Monthly Archive: May 2014

Finally, a cool running DS 0

Finally, a cool running DS

Even on winter days, the DS had been getting a bit hot under the collar.   Granted, D’s have never been the coolest running cars, and the heat of the Australian summer can tax them and their passengers, but they should easily cope with most days, especially outside the summer months.  I had a few problems – the water pump was leaking and getting...

280CE Water Pump replacement – part 1 1

280CE Water Pump replacement – part 1

The 280CE was leaking quite badly, and it looked like it was coming from the water pump.   I ordered a pump and not have finally started on the replacement. First job was to drain the coolant – which wasn’t in bad condition, disconnect the radiator, and remove it.   The radiator is easy to remove with four metal clips that can be prized...

450SLC Transmission linkage 0

450SLC Transmission linkage

The 450SLC’s gear stick had become more and more floppy, and given my experience with the 250SE, I thought it was better to take a look and potentially fix the issue than have it totally fail on me.  The gear selector bushings are a common issue on these cars. Looking under the car, by 1977, Mercedes had gone to a better design.   As...

2014 Shannons Sydney Late Autumn Classic Auction 1

2014 Shannons Sydney Late Autumn Classic Auction

This month’s Shannons Auction had a few cars I wanted to drop by and see. The first was a W111 Convertible – A manual 220SE.   The car looked nice from the photos and the price range seemed a bit low to me.  ($54,000-$60,000). The car is nice for that price – I would rate it at a nice driver condition – the leather is...

What happens when you don’t use coolant and change it regularly 1

What happens when you don’t use coolant and change it regularly

The DS from what I can gather had been run on rainwater by the last owner – not sure about prior to that, but I do know it was in South Australia for a while, which has hard water. In any case, it looks like it was actually run on ditch water.

Old Benz as a daily driver? 0

Old Benz as a daily driver?

There are plenty of interesting classic cars out there that I are fun to own, and drive on the weekend.   My E-Type is one of those for example.   Not so many can be realistically driven every day though.   In my opinion, the Mercedes-Benz range from the 60s is one of those who can. I just saw an interesting story of a...

250SE Auto transmission linkages part 2 1

250SE Auto transmission linkages part 2

After using yet another bulldog clip to temporarily move the car, I went to look in my parts cupboard and found that I had two of the upper bushings from my old 250SE Coupe that came with some parts. They looked like the right part and had a 112 part number, so seemed correct.   Like the lower one, it was quite an easy fitting....

Classic Jalopy