Our destination is Royal Gardenia, which is in Bilpin not far from the Blue Mountains Botanic gardens.  Royal Gardenia is owned by a club member who opens up late for us and serves us apple pie and pizza.

We usually get a pretty good turn out for this drive and 2025 was no different.  I decided to take my 250SE Cabriolet – a good evening to drive with the roof down.   It was good weather down in Sydney, but actually got quite cold up towards Bilpin.

Late on a Thursday night there is minimal traffic, so its a good time to cruise up and Bells Line of road is quite an enjoyable road to drive in that state.

On the drive we had a usual good variety of cars.  My 250SE was by far the oldest car there, but we also had a lovely R107 500SL, three 126s in a 300SEL, 380SEC and 420EL, a 123 280CE, a good selection of 124s – two 300E, 300CE, 300TE, a modern E400 convertible and also a Toyota Cressida.

As well as our usual drive and chat over Pizza and apple pie, we also had some club awards, of which I was lucky enough to get one, alone with one for a 500,000km award for an E220 wagon.

Its always a good evening, but a late one.  It was good to take the 250SE out for a drive, and I had to push it pretty hard to keep up with the 500SL, although I was generally able to.

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The week had been very hot and humid in Sydney, and Thursday afternoon greeted us with a typical Sydney summer storm.   We’ve been a bit unlucky on some of these drives, having good weather during the week and then storms rolling in on a Thursday.

Despite the weather, we had a good turn out for the drive.  I took my 560SEL, and on the drive we had four W124s (230E, 300E, 300TE and E220T), a 380SEC, my old 280SE W116, a 280SE 3.5 W108 and two modern Mercedes.

I find the W126 to a great wet weather car.   They are so stable in bad weather and there are few cars I would rather drive in the rain.   Given the weather, there was not a lot of traffic on the road, so it was an easy cruise up to Bilpin.

Our destination was ‘The Big Apple Pie’ which is run by a club member who opens up late for us for these annual drives.   They are a lot of fun, and well worth getting to sleep at 2AM for a special event like this.   After a busy couple of weeks at work, it was a good opportunity to get out for a night drive.

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Considering it threatened rain all day, the turn out to the event was very good.  It even rained slightly on and off on the way there.    We had two 107s (My 450SLC and a 500SL), a 380SEC, and a bunch of 124s – two 300Es, a 300CE, a 300TE and an E220T.   Plus two modern Mercedes, an E class convertible and a coupe.

The drive up to Bilpin from Windsor is always great at night, there is very few traffic and the twisty roads are a lot of fun in these cars.     Once we got there, we first had pizza, then fresh apple pies and coffee.   Our host is a club member and his banter with our president is always a lot of fun.

As well as the usual night drive crew, we also had a potential new member in a signal red 300CE.   Signal red is such a striking colour.  Reminds me of my old 300SE W126.

I didn’t get home until almost 2AM, but it was worth it.   This is the main reason why we don’t do this event more often.     With all the fun we were having, I forgot to take more pictures.  Particularly at the start when there is some light.

I ended up doing over 200km on the 450SLC for this drive.

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The night drives are always more popular as we head into summer, and the night drive to Bilpin in particular is one people find fun, despite the very late night.

On the drive, we had all classics this time, plus a Mazda!   Surprisingly, W116’s led the charge with three cars, two 450SEs and my 280SE.   There was also a very nice W108 280SE, a pair of W124s, an R107 500SL and a US spec W126 300SE.

For the drive from Windsor to Bilpin, the owner of the Silver Green 450SE and I swapped cars.   Both our cars are 1979 cars, mine a 280SE imported six months later and sold in Sydney, and his sold originally in Melbourne.    It was interesting to get out of a 280SE and straight into a same year 450SE.    Both cars should have new front shocks fitted, so they were pretty even in the suspension and ride category.    The 450 having the slight edge due to the anti-squat feature which is very nice.

The 450 obviously has a lot more torque than the 280, and that torque comes in much lower on the rev range.   Wheras on the 280 you need to keep the revs high and its usual to pull back a gear going up hills, the 450 had the torque to do what it needed in top (3rd).    Both engines make a great sound, but different.   The V8 is a grunty rumble, vs on the 280 you can hear the twin cam top end as you rev the car up to its 6,500RPM redline.    The 280 is lighter and more nimble up front and you can tell the difference.    While they are both great drivetrains, I think the 450 has the edge.

Overall the 280 is probably in better cosmetic condition, inside and out than the 450.  Where the 450 stood out is that leather is a nicer material to sit on that MB-TEX.   As I have fixed the springs on the 280 seat, The 280 was a bit more comfortable.    I think the 450 probably has one broken spring, not two that the 280 had on purchase.

