Due to extreme temperatures and the propensity to flood, we are going in Winter. I’ve never been that far from the coast in Queensland, so this trip was an opportunity to see a totally different...
I will be taking my 560SEL on a 4,800km road trip to outback Queensland soon. Over the past couple of months I have been slowly sorting out a few things that could impact its reliability. This was beyond routine things like oil and filter changes. I created a list of items I wanted to address, with the first being the critical one. Occasional coolant...
When I first bought my 1981 Mercedes 240D, the A/C did not work. It was apparent that the car had been siting around for a while, so it was not really surprising. What was surprising, was that it worked well when I had it gassed up. When cars are advertised for sale as just needing a re-gas, you know that they need a lot...
I was 25 upon release of the new Mercedes E-Class platform in 1996. At the time I thought the styling was conservative and never paid attention to the model range. My enthusiasm for the Mercedes marque still came from the past, with the fabulous W109 300SEL 3.5/6.3 V8s and the W116 450SEL V8 models (including the 6.9). Fast forwarding to July 2024, I purchased...
Today I attended the 61st annual June Jamboree, held by the Northern New Jersey section of the MBCA. The Northern New Jersey section was the founding section of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America, all the way back in 1956. The June Jamboree is their annual concours event and car show. I am current in New Jersey for work, and when I saw this event...
The Daimler Double Six Vanden Plas is a very special version of the Daimler Double Six. Essentially it is a Daimler Double Six that was sent to the Vanden Plas coachbuilders to be hand trimmed with a unique interior that was to Rolls Royce levels. The cars also had special chrome trim, a vinyl roof and other improvements over the Standard Double Six. The...
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