| Late last year the power window on my 1987 Mercedes 560SEL stuck in the down position. I lowered the window to exit a parking station and the window would not go back up. The first test I did was to check the switch. This would have been the easiest and simplest repair. It is very easy to swap the plug on the front and rear switches, but unfortunately I was able to rule out the switch. At that point I was preparing the 560SEC for the concours run and the 300TE for the Tasmania trip, so I parked the 560SEL […] With 2023 at a close, time for another fleet update. Like last year, I will cover the highlights and lowlights for each car, major worked performed, how much I used them and plans for the future. In 2023 I managed to drive my classics almost 18,000km. Classics need regular use or they deteriorate badly, so I’m glad I was able to drive them so much. I would sell a car I don’t drive regularly, unless there was a specific reason preventing it. The cars are listed in order of their use in the year. It’s not exact, as I note […] I have been in the process of installing a Becker Grand Prix 1402 in my 1990 300TE. This is the model of radio it came with, although this particular radio is not original to this car. In the first installment, I sourced and tested the Becker 1402 and removed the Sony Xplod. In part two, I wired in the right connectors for the Becker, as well as the iSimple Tranzit BLU HF FM injector. By the end of that installment, I had music from my phone playing through the speakers of the car. To complete the install of the Becker […] With yet another year almost finished, time for an update on the Classic Jalopy fleet. Similar to last year, I will go over what I did with each car, any issues, and future plans. As with last year, I don’t own (or desire) a modern car, so these cars are used as a combination of hobby and everyday transport. Last year I had a couple of months between jobs, so I had more time to drive the cars. This year I did just under 14,000km across eight cars. The cars are listed in order of how many miles they did […] I attempted to attend the MBCNSW May night drive with two separate cars. Coincidently, I had the same brake issue with both cars. On both cases I experienced a soft brake pedal, and on further investigation a very hot drivers side rear wheel. The rear caliper was not releasing properly causing it to drag and boil the brake fluid. I knew the hoses were only a year old on the 560SEL, so the issue was likely to be with the caliper. The hoses were probably due for a change on the 250SE, so could have been either issue there. Based […] A couple of months ago a friend showed me his BM2 Battery Monitor installed on his 420SEL. It is a bluetooth enabled battery monitor that connects to a phone app. The app lets you monitor the battery in real time, run some tests and download history from the battery monitor device. I already have various battery testers which are useful for standalone battery testing. However, I didn’t have a good way of checking the overall charging system of the cars. In particular, I have seen some strange behavior with the radios in my 250SE and Citroen DS that may be […] The most recent post about the W126 cowl covers was the 500th post on this website. I started the site in May of 2013 when I was doing a lot of work on my Citroen DS. I had recently purchased the car and was fixing some of the problems with the car, installing a new radio and later re-upholstering it. At that time I never thought it would still be going 7 years later and with over 500 posts. At the time, I wasn’t really concerned with how many views I got as I really created the site more for […] After using blank plates as a way of attaching NSW Historic Plates on the 450SLC and the 560SEC, the adapter I fabricated for the 250SE was looking rather shoddy. I made it myself out of aluminium. I used thin aluminium to make it easier to cut. The thin aluminium bent easily and now had creases. I liked how using the blank German plate filled in the spot for the plate rather well. This plate is far too modern for the 250SE. That style of plate was introduced in the early 90s. It is quite contemporary for a late 80s car, […] It was just announced that the NSW 60 day logbook ‘trial’ has been made permanent. This is great news as its a really good system. The two minor drawbacks – the amount of paperwork and the size of the plates. The plates are tiny and really ugly. They are so small that they don’t line up with the mounting holes of nearly any car. The neatest way of mounting them is to use an adaptor. On the 250SE and Traction Avant, I made adapter plates out of sheet aluminium. I’ve never been 100% happy with them. On the 450SLC, I […] Today, I was reading an excellent article on Curbside Classic about the legendary Paul Bracq. Bracq had a long career with Mercedes Benz, BMW, Peugeot. He also worked at an independent styling house. Part one covers his time at Mercedes-Benz and part two the rest of his career. I highly recommend this article. Bracq was responsible for one of Mercedes-Benz most elegant designs of the post war period, the W111 Coupe/Cabriolet. He was also integral to the W108/W109, W114/W115 and the W113 Pagoda. Later in his career he also styled the E24 6 Series, another favourite of mine. This article […] | |
