Today I attended the 2015 Sydney German car show, which was put on by the Mercedes Club this year. Â Â Unlike the Mercedes show I went to a few months ago, the German car show is an informal show without concours judging. Â 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. Â I took the 250SE and put it on display.
Highlight of the show for me was the 1912 Benz (before Daimler and Benz merged). Â 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. Â You could run the car with one or both giving you some control over timing too. Â Â There was also a nice selection of Microcars, the usual nice collection of Mercedes and a good showing of Porsches. Â Unfortunately, not many BMWs showed up for some reasons. Â 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.