Today was the Monthly St Ives Auto Brunch cars and coffee event. The event is held in St Ives showground. Since I last attended, they have moved from being spread over some of the side roads and fields to the main showground. This is a huge improvement. The main showground is plenty big enough for all the cars that want to attend,...
For August, the monthly MBNSW night drive was back up north. The route started in Windsor, taking the putty road up to Bull Ridge road, across to the Sackville Ferry, up to the top of Wisemans Ferry road, then to Dural McDonalds down the Old Northern Road. These are all really nice driving roads, with little traffic at night. While the night before...
by Nick Gruzevskis · Published August 29, 2023 · Last modified September 15, 2024
The German Auto Show has grown into one of the larger Victorian car shows, showcasing the main German marques, but also some of the lesser-known brands that have ceased manufacturing, such as NSU and Borgward. The first show was held in 2016 at the Royal Institute for the Blind and continued at the same venue up to 2019. Initially the event was limited to...
The Shannons Eastern Creek car show is always one of the biggest events in the calendar for the Sydney car scene. I’ve been going for years, but this is only my second time displaying a car. This year I took my 1987 Mercedes 560SEC and brought my three children along with me. Last year I took my 250SE. When you display a car,...
by Nick Gruzevskis · Published August 13, 2023 · Last modified September 15, 2024
Owning more than a few classic cars can often be problematic, as minor maintenance jobs are often deferred. My 450SE (Claudia) had been on top of the hoist for a few months without being driven. I think she was prompting me to use her as a thick layer of dust had formed. When getting her off the hoist, I noticed I fair bit of...
This week my 450SLC has been in the workshop having a major service. This was the first time since the big trip to Adelaide last year. There were a few things to sort out, but one of the major ones was having new engine mounts fitted. These were noted as collapsed when I had the car checked over before the trip to...
Today I went to a cars and coffee event organized by the Mercedes-Benz club. It was a bit different to normal, as the theme was ‘Bring your other car’. The idea was that many club members probably own a car that is not a Mercedes, and that there would be interest in showing those cars off. I thought there would be some interesting cars...
Last night was the monthly MBCNSW Night drive. We didn’t do one in June, primarily because that week coincided with the week most of Sydney seemed to have the flu, so most people cancelled due to illness. We were back again for July, doing a route from Engadine to Campbelltown via Picton Road. This drive was a bit of a combination of...
I recently sold my 1979 Mercedes 280SE at the Shannons May 2023 auction. I’ve bought a couple of cars at auction, but never sold one before. This article covers my experience selling the car, why I chose and auction and why I chose Shannons. Originally I started by trying to sell my 280SE privately. However, I had the issue that I have a...
When I purchased my 300TE, I noticed two things that slightly concerned me. The first was that I only had one key for the car. The second was that the ignition barrel was slightly sticky. There are key blanks available for Mercedes of this era at locksmiths, but the only key I had for the car was a copy. I didn’t feel like a...
Today was my first ever observation rally. After having gone to car events regularly for well over a decade, I had surprisingly never attended one. The premise is that you and your navigator follow along a set of directions and get points for correctly deciphering the clues. Today, the MBCNSW was running one, dubbed The Amazing Rally. I thought it would be...
Note: This is part two in a series by Nick Gruzevskis about owning a Ford BF MK2 Falcon Futura Wagon. Part 1 is available here. What could go wrong owning a 16-year-old Australian designed and manufactured vehicle? It’s now been close to six months since we picked up our 2007 Octane Metallic Ford BF MK2 Futura Wagon, affectionately known as ‘Lister of Smeg’, because...
This morning I attended the MBCNSW cars and coffee event in Silverwater. It was held at the Armory café down by the water. It is quite nice down there, and there is plenty of parking. The venue the club used last time is probably nicer, but has a severe shortage of parking. This forced the cars to triple park and making it...
This morning I attended the monthly Auto Brunch event at St Ives Showground. This is easily the best cars and coffee event in Sydney, and even eclipses some of the formal shows. Even though it was raining on and off all morning, turn out was excellent. Probably almost as good as last month even with the bad weather. I took my...
I am currently in the process of installing a Becker Mexico Cassette in my 1977 Mercedes 450SLC. In part one, I covered buying and testing the radio. In part two, I covered upgrading the speakers, and in part three I covered the wiring. This part will be all about actually installing everything. My first task was setting up the control button and microphone for...
I am currently in the process of installing a Becker Mexico Cassette in 1977 Mercedes 450SLC. In the first part, I covered buying and testing the radio. In the second part, I replaced all the speakers in the car. In this part I am covering the removal of the old Pioneer CD player and cleaning up the wiring in the car. The challenge is...
I am currently upgrading the radio in my 1977 Mercedes 450SLC. It currently has a Pioneer MP3/CD Player I had installed not long after I purchased the car in 2003. The Pioneer came out of my old 300E and was installed in early 2002. As well as the Pioneer CD player, the car also had Pioneer speakers. These pre-dated my ownership of the...
Over the last 12 months or so, I have been focused on getting period correct Becker radios installed in my Classic Mercedes cars. I had never experienced these radios until I purchased my one owner 560SEL back in 2020. It was owning this car that made me realize how well they work in the car. I’ve started to view them as part of...
More Posts
