The W123 Mercedes has developed a reputation as workhorse the world over, with dilapidated examples still plying their trade as taxis 30-40 years after they rolled off the production line. But finally a transition is occurring. The W123 is rightfully being considered more than just a workhorse – cars are being restored, books written about the model and images of war torn countries...
Mercedes had rather elegant steering wheels in the 1960s. Later, safety concerns led to a change to the padded, plastic type. These were thin style, and from an era where driving gloves were the norm rather than the exception. As was the trend at the time, there was a separate horn ring. There was also an early nod to safety with a padded center. These...
My 450SLC was starting to slip a little in reverse, especially under load (e.g. up a hill). The transmission was shifting gears very well other than this one area, and the fluid looked clean and at the right level. The 450SLC uses the 722.0 transmission, which unlike the later models has an adjustable B3 band (which is used for engaging reverse). This...
I recently came across an old price list for Mercedes-Benz in Australia in the mid 60s. They were very expensive cars back then, probably more so than they are today, and even a base model was around double a holden, let alone the range topping (for the saloons) 300SE. These prices are for the standard car, so most buyers would have selected at...
Every classic car community has an issue that polarizes opinion and spawns countless threads on Internet discussion boards. For the Citroen DS, that issue is what is the right tyre for the DS? Michelin were the owners of Citroen during the entire production run of the DS. During that time they pioneered the radial tyre, which was introduced in 1949. The Radial was...
My 250SE Cabriolet was produced 50 years ago today, or at least I presume it was, since it has this date noted on the data card, and the first service was December 1965. The Original owner was the Australian Diplomat Brian C Hill, who collected the car from the factory and apparently took it with him to various diplomatic postings around the...
My 250SE was sporting the stacked style of headlights, which are quite popular on these models. Personally, I prefer the original type. I had some original lights, but needed to restore them before they could be fitted to the car. The wear parts of the headlights are the reflectors that dull and rust over time, the gaskets that crumble (as can be...
The headlights on the W108, W109, W111 and W112 Mercedes are all interchangeable, which means many cars are no longer sporting the headlights they left the factory with. They are all based on a design introduced on the 300SL roadster in 1957. The W113, W114/5 and W100 all had similar designs based on this same theme, but those lights will not...
Today was the annual Mercedes Club concours and while it threatened to rain all day, the weather held off and a nice variety of cars showed up, including a gaggle of 190SLs, four 600s including a 4 door pullman and a decent number of cars from the ACT. With all those 600s, I expected to see a dictator with a chest full of...
This year I took the 250SE down to the 2015 ACT German Car show, which I last attended in 2013. It was a lovely day to drive a convertible down to Canberra and as usual the 250SE performed very well. At freeway speeds the engine turns at 4,000 RPM, which is unusual for a modern car, but fits into the nature of the engine....
After restoring the 250SE to the correct wheel trims, the next step is to fit the correct headlights. The car is currently fitted with the stacked headlights. These are often known as Americana headlights. They are actually different to the USA style as they use halogens not sealed beams. This style was a common extra on the V8 W111’s and later a popular...
My 250SE has been ‘wearing’ 280 style hubcaps since I got it, but I had always wanted to convert it back to the correct style. As it happened, a box containing the original headlights and the original hubcaps for this car was found by a previous owner and re-united with the car. The outer beauty rings were missing, but I had a set of...
Classic Mercedes have always had attractive chrome and painted wheel trims. Most people are very familiar with the ubiquitous one piece Mercedes hub caps that were available on nearly all models from the late 60s to the mid 80s. W111s (and associated models such as the W110, W112, W113, W108, W109) had a few different styles that are now rarely seen. Style 1:...
The 280CE was back today to get a radio installed. When I purchased the car, the previous owner had removed their radio, so there was a great big hole in the dash. Luckily, my brother who purchased the car from me already had a Sony radio he had removed from his previous 280CE. The W123 radio is a standard DIN fitting. Unfortunately...
The drivers door on the 450SLC had become harder and harder to close properly over the past year or so. It normally took a couple of tries before it would latch correctly. I therefore decided to try replacing the door striker, which do wear out over time. The part number of the new striker was 115 720 06 04. As can...
The Mercedes club had a run today out through the Royal National Park to Sublime point. It was an official club run, so historic plated cars were welcome, and in particular was focused on the 107 series. Given this, I took the 450SLC. There were 7 107’s at the start and at least one more met us at the venue. 5 SLs and 2 SLCs,...
The 280CE came back to the warehouse to replace the idler arm bushings. The simple description of the idler arm is that it is the part that attaches to the steering linkage from the passengers side to balance the pittman arm which connects the steering box on the drivers side. Bad bushings in the idler arm mean that the steering system is not...
The Mercedes Club organized a late spring evening ‘topless’ drive up the Old Pacific Highway to the Central coast. I had forgotten what a nice drive the Old Pacific Highway is, certainly nicer than the F3/M1. I took the 250SE, and it was the oldest car there, the best representation being from the R107, in particular the 380. I also discovered...
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