Category: Drives

Longreach Trip – Day 1 – NSW Mid North Coast 0

Longreach Trip – Day 1 – NSW Mid North Coast

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...

Longreach Trip – Day 0 – Sydney to Maitland 0

Longreach Trip – Day 0 – Sydney to Maitland

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...

Planning a 4,800km road trip to outback Queensland 1

Planning a 4,800km road trip to outback Queensland

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...

MBCNSW May 2025 Night Drive – Sackville Ferry 0

MBCNSW May 2025 Night Drive – Sackville Ferry

Our May 2025 Night drive reprised a route we used back in August 2023.  That night, we had one of our very rare breakdowns, which we were keen to avoid this time. We had a great turn out on the night.  I think it was largely due to the terrible weather we’ve had in Sydney over the last month.  Now it seems to be...

MBCNSW March 2025 Night Drive – Hawkesbury Lookout 0

MBCNSW March 2025 Night Drive – Hawkesbury Lookout

Thursday was the March night drive for 2025.  It had been a rainy day in Sydney the day before and in the morning, so at lunchtime, the prognosis for the drive did not look good.   We only had a couple of sign ups and the weather looked iffy. Luckily for us the weather cleared up and we were set for a good drive.   Our...

MBCNSW February 2025 night drive – Berowra Ferry 0

MBCNSW February 2025 night drive – Berowra Ferry

Yesterday was the MBCNSW February 2025 Night Drive.  For this drive, I brought back an old favorite route – which we last used April 2023. Our route started in Turramurra.   We had a pretty good group of cars show up to the meeting point.   I went in my 1981 240D, and on the drive we also had a W108 280SE 3.5, my old W116...

MBCNSW January 2025 night drive – Heathcote to Campbelltown via Picton Road 0

MBCNSW January 2025 night drive – Heathcote to Campbelltown via Picton Road

Thursday was the first MBCNSW night drive for 2025.   For scheduling reasons, we held it a week earlier than normal.   Our meeting place was Heathcote McDonalds.  McDonalds is always a good meeting place, as it is well lit, easy to find and has clean toilets. It had been very rainy earlier in the week, so I wasn’t sure what attendance would be like.   January...

Road trip to Brisbane in my 1981 240D 3

Road trip to Brisbane in my 1981 240D

This weekend I took a road trip to Brisbane in my 240D.   It was my first ever road trip in the car and I wasn’t sure what to expect.  While I think the 240D is at its best in the city, it did very well on the road trip and I really enjoyed the experience. The trip to Brisbane was fairly last minute.   There...

MBCNSW November 2024 Night Drive – Bilpin Apple Pie 0

MBCNSW November 2024 Night Drive – Bilpin Apple Pie

Yesterday was the final night drive of 2024.   As has become traditional, we headed to Bilpin for a late night feast of Apple pie. The week had been very hot and humid in Sydney, and Thursday afternoon greeted us with a typical Sydney summer storm.   We’ve been a bit unlucky on some of these drives, having good weather during the week and then storms...

Youngtimer Sacco Day 2024 3

Youngtimer Sacco Day 2024

Today was one of the premier events in the MBCNSW Calendar – Youngtimer Sacco Day.   The purpose of the event is to celebrate the cars of the late Bruno Sacco, previously head of design at Mercedes-Benz.   This is the fourth time the club has run Sacco Day, having held previous events in 2020, 2021 and 2023. The thing that makes this event great is...

MBCNSW October 2024 Night Drive 0

MBCNSW October 2024 Night Drive

After our September night drive was rained out, it was good to be back for the October drive.   The weather had been good he day of the drive but a storm rolled through Sydney in the early evening.   It was mostly gone by the time of the drive, but we still had scattered showers throughout. Our route was a new one,  starting at Windsor...

The Long Way Euround 2024 – Summary 2

The Long Way Euround 2024 – Summary

The Long Way Euround 2024 is now the third of these big road trips in Classic cars I’ve organized.  To me an adventure like this is the best part of classic car ownership.   Its not just about owning the car, but about the experiences that come along.   Each to their own, but I really don’t understand the attraction of owning a classic that is...

The Long Way Euround – The Cars 2

The Long Way Euround – The Cars

On our 3,900km road trip, we had 10 cars participate.   None of the 10 required a lorry to return home.   However, pushing these cars hard over such a distance is going to result in a few minor mechanical issues.  On the whole the cars did incredibly well, considering we drove them as they were designed to be used when new. A few of the...

The Long Way Euround – Day 6: Bombala to Sydney 3

The Long Way Euround – Day 6: Bombala to Sydney

Today was the final day of our big Classic Mercedes Road trip.   We started at 6:15AM in Bombala where it was 2 degrees outside.    We were down to 9 cars, as one of our drivers had some unexpected work commitments that came up, so had to leave his car in Melbourne. We stayed in the pub in Bombala.  I generally only book places...

The Long Way Euround – Day 5: Gippsland and Monaro Drive 5

The Long Way Euround – Day 5: Gippsland and Monaro Drive

Day five of the Long Way Euround takes us back towards Sydney via Gippsland and the Monaro region of southern NSW.   After an action packed day on Day 4, today was a little more relaxed, but we still had a museum to visit and over 600km of driving to do. As this is the penultimate day of the trip, we are on our way...

The Long Way Euround – Day 4: Euroa show, great driving roads and MBCV BBQ 4

The Long Way Euround – Day 4: Euroa show, great driving roads and MBCV BBQ

Today was day four of The Long Way Euround, the Classic Mercedes road trip I am doing through NSW and Victoria.  Day four was one of our busiest, and so far probably best days on the trip. Yesterday we had finished in Bendigo. Even though the total amount of driving was less than over days, we had a lot to cover.   We made out...

Classic Jalopy