Preparing my W123 for the 50th anniversary event

Led by the MBCACT, the state based Mercedes-Benz clubs are planning a major event for the 50th anniversary of the W123.   The W123 is one of the more significant models in Mercedes-Benz history and so it is an important milestone.

I’ve been slowly tidying up my W123 since I purchased it.  However, I had a couple of last things I wanted to do before the event.

Cleaning the wheel wells

The wheel wells of a Mercedes-Benz of this era should be body colour.  Many people assume they are supposed to be black.  That is mostly because they are normally so caked with dirt and grime.   Some even get painted back due to that wrong information.

It seemed like a good idea to remove the wheels and clean all the dirt and junk out.    I found a toilet brush (that hadn’t been used in a toilet) with its long handle and plastic bristles good for this task.

I had done one of them before when I had to remove a wheel, so I only had three to do.  You can see why these cars rusted out in certain climates.  In both the front of rear there are so many places for dirt and mud to accumulate.  All you need is a bit of road salt for it to eat the car from the inside out.

For example, at the rear there is a sort of ridge or lip that allows a whole bucket full of dirt to get trapped up there. This can’t be easily seen unless the wheel is off.

Removing a stain from the boot lid

I had noticed a stain on the boot lid of my car.  It looked like something had dripped onto the boot and then left a stain.  It was probably either some hard water that dripped from a parking lot, or perhaps bird droppings I had not removed fast enough.

Given there were some swirl marks in other places on the car, I though it would be a good opportunity to give the whole car a bit of a polish.   I started by masking up the rear of the car, before getting out my polisher.

The problem was, I hadn’t used it in 10 years and the fitting to attach polishing pads had perished and couldn’t be used.  So I ended up using a pad in my hand and polishing the boot lid manually.  I think I was able to get it done well enough to get rid of that stain, although I wasn’t able to do the whole car like I planned.

At some point in the future, I’ll do the whole car properly.

Regassing the AC

The AC had become tepid, no good for a drive to Canberra in the height of summer.  I used my blacklight to see if I could see any leaks, and I couldn’t.  With that, I took the car in to be regassed and since it held vacuum, we did.  At this stage I’m not sure where the minor leak is from.  Perhaps under the dash.