Longreach Trip – The Cars

Our almost 5,000km road trip to Longreach had seven cars participate.  All seven completed the trip successfully.   Of the four such road trips we’ve done, this one probably pushed the cars hardest.   Yet we had the fewest mechanical issues.   Most of the issues were comparatively minor.

As well as the seven core participants, we also had an eighth car – a 1989 420SEL – participate with us for about 1,200km.   A few of the cars were veterans of previous road trips, but we also had a number of new entrants this year.

The cars are listed below in order of age:

1978 280CE

This white 280CE is an early model C123.  As well as being the oldest car on the trip, it had by far the highest kilometers on the clock, finishing with 467,000km.   Having previously completed the Adelaide trip and the Long Way Euround, this car has now completed 13,000km across all three.

The 280CE had no major mechanical issues.   The engine rebuilt it received some years ago must have been high quality as it still meets its factory performance specifications all these years and kilometers later.   During some of the sections were we pushed the cars hard, it got a little hot, but nothing alarming.

1983 380SEC

The only car to have participated in all four road trips, it has now done 15,900km across them.   The 380SEC is the only car on full registration.  Since it is regularly used, it also didn’t have any mechanical issues.

Last year it had some problems with the ignition system, but a second hand ignition control box fixed that.   The 380SEC finished the trip with around 290,000km on the odometer.

1985 280CE

The night before we left, the petrol blue 280CE still didn’t have a rear windscreen installed.  It completed the trip with no door cards, parts of the dash missing and parts of the exterior trim missing.   Yet despite all this, and not having a proving run, the car did incredibly well.

The 280CE was purchased a couple of years ago.  Not long after the purchase, the owner discovered the air conditioning drains were leaking.   This had rusted a hole in the floor.   18 months of rust repairs later, the 280CE is back.

Not doing a proving run meant a few minor issues cropped up on the trip.   The front left caliper didn’t seem to be doing much at all.  The car may have had engine mounts at some point in its life, but there wasn’t much sign of them now.  And the terminals on the dizzy cap were cratered like the moon.

Yet the car got through all 4950km admirably.   With the interior re-fitted and these small mechanical issues sorted out, this will be an excellent road trip car.   This was the first time this Petrol blue 280CE has participated in one of these trips.   The car on our Adelaide trip was a different.

1985 380SEC

The silver 380SEC completed the trip without much incident.   Being a V8, it was thirsty on fuel, but also on oil, going through almost 8 litres for the trip.   It wouldn’t surprise me if it needs valve seals, a common issue on these cars.   Not all of the oil was burned however.   After one top up, the oil cap wasn’t on properly, bathing the once pristine engine bay in a sheen of oil.

The 380SEC also had a minor idle problem, which resulted in the occasional stall.  We didn’t do a lot of idling on this trip, so it wasn’t really an issue.  The 380SEC was another new entrant, finishing the trip with around 260,000km on the odometer.

1987 560SEL

This was the first time I have taken my 560SEL on one of these trips.   The car did very well, and had no issues to speak of.   The W126 is smooth, powerful and easy to drive.  While driving a car that is almost 5.2 meters long on the twisty sections takes a bit of effort, the 560SEL was really in its element in the long sweeping corners and straight roads that were much of our road trip.

The available torque meant that passing 53.5 meter road trains was a breeze.   The only issue I had was a bit of a belt squeal when overtaking, and I had was appears to be a minor grounding issue with the instrument cluster.  Four times, the speedo needle dropped down to 80, the tacho bounced around near zero, then it all came back.

For a car with a 5.5 liter v8 weighing 1.8t, getting 14 liters per hundred kilometers driven hard was very good.   With these additional 4950km,  the 560SEL is now at 347,500km, probably a year away from crossing the 350k mark.

1990 560SEC

The white 560SEC was another new entrant.  Like my SEL, this car was easily able to pass the various road trains with the available torque.     This is quite a late SEC, which also features the roller blind.  This probably came in quite handy.

The only mechanical issue experienced was a power steering leak.   The leak meant that every couple of hundred kilometers, the reservoir was topped up.

1993 320CE

The 320CE made its second appearance, after joining The Concours Run in 2023.    The HFM fuel injection and five speed auto meant it got good fuel economy despite being quite powerful.

There were no mechanical issues to speak of with the 320CE, the newest car of the group.

Cameo Appearance:  1989 420SEL

This 1989 420SEL joined us for about 1,200km.   The owner of the car is located in Brisbane and was able to join us for a couple of days.     The 1989 420SEL has around 330,000km and has done a number of road trips with the current owner.

The only mechanical issue it experienced was the odometer stopped working, likely a broken odometer gear.