Monthly Archive: March 2020

2400 mile road trip in an eBay 560SEC – Part 1 5

2400 mile road trip in an eBay 560SEC – Part 1

I lived in Michigan between 2007-2011.   When I first moved there, I bought a cheap but somewhat rusty 1989 560SEC to be my daily driver.   It was already rusty so I was not worried about driving it in the notorious Michigan snow and salt.   After about 18 months the original 560SEC had been hit a few times in the snow.   It also had a...

W126 A/C no longer cooling 1

W126 A/C no longer cooling

There is an old saying that deaths come in threes.   I’ve not had any deaths in the family, but I had the A/C dead in three cars at the same time.   The easiest was the A/C in my 450SLC that just needed a re-gas.   The W126 A/C has been more problematic.   Just as I got the system in my 560SEC mostly finished, the A/C...

More and more parts for Mercedes modern classics are NLA 3

More and more parts for Mercedes modern classics are NLA

Mercedes-Benz have justifiably maintained an excellent reputation for making parts available for their older vehicles.   They still do a great job for their ‘halo’ classics like the 300SL gullwing or Pagoda SL.   At the same time, I have noticed a big increase in the number of parts No Longer Available (NLA) for the modern classics.   I define the modern classics as those made from...

Auto Brunch St. Ives March 2020 4

Auto Brunch St. Ives March 2020

The 2020 March Auto Brunch event at St Ives Showground was the biggest I have attended.    I was only able to stay for about forty minutes and cars were already leaving when I arrived, but the total numbers were up on last time’s already large attendance. This month I went in my 450SLC.    I perhaps should have taken the 560SEC as there...

Classic Jalopy