Today was the first day of my annual Classic Mercedes road trip – The Long Way Euround. While the major event that anchors the trip is the Australian National Show and Shine in Euroa, it is more about the trip than the destination. I’ve previously covered the plan for the six days of the event. We started our road trip in Bathurst. Trying to...
Each of the last two years, I have done an extended road trip in Classic Mercedes. I have found them so enjoyable that it has become an annual event. There is such a sense of adventure exploring our beautiful country in a classic car. There is even more of a sense of adventure avoiding motorways and driving exclusively on back roads, through great scenery...
The only constant of our garage is new acquisitions, we never seem to be able to slim the fleet down. The latest addition was considered necessary when my daughter (Jessica) came to grief with her 2005 CLK320 on a concrete wall at Eastland Shopping Centre, Ringwood. Given we are insured for market value, we weren’t confident that it would be repaired. Once we got...
After owning my 450SLC for over 20 years, there has really only been one thing that has disappointed me about the car. That is the performance of the A/C. I don’t think it was ever optimized for the Australian climate even when new. When you add in the use of R134A gas, plus aging components, on the days you really need it, it can’t...
Today was the 2024 ACT German Car Show. I always enjoy this event, so was keen to go again this year. I had originally planned to bring my 1977 450SLC. However, it wasn’t back from the workshop due to a leak from the A/C. In its place, I took my 1987 560SEC, same as last year. Unlike last year, there was a fairly...
Over the last week or so, I’ve been dealing with the algae in the fuel tank of my 240D. In the last update, after changing the fuel filters, I added the Penrite Diesel Biocide. I was already noticing after about 30 kilometers the pre-filter was looking quite dirty and the car was down on power. It seemed that some of the algae was...
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of using my friend Justin Tan’s 1995 Toyota Comfort for a few days. This is the short-wheelbase version of what we know as the Crown Comfort. It is a commercial grade purpose-built fleet vehicle, and is unashamedly so. Justin’s car is an ex-driver-instructor car from Japan and has some subtle clues of its previous career such...
Today was the big annual British car show. For years, this show has been held at the Kings School. This year the show was at a new venue – Hawkesbury Showground. I’ve always regarded the annual British car show as the best car show on the Sydney calendar so I was curious how the new venue was going affect that. The Kings school had...
Earlier this month I went to the St Ives Auto Brunch Event. Unlike the August event, the weather was excellent and I didn’t make the mistake of getting there so early. I took my Jaguar E-Type this time. It was a lovely morning to drive a convertible. I spent more time talking to people I knew than taking photos, so I only snapped a...
Yesterday, I posted an update on my 240D showing how I had changed the petrol filters. A friend pointed out that my filter was full of algae. My 240D was from a deceased estate and it’s condition and mileage make me think it didn’t get a lot of use in recent years. Algae seems more prevalent in cars that have sat around for a...
Since I purchased my 240D, I had planned to use ‘Diesel Purge’ to clean the injectors and injection pump. The car runs well, but it is a bit rough at idle and I figured this would probably help. This was part of my plan to clean the fuel system for the entire car. I have a suspicion that the strainer in the bottom of...
Recently I had noticed the 560SEC running hotter than usual in traffic. This was during winter when it was quite cold outside. I suspected that the original viscous fan coupling was starting to fail. I was able to spin the fan quite easily just after I turned off the engine while it was hot. Back in 2020, I had a similar issue on...
The August night drive was a repeat of the southwest loop we did last year. On the night of the drive, the weather was pretty bad, so we only had a few people come on that drive. Since the route was really good, I put it on the schedule again for this year. After a cold winter, the day of the drive was unseasonably...
The show at Eastern Creek has long been a fixture in the classic car scene in Sydney. It is a great location for a big car event, with the track, grandstand and plenty of places to display the cars. I’ve been going for many years, and have always enjoyed the day. Displaying a car is worth it if you plan to go. Entry...
My 1981 Mercedes 240D still has the original Becker Europa 596 Radio. This is one of the last of the analogue radios before the cars moved to the digital radio with the Becker Grand prix 612. The main issue with the Becker is that it does not stay in tune. I’m constantly having to adjust it to stay on an FM station. In addition,...
I used to be a regular attendee at the St Ives Auto Brunch event. However, I had not been since September of last year. There are a few reasons for that. I’ve had quite a lot of work travel in the first half of this year, and due to the torrential rain in Sydney earlier this year, the event has been rained out quite...
Ever since we started the night drives in 2020, I’ve wanted to do a route going north from Wisemans Ferry. The issue was the poor road surface along Wisemans Ferry Road as it goes parallel with the Lower Hawkesbury. Some of the potholes were big enough to swallow up a W201. Given the lack of lighting it wasn’t really a suitable place for a...
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