Like all car clubs, MBCNSW has a lot of interesting cars that rarely get out to club events.   The goal of the Chrome Bumper day was to try and entice a few of them out.  &nbs… Read More

Recently the odometer stopped working on my 1987 560SEL, just before the car hit 340,000km. This is a pretty common problem on the W126. I had to repair both my old 300SE and my 560SEC. … Read More

The June MBCNSW night drive brought back a route that we last used in October 2021.    It was held one week later than normal since I was overseas last week.   That was p… Read More

For the last couple of days I have been driving the Chevy Malibu as my rental car.   I last rented a Chevy Malibu back in 2018 and reviewed it.   The car hasn’t fun… Read More

Last night was the MBCNSW May night drive.   This drive was a little different to what we normally do.   Instead of a longer drive on semi-rural twisty roads, this one wa… Read More

This morning I woke up early and so decided to head to a cars and coffee event.    I hadn’t been to one in a while, and it looked like a lovely Autumn day in Sydney.  &n… Read More

I just got my 240D back from having the motor mounts changed.   When I purchased the 240D, the motor mounts were one of the few obvious things that needed attending to on the car… Read More

The under bonnet insulation was starting to reach the end of its use by date.   Bits of it in the air filter were a pretty good indicator of this.   I’m not sure ho… Read More

The under bonnet insulation on my W123 240D had started to crumble on the edges.   While it had only just started happening, it also appeared that the car didn’t have a prope… Read More

Like a lot of modern cars, the S211 E350 my wife drives has a ‘shark fin’ antenna on the roof.   There are generally maintenance free, in contrast with telescopic power… Read More

The Jensen Car Club of Australia (JCCA) was formed in 1987 though the amalgamation of two former Clubs, “The Jensen Interceptor Car Club of Victoria” and the Australia Jensen-Hea… Read More

Yesterday I did my first proper drive in my 1981 Mercedes 240D.   More information about the car can be found here.   My overall impression is that the people who talk ab… Read More

The April 2024 night drive was a repeat of a route we last did two years ago.   On that night, I tried two different cars before withdrawing, both of them having brake issues. … Read More

With the 240D now registered and in the garage, there were a few simple jobs to undertake.    The first was a set of floor mats.   The original carpets were in such nice… Read More

Sometimes you don’t go looking for classic cars – they find you.   While I have always wanted to try a W123 diesel, I wasn’t specifically looking for one.  … Read More

Late last year the power window on my 1987 Mercedes 560SEL stuck in the down position.   I lowered the window to exit a parking station and the window would not go back up.  T… Read More

A few months ago, I started replacing the blower on my W124.   I figured this would be a simple job and I would be back up and running a few days later.  Little did I know tha… Read More

I’m back in the USA for an annual conference I attend.   I normally have a free day before it starts, to get acclimatized to the time zone and to allow a buffer for flight de… Read More

I just got my 450SLC back from having the timing chain, tensioner, camshaft oiler tubes and valve stem seals replaced.   These are all jobs that any owner of a Mercedes V8 of this… Read More

I’ve wanted to visit the Fox Collection in Melbourne for over 10 years.  I used to have a job where I would commute to Melbourne twice a month but the opening hours never lined up… Read More

One of my favourite day trip drive near Sydney is the Oberon to Goulburn Drive.   I’ve done this drive in both directions and its a great mix of different roads, plus limited… Read More

This month’s night drive was a bit different.  Instead of meeting up and doing a drive for 60-90 minutes, we did a very short drive and then went to check out the club library. I… Read More

The choice of radio for my 1965 Mercedes 250SE Cabriolet was not an easy one.   I don’t know what radio the car had in it’s early years.   It is a diplomat de… Read More

My 250SE Cabriolet had a feature I was not aware of.    Underneath the injection pump is an oil/coolant heat exchanger.   This was also an option on late 230SLs.  &n… Read More

Editors Note: This is part three in a series by Nick Gruzevskis about owning a Modern Mercedes convertible – in this case his R170 SLK230.   The first part can be found here… Read More

