Fitting S124 factory cross bars

Ever since I purchased my 300TE, I had wanted to replace the aftermarket roof racks with the S124 factory cross bars. The car came with a set of Rhino Sportz roof racks, which looked like a decent, name brand roof rack. However, my wife was quite keen for a set of roof racks for her car, and these would fit perfectly. In addition, I was aware of how much better the S124 factory cross bars look on the car. They are probably not as practical, but I can always temporarily fit the other roofracks if needed.

When I first purchased […]

MBCNSW February 2023 Night drive to Hawkesbury Lookout

After last month’s inner city night drive, for February we were back to our normal formula of less trafficked roads on the urban fringe. The drive route came from a suggestion from a MBCNSW member to visit Hawkesbury Lookout and Krispy Kreme. Penrith Krispy Kreme would be our starting point, as it closes at 11PM on a Thursday Night. It turned out to be a popular choice, as most members picked up a box of doughnuts before the drive. In a few cases, they were ostensibly for partners, but obviously a number of samples had to be taken. It wouldn’t […]

Reinstalling a Becker Mexico cassette in a 1979 450SE

One of my friends in the Mercedes Club recently bought a nice original Mercedes-Benz 450SE. Is a 1979 model in Silver-Green metallic with date leather. It is equipped with a sunroof, which is surprisingly rare on an Australian delivered 450SE. The cars came well equipped with standard leather seats, self-leveling rear suspension, AC, power windows etc. The two features that they surprisingly didn’t have for such an expensive car is the sunroof and rear headrests. Both could be optioned. This car has the colour matched hubcaps that I prefer to the wheels. I was able to drive this car at […]

Guest Article: What’s a Ford BF Falcon Futura MK2 like?

I’ve lost count of how many marques I’ve owned, but I’ve never owned a Ford. My father did though, and it was the proud replacement for his 14-year-old Volkswagen 1600 Notchback, a rare car now, but also assembled in Australia. In 1985 my father purchased a brand new XF Fairmont from Cam Dawson Ford in Geelong. He optioned power steering, air conditioning and alloy wheels. It wasn’t overall sophisticated with the old 4.1 inline six and 3-speed auto, but it got the job done and reliability wise, it never had a problem.

Apologies about quality of photo, it […]

420SEL parts car update

I’ve owned my 420SEL parts car for a while now, and not really provided any updates as to how it’s going. Overall, I’m glad I purchased the car, although it’s hard to find enough time dismantling it.

I’ve been able to recoup some of my money selling a few parts, but I really need to put more effort into this in 2023. I’ve sold a couple of interior trim bits, the air cleaner, boot floor, blower motor and regulator, bonnet latch etc. My main goal in buying the car was parts I wanted myself, but my secondary goal was […]

Planning 300TE repairs and improvements

Now I’ve had the 300TE registered for a month or so, and have put about 600km on the car, I have a better idea of some of the improvements I want to make to it. I was able to take care of some of the most obvious ones right away. I’ve been ordering some parts over the last couple of weeks that are now starting to arrive.

These repairs and improvements are as follows:

Sticky ignition key. The ignition key is every so slightly sticky. I am not keen to repeat the experience of my 280SE. I noticed that […]

Mercedes W116 280SE vs W126 300SE

For years the W116 has lived in the shadow of the W126. The W126 is often lauded as one of the best cars Mercedes-Benz ever made. Under its skin it can trace its lineage back to the W114 models of 1968, but the styling was fresh and modern and it was light years ahead of everything else on the market. Today, the W116 is starting to gain more appreciation as an extremely usable classic. It is however stuck between the classic styling of the W108 series and the modernity of the W126. 450SEL 6.9s aside, they have not reached the […]

300TE first improvements

I bought my 300TE in generally good condition, but there were a couple of things I wanted to do right away to improve the car. I find this is pretty typical with a ‘new’ car even in great condition as every owner has a different idea of how they want the car and what they care about.

The first was the A/C. I knew the second to last owner had done a lot of work on the AC a couple of years ago and it had recently been cold. However, when I got the car it was almost tepid. When […]