MBCNSW May 2025 Night Drive – Sackville Ferry

May 30, 2025

Our May 2025 Night drive reprised a route we used back in August 2023. That night, we had one of our very rare breakdowns, which we were keen to avoid this time.

We had a great turn out on the night. I think it was largely due to the terrible weather we’ve had in Sydney over the last month. Now it seems to be past us, everyone was quite keen to get their classics out for a drive. In winter, numbers are generally lower, but not this time. On the drive we had:

108: 280SE 3.5
107: 450SLC, 380SLC, 500SL
116: 280SE
126: 380SEC
124: 300E, 300CE, 300TE
Modern: E400

It was an impressive line up, and was probably only missing a W123 to complete some of the most popular classics in the club. I took my 1990 300TE. I don’t use the 124 on that many club events because it gets a lot of use via the logbook as a family car. However, the car was hit in the rear last week by a careless P-plater, so I had it out to do the insurance assessment earlier in the day.

It seems it is the season for destroying W124 rear bumper bars, as the owner of the E400 suffered a similar fate earlier this week on his 300E. A Harley Davidson in his case. The 450SLC was a new acquisition for one of our regulars and what a nice car it is. It is in Icon Gold – one of the best colours from the 70s, and the interior is immaculate. The 380SLC also made its debut on one of these drives, quite a rare car in Australia.

Our route started at Windsor McDonalds. From there, we drove North along the first section of the Putty Road, before turning onto Bull Ridge Road. This took us down to the Sackville Ferry. We manage to fill the Ferry, along with a single Range Rover.

After the Sackville Ferry, we headed up towards Wisemans Ferry Road and then down the Old Northern Road to Dural McDonalds. These roads are all great to drive on, and being night time were deserted.

At Dural McDonalds, most of us were keen to get a snack or a Sundae, but McDonalds have changed their police and their so called open 24 hour locations seem to be drive through only. Since none of our party were savages that eat in the car, McDonalds lost out on around $100 worth of sales.

It was a good drive and great to get out after all the bad weather. The owner of the 280SE 3.5 had recently had his drivers seat re-done and fitted a new compensating spring to his rear axle. He remarked how much better the handling was and more comfortable his car was to drive. That sounds like a win.

We also tried some new more powerful walkie talkies. A few of us plan to use these for an upcoming road trip. While our last set gave us an effective range of 1km on flat ground, we seem to be able to get 2km out of the new ones, which is great. It means the person at the back can communicate with the person at the front without a relay.

Next month is old Pacific Highway.