2023-09-17 06:33
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
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Classic Jalopy Blog
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A classic car blog focusing mostly on Mercedes-Benz, Citroen and Jaguar
2023-09-15 09:39
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
2023-09-11 00:48
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
2023-09-06 02:24
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
2023-09-03 01:07
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
2023-09-01 00:51
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
2023-08-29 07:13
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
2023-08-20 06:41
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
2023-08-13 07:38
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
2023-08-05 03:23
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
2023-07-30 12:04
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
2023-07-27 22:49
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
2023-07-22 13:08
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
2023-07-10 14:46
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
2023-07-02 10:32
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
2023-06-28 08:36
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
2023-06-25 01:03
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
2023-06-04 01:02
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
2023-06-03 10:58
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
2023-05-28 14:01
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
2023-05-28 07:43
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
2023-05-27 00:09
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
2023-05-26 12:17
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
2023-05-22 02:06
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
2023-05-16 09:17
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
2023-05-07 02:19
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
2023-04-30 08:18
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
2023-04-28 02:30
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
2023-04-16 03:35
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
2023-04-06 01:41
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
2023-04-05 01:03
Like a lot of wagons and hatchbacks, the 124 wagon uses gas struts to hold up the tailgate. Unlike most vehicles, these are completely hidden in the structure of the car. I… Read More
2023-04-02 12:21
Today I joined an informal group of S124 owners for a technical day. There was an expert in these cars visiting from Victoria, so it was an opportunity for every to get together… Read More
2023-03-31 01:02
The March 2023 night drive route was another new one. We try to rotate them around the city, so this one ventured south. The route started at McDonalds Heathcote, be… Read More
2023-03-30 04:16
I have been in the process of installing a Becker Grand Prix 1402 in my 1990 300TE. This is the model of radio it came with, although this particular radio is not original to thi… Read More
2023-03-26 13:40
Yesterday, I started installing a Becker 1402 in my 1990 300TE. This was the radio it was sold with, and the same radio I have in my 1987 560SEC. I had removed the ol… Read More
2023-03-25 20:42
I purchased my 1990 Mercedes 300TE with a modern Sony Xplod CD player. It was a fairly low end model that sounded pretty bad and looks really out of place in the W124 dash. … Read More
2023-03-25 10:31
Since purchasing my 300TE, I haven’t been happy with the operating temperature. It hasn’t overheated, but it was running hotter on days in the mid to high 20s than I… Read More
2023-03-19 05:40
Today I attended the monthly Machines and Macchiatos event in Terrey Hills. Last time I was able to attend was October 2022, when I took my DS. Today is a swelteringl… Read More
2023-03-18 11:38
Today I joined the MBCNSW for a drive to the Australian Motorlife Museum. The museum is located in Kembla Grange, near Dapto. It primarily focuses on pre war cars, mo… Read More
2023-03-18 11:12
This last week my 250SE has been at the workshop having an alternator upgrade. Back in 2020, my alternator gave up, and I replaced it with a rebuilt 35A alternator. … Read More
2023-03-17 01:21
The sunroof on my 280SE has not worked properly since I bought the car. It would sometimes move a bit, if I played with the switch, but not often. Since I didn&rsquo&hell…Read More
2023-03-11 22:24
Earlier this year, I had the suspension spheres on my 1970 Citroen DS checked for pressure. The ride had become pretty terrible, so it was obvious there was a problem. We were ab… Read More
2023-03-06 01:38
When I first got my 300TE registered, I had the A/C regassed as it wasn’t very cold. That made a huge difference as after that the car was ice cold. According… Read More
2023-02-25 10:09
Ever since I purchased my 300TE, I had wanted to replace the aftermarket roof racks with the S124 factory cross bars. The car came with a set of Rhino Sportz roof racks, which lo… Read More
2023-02-23 23:39
After last month’s inner city night drive, for February we were back to our normal formula of less trafficked roads on the urban fringe. The drive route came from a… Read More
2023-02-22 23:05
One of my friends in the Mercedes Club recently bought a nice original Mercedes-Benz 450SE. Is a 1979 model in Silver-Green metallic with date leather. It is equipped with a sunroof, which i… Read More