On my trip to Victoria last last year, the alternator on my 560SEC packed in.   I was able to limp the car home by swapping batteries with a friend in another W126.   I a… Read More

Today I went to a cars and coffee event at Gough Whitlam Park.   It was organized by Enthusiast Insurance.    I had been invited by a friend, and assumed it was a regular… Read More

I recently drove down to Canberra in my 1965 250SE.   This was the first time I had taken the car on a longish trip in a couple of years.   The main reason for that was t… Read More

I’ve known that the blower motor needed replacement on my 300TE since purchase.   It didn’t like to work on low settings and would make pretty bad squeaking noises.&nbs… Read More

This months night drive fell on a leap day, September 29.   The next time a leap day falls on a Thursday will be 2054, so it was a night not to be missed.   The main part… Read More

Editors Note: This is part two in a series by Nick Gruzevskis about owning a Modern Mercedes convertible – in this case his R170 SLK230.   The first part can be found here.&n… Read More

Today was the annual Wheels car show in Queanbeyan.   This is one of the biggest multiple marque car show in the Canberra area and is akin to the Eastern Creek show in Sydney. … Read More

We started our 2024 night drive schedule with a drive south.    This month’s drive was held a week earlier due to the holiday long weekend and the absurd double demerits regi… Read More

I’ve been touring Tasmania in my 1990 Mercedes 300TE this last week and a half.   While there are regular classic events here like Targa Tasmania I’ve been quite surpri… Read More

With 2023 at a close, time for another fleet update.  Like last year, I will cover the highlights and lowlights for each car, major worked performed, how much I used them and plans for… Read More

While I was in Launceston earlier in the week, I visited the National Automobile Museum of Tasmania.   This is a nice little museum quite close to the centre of Launceston.  … Read More

I’m currently in Tasmania on holiday with my family.    Our goal on this trip is to tour around Tasmania so a car was a must.    On a trip like this, I had two main… Read More

In January, I’m taking my family to Tasmania on holiday.   Instead of renting a car down there, I’m driving down and taking the Spirit of Tasmania.   I’… Read More

Our final night drive for 2023 was an old favourite.    I ran a poll a few months ago for some of the regulars on the night drives to identify drives that there was interest to rev… Read More

I fitted a set of original AMG Penta wheels to my 450SLC two years ago.    At the time, they did not come with lug bolts.  Luckily, I had a set from the replica Fuchs wheels t… Read More

Thursday was the annual MBCNSW Night Drive to Bilpin for Apple pie.    This has turned into an annual event and despite being a very late night is always popular.    It s… Read More

Last year I did a road trip in classic Mercedes to the National Rally in Adelaide.   The friends I went with all agreed that we wanted to do it again this year, and in many ways th… Read More

On the Concours Run, we had 9 cars on the trip.   While I don’t mention people’s names on this site for privacy reasons, this article goes through the cars that came on… Read More

The final day of our road trip came up quickly.    After a pleasant evening in the historic Hydro hotel in Leeton, it was time to head back to Sydney.     Our first… Read More

Day 4 was a very busy day for the Concours run group.   Not only did we spend the morning at the excellent MBCV concours event, but we planned to drive 520km.   Part of t… Read More

Today was the MBCV Concours event.   This was the show that we built this whole trip around.    I had wanted to attend this event for years, as I had always heard the sta… Read More

The third day of our classic Mercedes road trip was focused on a MBCV Garage Day.   The subject was electrical troubleshooting. However, before we could have the MBCV Garage day, w… Read More

The second day of our classic Mercedes road trip between Sydney and Melbourne focused mostly on driving the Great Alpine Road (B500).    On Day 1, we started in Mt Victoria and end… Read More

Today was the first day of our epic road trip to Melbourne in 9 classic Mercedes Benz.   Our goal was to head down for the annual MBCV concours event and a tech day they were runni… Read More

Last year, I went on a 4,000km road trip with some friends from the Mercedes-Benz club to the National Rally in Adelaide.   We all took classics, and we took the scenic route there… Read More

