Today I attended the 2015 Sydney German car show, which was put on by the Mercedes Club this year. Unlike the Mercedes show I went to a few months ago, the German car show is an informal show without concours judging. Unfortunately this means some of the pristine, concours only cars don’t show up, but you do get a great selection of cars over a wide range of marques including Mercedes-Benz, Benz, BMW, Audi, NSU, Messerschmidt, Borgward, Porsche and others. I took the 250SE and put it on display.
Highlight of the show for me was the 1912 Benz (before Daimler and Benz merged). The car had been painstakingly restored and was a credit to the owners. The Benz had an interesting dual ignition system with a set of plugs over the cylinders and a set over the valves. You could run the car with one or both giving you some control over timing too. There was also a nice selection of Microcars, the usual nice collection of Mercedes and a good showing of Porsches. Unfortunately, not many BMWs showed up for some reasons. There was a very impressive effort from one gentleman, who entered 11 cars in the show, ranging from a 1972 108 through to modern.
This year the show also included a ‘Guest Marque’ which was Rolls Royce, a nice addition to the show. The two highlights of the guest marque was the two Phatoms – a Phantom II and a Phantom V. The Phantom II was an incredible piece of machinery and the V was a former vice regal car and used for the tour of Queen Elizabeth II. Given it was a vice regal car, It was probably the car that carried Sir William Kerr to dismiss Gough Whitlam, ironic given the event was held at Gough Whitlam Park. I am told that Jaguar is the guest next year.
I am told by a member of the Rolls Royce club that the Phantom V was indeed the car that carried Sir William Kerr to Dismiss Gough Whitlam and was later egged.