Youngtimer Sacco Day 2026
Youngtimer Sacco Day was back again in 2026 today. This is always one of the best events on the MBCNSW calendar. The idea is to commemorate the cars of Bruno Sacco and to use them as he intended them to be used.
This is the sixth event, the inaugural being held in 2020, and no event held in 2022. While they have all varied, the rough formula of the day is two interesting drive stages, one to an interesting attraction and then the second to lunch. The first few events used HARS as the attraction, and we’ve also done the Bathurst National Motor Racing Museum. This year it was the Australian Motorlife Museum.
This year I took my 560SEL. I had finally got the door striker to sort of work, so it had been a while since I had taken it for a proper drive. It is also a very roomy car when I have all three kids with me.
The start point was the parking lot of Tynans Mercedes-Benz dealership in Miranda. We all gathered there at around 8AM for an 8:30AM departure. Unfortunately, like the 2021 event, the weather wasn’t the best. Driving to the start point there was a decent amount of rain. While the rain tends to keep the SL drivers away, the Sacco drivers seem a more hardy bunch. In any case, the rain was useful to wash off all dust from my car. I had planned to wash it the night before, but there was little point due to the pouring rain.
Unlike in 2020, the dealership was shut, so we had access just to the parking area out front. There was a pretty good turn out of cars, with the W124 being by far the dominant model on the day. There was quite an interesting contrast with the new Mercedes-Benz models at the other side of the lot. They were all in shades of monochrome, where the Sacco cars had a wide variety of interesting colours.
The first drive stage was the Grand Pacific Drive through the Royal National Park and over the Sea Cliff Bridge. The rain probably kept the cyclists at bay, which is a good thing. Sacco cars don’t need to wait for middle aged men in lycra.
The rain was steady but not too bad through the national park, although it got quite bad as we exited. This proved too much for one of the Almandine Red W124s, with the rain causing an alarming amount of smoke to come from the signature monowiper. The heavy rain had mostly passed by then, so the car could proceed sans wipers, although the acrid smell was unmistakable. I’m quite surprised that a fuse didn’t blow before it got to this.
As well as the wipers, the ramifications of the closed dealership meant that the kids had to sprint for the bathrooms when we arrived at the Motorlife Museum. Luckily we made it just in time.
The first stage showed the value of using the tourboss app for such events. It meant we didn’t need to worry about staying in a group as everyone can see the route, and where the lead cars are, which are marked in a different colour. This was a big improvement on past events.
At the museum, we were served a nice morning tea of scones and jam. But the big highlight is the museum itself. I’m a big fan of the motorlife museum. It has the sorts of cars you rarely see anywhere else. I’ve been a few times before, but there is always something interesting to see, and to show my young children.
After the museum, the next stage took us over macqurie pass towards Club Jambaroo. There are some very good driving roads here. We were one of the last to leave the museum, but very quickly caught up with the stragglers of the group. Roadworks meant there were limited passing opportunities. Despite that, it was an excellent drive.
We arrived at Club Jambaroo pretty much on time and had a pretty good meal at the club there. They had good kids meals, which is helpful for me with three young children. At the club, we had the awards ceremony, where there were the main prizes for the best original and best modified cars, plus additional prizes for things like the lowest and highest mileage, encouragement and best W124/W126/W201/R129. Surprisingly, we took an award home for the highest milage, just pipping a 300TE. We had 348,754km at Club Jambaroo, and the 300TE had only a few hundred less kilometers.
The mix of cars was totally different to other years. W124s dominated. There were only three W126, two nautical blue LWB cars (my 560SEL and a 420SEL) as well as a 380SEC. All the major variants of the W124 were represented, sedans, wagons, coupes and cabriolets. There were four W201s, including a 2.5 diesel and a good number of R129s. The event also managed to attract a few groups from the ACT club which is great.
I really enjoyed the day and so did my kids. Overall it went pretty well and I wouldn’t change much. The main change would have been to a start location with bathroom facilities. We also didn’t have a great place to line up all the Sacco cars, so an alternate start location could have provided that. It would have also been good to have more time at the museum, as I think that was a major attraction of the day, and not just a morning tea stop.