Last night I finished the installation of the refurbished W124 instrument cluster.    I’m really happy with it, and its really lifted the car. I ended up installing it as par… Read More

One of the items on my todo list for the 300TE was to replace the W124 centre vent.   A couple of the slats were broken, so I could not direct the air, and the open/close control w… Read More

In a previous article I had been undertaking a 300TE speaker upgrade.   I started with the rears which were very simple.    Next was the fronts.   As I outlined… Read More

Today was the third annual Youngtimer Sacco day.   This is an event run by the Mercedes-Benz club to celebrate the cars of the legendary designer, Bruno Sacco.    As with… Read More

I wasn’t very happy with the sound from my 300TE.   The front passengers speaker rattled badly and the sound wasn’t the best.    As I’m taking the car o… Read More

I had previously replaced the front speakers in my 1987 560SEC.  Now it was time to look at the rears.    As I outlined in the article about the front speakers, I am replacing… Read More

I’m planning to drive my 560SEC down to Melbourne in a few weeks.   I’m going see the Mercedes Benz Club of Victoria concours and attend a tech day on electrical troubl… Read More

I’m taking my 560SEC on a long road trip in a couple of weeks.   I’ve never really been especially happy with the sound from the speakers, particularly from midrange to… Read More

In this series I am refurbishing my W124 instrument cluster.   In the first part, I removed the cluster and lubricated the speedo cable.   For the second part, I repaired… Read More

In this series I am refurbishing my W124 instrument cluster.   In the last part, I removed the cluster and lubricated the speedo cable.   For this part, I am repairing th… Read More

Ever since I bought my W124, there have been a couple of things about my instrument cluster I was not very happy with. It had the dreaded ‘white spot’ disease.   Not ju… Read More

I’m about to take my 560SEC on a road trip.    I’ve been making sure I had appropriate spares for this road trip, especially things that would he hard to get by the sid… Read More

Today was the annual Sydney German car show.   Due to work travel and the pandemic, the last one of these I attended was back in 2018.   It seems quite a while ago now.&n… Read More

After weeks of warm sunny weather, a cold and wet change rolled into Sydney to perfectly align with our October night drive.    This cut numbers drastically, and we ended up with t… Read More

Fitting aftermarket head units to most vehicles made from 2000 onwards can often be problematic due to manufacturers integrating audio and HVAC controls into the one assembly. Many of us cho… Read More

Over the last few months, the blinkers have been playing up on my 450SLC.     It started out when the car was first started up, the blinkers would flash very fast.   … Read More

In the first part of this series, I installed the 123 ignition distributor and got the car running.   This part focuses on test driving the car and fine tuning the install.  … Read More

The September 2023 night drive was a bit closer to the city than the last one.    We started at Mt Colah and finished in Brookvale.    Due to some rain earlier in the wee… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an update about my W111 running issues.      A reader who is an expert in these cars suggested I fit a 123 ignition distributor.    H… Read More

Today was the annual ACT German Car show.   I always enjoy this show and this year was no different.   The show is held at Queanbeyan Park, which is a great spot with ple… Read More

The 2023 British car show was finally on in Sydney, the first since 2019.   The 2020 and 2021 shows were lost to Covid and the 2022 show to wet fields.   The 2023 show wa… Read More

I’ve known the automatic transmission in my 560SEC was weak for a few years now.    It was exhibiting a lot of the symptoms of wear that these 722.3 transmissions do when the… Read More

Editors Note:  This is part three in a series by Nick Gruzevskis about living with a Ford BF MK2 Falcon Futura Wagon.    Part 1 introduces the car and part 2 is a six month up… Read More

My 250SE has been suffering from poor running issues for almost two years now.   It started not long after I got the car back from being repaired from the impact with the Kangaroo… Read More

Today was the Monthly St Ives Auto Brunch cars and coffee event.    The event is held in St Ives showground.    Since I last attended, they have moved from being spread o… Read More

