As with the 2019 event, I chose to drive down on Saturday so I could show a car and attend the dinner.   This year I chose to bring my 560SEL on the trip.   The running issues on my 250SE are not quite fully sorted out for a long drive, and given the weather all year, I expected decent rain.   I also didn’t have undercover parking this year.

I entered my 560SEL in the silver division, which is basically for road going cars.   Its a great idea and one that I wish the club in NSW would adopt.   It really opens up the event for everyone vs people who have nut and bolt restorations or spend weeks with white gloves on finding that last spec of dust.

They have quite a good system where if you win silver class, you must compete in gold next time (full concours).  And if you win gold you must compete in champions class.   Next time I bring my 250SE, I’ll be in gold, as I won silver in 2019.   Assuming I don’t win in Gold that year I can compete in Silver the year after.    That promotion/relegation system means that everyone gets an opportunity.  Its a great system.     And a huge contrast with NSW that collapsed the categories putting it out of reach except for the super wealthy.

The highlight of the show was the 1938 230 Cabriolet B, owned by John and Sandra Green.    It’s an amazing restoration when you look at the before and after pictures.   pre-war Mercedes-Benz models are very rare in Australia and it was great to see one of this quality on display.

The ACT event always does well with the roundies too, there was a great display of them parked nearby the 230 Cabriolet.   I also noticed how many nice W114/115 saloons there were on display at the show.   That model seems far better represented in the ACT than in NSW.  I also admired a W109 six cylinder in very nice condition.  I love all the small luxury touches on the W109 you only spot if you look closely.     On the other side there are generally more SLs at the NSW event.  Maybe it’s the weather.

Overall there were about 80 Mercedes-Benz on display with a good selection of the various models.   Probably the only real exception were the ‘presidential’ class of cars such as the 300 Adenauer and the 600.   For various reasons, we only had about 4-5 cars on display from NSW this year.   In other years we have had up to 20, so hopefully next time we will be able to bring a big contingent.

The BMW display was very large this year.   You can see the different focuses of the clubs – the BMW club is far more focused on the new M models vs the classics that were in quite small numbers.   The same went for the Porsche and Audi displays.   The VW display on the other hand is a bit more diverse, with the Beetle and the Kombi favorites.

The 2022 ACT German car show was held at Queanbeyan park.   I thought it was a good location – better than the greyhound track used last year.   There was plenty of room for more cars if they choose this venue again next year.

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Highlight of the show for me was the 1912 Benz (before Daimler and Benz merged).   The car had been painstakingly restored and was a credit to the owners. The Benz had an interesting dual ignition system with a set of plugs over the cylinders and a set over the valves.  You could run the car with one or both giving you some control over timing too.    There was also a nice selection of Microcars, the usual nice collection of Mercedes and a good showing of Porsches.   Unfortunately, not many BMWs showed up for some reasons.  There was a very impressive effort from one gentleman, who entered 11 cars in the show, ranging from a 1972 108 through to modern.

This year the show also included a ‘Guest Marque’ which was Rolls Royce,  a nice addition to the show.   The two highlights of the guest marque was the two Phatoms – a Phantom II and  a Phantom V.   The Phantom II was an incredible piece of machinery and the V was a former vice regal car and used for the tour of Queen Elizabeth II.   Given it was a vice regal car, It was probably the car that carried Sir William Kerr to dismiss Gough Whitlam, ironic given the event was held at Gough Whitlam Park.  I am told that Jaguar is the guest next year.

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However, despite the weather there were a few highlights:

• The 280CE 5.0 ‘AMG’ – recently created by MB Spares to show what such a car could have been like if ordered in the 80s
• A few nice 50s models such as 170s, 220s and 300s.
• A couple of nice Pagoda and W111/W108 models.

Outside the Mercedes there were also BMW, Porsche, VW, Audi, NSU, Borgward and others on display.

It was a busy weekend in Canberra with Floriade and the Thai food festival all on.

I took the SLC down to Canberra this weekend, but didn’t display it.

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