2023-02-18 19:45
I’ve lost count of how many marques I’ve owned, but I’ve never owned a Ford. My father did though, and it was the proud replacement for his 14-year-old Volkswagen 1600 Notc… Read More
2023-02-16 19:49
I’ve owned my 420SEL parts car for a while now, and not really provided any updates as to how it’s going. Overall, I’m glad I purchased the car, although it&r&hellip…Read More
2023-02-12 20:07
Now I’ve had the 300TE registered for a month or so, and have put about 600km on the car, I have a better idea of some of the improvements I want to make to it. I was able… Read More
2023-02-05 07:27
For years the W116 has lived in the shadow of the W126. The W126 is often lauded as one of the best cars Mercedes-Benz ever made. Under its skin it can trace… Read More
2023-02-02 08:04
I bought my 300TE in generally good condition, but there were a couple of things I wanted to do right away to improve the car. I find this is pretty typical with a ‘new&rs&hell…Read More
2023-01-29 05:31
Now I have sold my 1986 Mercedes 300SE, time to introduce its replacement, a 1990 300TE. I had been keeping my eye out for a good driver quality S124 wagon for a while. &nb&hell…Read More
2023-01-24 01:14
Today I sold my 1986 300SE W126. It was the right decision to sell, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to miss the car. It wasn’t the nicest 300SE… Read More
2023-01-20 00:22
Last night was the first MBCNSW night drive of the year. This month we tried something a little bit different. Previously inner city drives have been a bit of a failure as… Read More
2023-01-17 08:03
The Citroen DS is known for the quality of its ride. The books use epithets such as ‘Magic carpet ride’. There is a bit of puffery in that statement, but… Read More
2023-01-08 06:33
Today was the first Mercedes-Benz club event of the year. It was the first of a couple of drives, organized by past presidents of the club. This drive was organized b… Read More
2023-01-07 09:04
For sale: 1979 Mercedes-Benz 280SE. Australian Delivered. Update model with the nicer velour carpet and full wood trim. Original Becker Mexico radio. Well optioned including alloy whee… Read More
2023-01-07 08:57
For Sale: Australian delivered W126 300SE in striking signal red and cream MB-Tex interior. Both interior and exterior in nice shape. Car was repainted by the previous owner. I’ve owne… Read More
2023-01-07 08:30
A couple of months ago an eagle eyed viewer of my Instagram feed asked my why my 560SEL doesn’t have a Hirschmann Antenna. Given how original the car is, it was a good que… Read More
2023-01-02 09:03
I recently spent two weeks in Surat Thani, Thailand. On the way back, the flights from Surat Thani to Bangkok do not line up with the flight back to Sydney. Therefore… Read More
2022-12-28 06:46
Surat Thani is a mid sized city in southern Thailand. It is home to about 120,000 people and is a regional centre for agriculture. The main business is trade in crop… Read More
2022-12-19 04:37
With yet another year almost finished, time for an update on the Classic Jalopy fleet. Similar to last year, I will go over what I did with each car, any issues, and future plans… Read More
2022-12-15 23:51
Last night was the final MBCNSW night drive of the year, and the final MBCNSW event of the year. The drive was a variation of the one we did in December last year. We… Read More
2022-12-14 04:36
Ever since I owned my 560SEC, it has always ridden too low in the rear. I have attempted to adjust it a couple of times, but was never able to get the correct height.  &hell…Read More
2022-11-25 02:24
Last night was the now annual night drive to Bilpin. On this drive, we start in Windsor and then up Bells Line of road to the Bilpin Apple Pie Cottage. The owner is… Read More
2022-11-20 05:28
The Mercedes club is planning a feature in the magazine for models of the late 60s and early 70s. They have previously done features on the 107 series and 124 series.  &hell…Read More
2022-11-07 09:35
Yesterday I attended the Auto Brunch event at St Ives Showground again. It’s still far and away the best cars and coffee event in Sydney. This month was no exce… Read More
2022-11-06 10:37
Last night I attended the MBCNSW twilight drive to Ettalong. This is a concept that the club used to do in prior years but had dropped off the event calendar. Back then, it… Read More
2022-10-30 03:35
Today was supposed to be the annual Sydney German car show. It would have been the first one held since 2019 due to Covid. I missed the 2019 event due to work t… Read More
2022-10-28 05:12
Last night was the monthly MBCNSW night drive. This drive was in the western part of the city. Starting from a McDonalds on the M4, we would drive west until we hit M… Read More
2022-10-25 12:06
Previously, I had installed a Becker Mexico 1402 Cassette in my 1987 560SEC. This is a very similar model to what it left the factory with. My setup looked fa… Read More
2022-10-21 11:32
Back in September, my 560SEC was at the mechanics to fix a sticking brake caliper and fix the A/C. At the same time, I asked for the source of two oil leaks to be investigated.&n&hell…Read More
2022-10-16 07:23
It didn’t seem very long ago that I was at the September Machines & Macchiatos event. In a blink of an eye it was mid October and time for another one. This… Read More