For August, the monthly MBNSW night drive was back up north.    The route started in Windsor, taking the putty road up to Bull Ridge road, across to the Sackville Ferry, up to the… Read More

The German Auto Show has grown into one of the larger Victorian car shows, showcasing the main German marques, but also some of the lesser-known brands that have ceased manufacturing, such a… Read More

The Shannons Eastern Creek car show is always one of the biggest events in the calendar for the Sydney car scene.    I’ve been going for years, but this is only my second tim… Read More

Owning more than a few classic cars can often be problematic, as minor maintenance jobs are often deferred. My 450SE (Claudia) had been on top of the hoist for a few months without being dri… Read More

This week my 450SLC has been in the workshop having a major service.    This was the first time since the big trip to Adelaide last year.    There were a few things to so… Read More

Today I went to a cars and coffee event organized by the Mercedes-Benz club.   It was a bit different to normal, as the theme was ‘Bring your other car’.   Th… Read More

Last night was the monthly MBCNSW Night drive.   We didn’t do one in June, primarily because that week coincided with the week most of Sydney seemed to have the flu, so most… Read More

I recently sold my 1979 Mercedes 280SE at the Shannons May 2023 auction.    I’ve bought a couple of cars at auction, but never sold one before.   This article cover… Read More

When I purchased my 300TE, I noticed two things that slightly concerned me.   The first was that I only had one key for the car.   The second was that the ignition barrel… Read More

Today was my first ever observation rally.   After having gone to car events regularly for well over a decade, I had surprisingly never attended one.  The premise is that you… Read More

Note:  This is part two in a series by Nick Gruzevskis about owning a Ford BF MK2 Falcon Futura Wagon.   Part 1 is available here.   What could go wrong owning a 16… Read More

This morning I attended the MBCNSW cars and coffee event in Silverwater.   It was held at the Armory café down by the water.    It is quite nice down there, and th… Read More

This morning I attended the monthly Auto Brunch event at St Ives Showground.    This is easily the best cars and coffee event in Sydney, and even eclipses some of the formal shows… Read More

I am currently in the process of installing a Becker Mexico Cassette in my 1977 Mercedes 450SLC.   In part one, I covered buying and testing the radio.  In part two, I covered… Read More

I am currently in the process of installing a Becker Mexico Cassette in 1977 Mercedes 450SLC.   In the first part, I covered buying and testing the radio.   In the second… Read More

I am currently upgrading the radio in my 1977 Mercedes 450SLC.    It currently has a Pioneer MP3/CD Player I had installed not long after I purchased the car in 2003.   T… Read More

Over the last 12 months or so, I have been focused on getting period correct Becker radios installed in my Classic Mercedes cars.    I had never experienced these radios until I pu… Read More

The May night drive was a little bit different.   It turned out to be the farewell drive for one of our night drive regulars who is moving to Queensland.   Based on that… Read More

National Motoring Heritage Day occurs every year on the last Sunday of May.   The goal is to try and encourage as many classic, vintage and veteran cars out as possible and display… Read More

About a week and a half ago, I attended the May 2023 Auto Brunch event in St Ives.   This is my favorite Sydney cars and coffee event, and I hadn’t had a chance to attend thi… Read More

I recently bought an additional set of W124 Gullideckel wheels for my 300TE.   The wheels on my car look quite good, but the price was reasonable and its good to have a spare set… Read More

Today I attended a MBCNSW event dubbed the Longroof Long Lunch.    I wasn’t actually planning to attend a car club event today, but due to the torrential rain forecast for th… Read More

Last night was the monthly MBCNSW night drive.   This month was a repeat of one of the best drives we did last year.   The route takes some of my favorite driving roads i… Read More

I’m currently in Las Vegas, USA for a work event.   The event starts tomorrow so I had some time to get acclimatized to the time zone, and a buffer in case of any flight dela… Read More

The Becker Mexico Cassette is the radio most often associated with Mercedes-Benz cars of the 1970s.    At least in Australia,  it would progressively become standard in the va… Read More