I recently purchased a Mercedes-Benz 560SEC at auction. The auction was in Queensland, so the cheapest way to get the car was to have it shipped to a depot in Bathurst. My brother and I went up to Bathurst to pick up the car in his E63 BMW 650i. The trip presented a great opportunity to drive two v8’s around the Mount Panorama racetrack. This...
In the space of about ten years, the Sydney German Auto-fest has grown from a couple of cars in a small Canada Bay carpark to one of the biggest car shows on the calendar. I attended that first show, unfortunately I did not take any photos. What a contrast to the 2018 show. This was the biggest one yet. The show has now outgrown...
The Australian Motorlife Museum is located in Dapto, about 90 minutes south of Sydney. Visiting this museum has been on my to-do list for some time. Last Sunday I participated in a drive day with the Topklasse forum, which had the Motorlife Museum as its destination. The meeting point for the drive was an oval near the start of the Royal National Park. ...
Back in early 2017 I fixed my broken odometer. The 300SE odometer repair was successful, but there were two things I needed to follow up on. The odometer was reading 10% low. I could hear the gears, especially in cold weather. In addition, some time after I repaired the odometer, one of the bulbs that illuminates the instrument cluster at night failed. The fix...
As my DS has a NOS bonnet, I did not want the hot engine to damage the paint. The Citroen DS under bonnet insulation not only protects the paint, but also reduces noise. I was also told that I was missing two brackets that help hold on the insulation. I was able to purchase a good used pair of the brackets and have some...
Unlike most cars of its era, the E-Type uses an electric fan rather than one driven by the engine. This was probably due to room in the engine bay, as other Jaguar models of the era used engine driven fans. True to form, Jaguar used a very cheap fan (actually a windscreen wiper motor) with two blades like a propeller. This fan was barely...
The 2018 British Car show was held on Sunday at the Kings School. This is probably the best car show of the year in Sydney. As usual all the British marques were there. Also as usual was the lovely display of cars. Overall it was a great day with excellent weather and interesting cars to see. Having said that, the Kings School...
The OzBenz forum is one of the online resources I use to maintain my Mercedes-Benz’s. The forum has evolved over a 15 year period, starting with the Mercedes Veterans mailing list, branching off to the OzVets mailing list. This became the OzVets forum and then later the OzBenz forum. I joined very early on and found this a great set of resources to...
After all my hassles with the DS wiring, I wanted a better solution. Not only were the existing bullet connectors old and brittle, but their colours had largely faded. Instead of replacing the bullet connectors with new ones, I decided to use multi-wire plugs. In this case, Deutsch connectors. Instead of eight wires on one side and six on the other, there would be...
I like to fit a battery disconnect switch to all my cars. It ensures the batteries don’t run down and prevents fires. Fires are a real risk from cars with old wiring. I had put one of those cheap on terminal switches on the 250SE when I got it a few years ago. Of late it had been playing up and was difficult...
One of the last car shows I attended in Michigan was the Coldwater Car Show in 2011. As the Coldwater Car Show is held in May, it is quite early in the season. I left Michigan in early July of the same year – this was probably the last decent road trip I did in my 560SEC. The SEC was a great road...
I first visited the Gosford Car Museum a bit over two years ago. Back in 2016, the Museum had recently opened. Since it operates as a hybrid dealership/museum, the collection slowly turns over. This means a return visit two years later provides a lot of new cars to see. I would estimate that at least 50% of the collection has turned over since that...
My latest rental car was the Toyota Fortuner. I’m not sure the exact year, but it was the previous generation model. I needed a seven seater for a holiday in Thailand and the Fortuner was the largest car offered by Thai rent-a-car. The Fortuner is based on the Hilux with the SUV body instead of the pickup truck. The name sounds like it...
The Shannons Eastern Creek car show is probably the largest show in NSW each year. It is notable for its variety. Generally the cars on display are great examples of everyday models that are now rarely seen on the roads. When was the last time you saw a Morris Minor, Ford Model A or Leyland P76? It is also a family oriented event...
I have not been back in Detroit since 2011 when I moved away after four years. As luck would have it, my first visit after seven years coincided with the date of the Concours d’Elegance of America. I only discovered this event in my last full year living in metro Detroit, and I was blown away. The 2010 event was (and remains) the best...
Ford announced recently they were discontinuing sedan sales in the United States. While sedan sales have been on the decline for many years, this was still a very bold move. Presumably this left a few gaps in their model range. Given the market will buy pretty much any SUV car companies offer, the company has added the Ford EcoSport compact SUV to their line...
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