2022-09-30 06:45
Last night’s drive was a variation of one we did a few months ago. Originally it was to start from the eastern side of Galston Gorge, and then follow the previous route.&nb&hell…Read More
2022-09-26 01:18
Yesterday was the 2022 ACT German car show. It was the first since 2019, with the 2020 and 2021 events unfortunately cancelled due to COVID. The ACT show alway… Read More
2022-09-25 11:42
This weekend I drove to Canberra to attend the ACT German car show. I will cover the show itself in a separate article. I chose to drive down Saturday afternoo… Read More
2022-09-20 07:30
I am currently in the process of installing a period correct Becker Radio in my 560SEC. In part 2, I had the system up and running. The final task was to tidy up the… Read More
2022-09-18 23:11
In part 1 of this series, I had begun installing a Becker Mexico 1402 in my 560SEC. I had planned out my install and done the core wiring for the Becker itself. Today… Read More
2022-09-18 11:34
Today I attended the September 2022 Machines and Macchiatos event. This is my second time to this event, I managed to attend the December 2021 event last year. Since my las… Read More
2022-09-14 11:38
My 1987 UK Market 560SEC was originally sold with Becker Mexico Cassette player (option 251). I’ve been planning for a while to re-install a period Becker radio, with a few… Read More
2022-09-11 23:51
I’m currently planning to re-install the Becker Radio in my 1987 560SEC. At the same time I will be installing a small amplifier, a bluetooth FM Injector and a couple of unobtrus… Read More
2022-09-11 04:13
Today I was supposed to be attending the All British Day at the Kings School. Unfortunately the event was cancelled after the weeks of torrential rain here in Sydney. &nbs&hell…Read More
2022-09-05 03:48
The Becker 374 Mexico Cassette Vollstereo Reverse was the standard radio installed in the S-Class from 1979-1981 models in Australia. It was seen on the last of the W116s and I believe… Read More
2022-09-01 23:21
I’ve ben grappling with a stuck ignition key on my 280SE W116 for some time. In part 1 I finally managed to move the key to position 1, but could not unscrew the collar to… Read More
2022-09-01 05:18
When I purchased my 560SEC, the A/C was not working. It hadn’t even been converted to R134A. I suspect it had never worked while in Australia. The c… Read More
2022-08-28 00:38
Today I took my E-Type to the Eastern Suburbs cars and coffee event. I’ve never taken my E-Type to one of these informal cars and coffee events. I normally take what I have… Read More
2022-08-27 07:03
In Australia, the 560 models were standard with a Becker 868 Mexico CD Player. This doesn’t sound like much of a deal in 2022, but back in the mid 80s this was a huge deal… Read More
2022-08-26 00:39
This month we had a shorter and less adventurous night drive. We started at McDonalds Thornleigh and took the Comenarra Parkway and Lady Game drive before crossing the har… Read More
2022-08-23 08:52
I am currently installing a Becker 1402 Grand Prix electronic in my 560SEC. I don’t have the original owners manual packet for the car, so I didn’t have an instructio… Read More
2022-08-22 13:15
Previously I had a stuck ignition barrel in my 280SE. After 5 hours of trying, I finally got it to move, allowing me to get the car out of the way. At the time, I was… Read More
2022-08-14 11:05
Today was the 2022 Shannons Eastern Creek Car Show. This is the biggest car show that I know of in Sydney, and is held at Eastern Creek Raceway. I’ve been going… Read More
2022-08-13 11:13
I’m currently planning to install period correct Becker radios into my 450SLC and 560SEC. I previously outlined the radios I plan to use, and tested them. I was… Read More
2022-08-09 11:03
It was back in April 2018 when I got a call from Greg at Gullwing Motors, telling me to come in as he had a car that I might be interested in. Oooh, this sounded exciting, what was it?! I co… Read More
2022-08-07 07:10
Today I attended the monthly Auto Brunch event at St Ives Showground. This is easily the best cars and coffee event in Sydney. There is always a huge variety on displ… Read More
2022-07-31 20:28
I installed the Classic Auto Sound Becker tribute radio in my 250SE a couple of years ago. The W111 series are supposed to have a slimline radio instead of a DIN size. &nbs&hell…Read More
2022-07-31 07:03
I was able to attend the Eastern Suburbs cars and coffee event this morning. I’ve managed to attend the last couple of these events and there are always a good mix of cars… Read More
2022-07-29 01:45
Earlier this morning I returned from the MBCNSW July 2022 Night Drive. We try to rotate the travel direction around Sydney, so this time we were going South. The dr… Read More
2022-07-25 10:58
It’s only been a bit over a year since I sold Oskar, my 1988 300SE at the 2021 Shannons Autumn Auction. It was my father Oskar’s pride and joy, and I was keen to join the MBCV wh… Read More
2022-07-25 00:50
I was quite keen to start using the 280SE more now I have sorted out the steering, exhaust and drivers seat. I don’t have a modern car, so I rotate the various historic re… Read More
2022-07-24 00:54
Now I had the 280SE at the point where I could drive it more, I wanted to attend to the drivers seat. Like most of these cars, years of driving had caused at least some of the sp… Read More
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