The 450 has just had a lot of work done on it, as it is a car that was rarely used for some years.   These cars don’t respond well to sitting.   Its running very well, and the engine is smooth and has real urgency.   Probably the two next things for the owner to do is address a vibration while braking, and look at why the car was running at 100C on a cool evening just cruising along.   It’s a great car and I expect to see it continually improve.

On the night drive to Bilpin, we took the scenic route to Bells Line of Road.   On the way we managed to find a group of lost Kangaroos.  Normally the Roos are active at dusk and are not seen this late.   This group managed to hop onto the road and put a scratch on the door of the R107 500SL.   We were very lucky it wasn’t worse.

The rest of the drive up to Bilpin was uneventful and we all had a good evening eating apple pies before returning home.   It’s a two hour drive for me to get home from Bilpin, so it was pretty late when I finally arrived, but worth it.

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We’ve had some really wet and wild weather in Sydney of late and last night did not disappoint.    It was absolutely bucketing down.   Not surprisingly, the almost 20 registrations whittled down to about half that number.

What was surprising was the number of classics in attendance far outnumbered the modern cars.

In attendance we had two W116 cars – an anthracite 450SE and an astral silver 450SEL; three W126 cars, My signal red 300SE, a smoke silver 420SEL and a lapis blue 380SEC; and two W124 cars, a white E280 and a diamond blue 230E.  The W116 is starting to build in popularity again and its nice to see them regularly at club events.    For the moderns, there was a W211 E55, an E400 cabriolet and a CLA45S.

The drive up to the apple pie cottage at Bilpin was a bit slower than usual given the conditions.   Most of the cars have no driver aids of any kind.    Sadly we lost the E280 and the 420SEL.  The E280 had a flat bettery at McDonalds and the 420SEL had the low coolant light come on.   Better to be safe than sorry and overheat the aluminium V8.

It is great to see the classics out in conditions like this.   They are meant to be driven and enjoyed and this drive certainly allowed that.

I took my 300SE on this drive.   This was because its good in the wet and I wanted to get one last club drive in before I sell it.   Even in the 300SE I lost traction on a roundabout on the way to the meeting point.

After a feast of pizza and apple pie, we proceeded back to Sydney.   There was an unmarked speed camera hiding in one of the zones where the speed limit drops from 80 to 60.   The tolerances have been recently reduced in NSW, so I hope nobody was pinged by the camera for doing 65km/h.   I didn’t get home until 1;30am, but the drive was well worth it.

I didn’t take any photos at the Apple pie cottage as its too dark for them to come out properly.   The final night drive of 2021 is the week before Christmas, starting in Camden.

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Unlike the warm summer weather of last year, it was a little colder last night.   Only one brave soul (our club president) did the drive with the top down, with temperatures ranging between 5-13C.    Probably due to the cooler weather, the turn out was a bit smaller, but we still have 11 people on the drive.

This time instead of heading up through Richmond, we took a back road through Freemans Reach.   It was a much nicer drive and one I would do again.  The drive up to Bilpin is very pleasant at night with minimal trucks to get stuck behind and a lack of traffic in general.

The only downside is that I am pretty sure I was nabbed by a hidden mobile speeed camera on the way back.   NSW has removed all warning signs from their mobile speed cameras in the last few months.   Revenues are up by an order of magnitude and of course road deaths are unchanged.   This particular camera was on a long straight stretch of road with no hazards to speak of, and at 1:30AM with no other cars.   I can’t think of a more blatant attempt at additional taxation.

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The drive started from the McDonalds car park in Windsor.   From there, the drive took us up Bells Line of Road to the Apple Pie Cottage in Bilpin.   The Apple Pie Cottage is run by a club Member, Sam, who opened just for us.    It was a pretty good event all around.  Hot apple pie and ice cream after a nice drive.   Bells line of Road is much nicer at night when there is less traffic.

The meeting time was 9:30PM.  Quite late, but it allows for people who work late or have kids to do what they need to do and home and then get to the meeting point.   We had 24 registrations for the drive, and a great turn out on the night.

One the drive we had a nice mix of old a new.   I took my 250SE Cabriolet.  A perfect night for open topped motoring.   A few others agreed as we had three R107s,an R230 and an SLK.   Also along was a W108 280S, a pair of 450SLCs, a 280CE, a W140, two W126s, an AMG GT and an AMG CLA45S.    The amount of power AMG get out of that 2.0 liter 4 cylinder engine in the CLA is staggering.   Not sure I would still possess a licence if I owned this car.

The two 126s are both lovely cars.  The 420SEL has just come out of major dash out work replacing the evaporator, and it was good to see it on the road again.    The 280SE belonged to a new member and it was a real time warp car in a great colour.   You can even see the condition of the paint under the wheel arches in the photo below.

The W108 280S is a really interesting car.  Its a subtle light green colour with a red MB-TEX interior and a manual transmission.  Most of the W108 cars that came to Australia were automatics in white, so this car is quite unusual.      I like it.

The Apple pie cottage, our destination for the night drive to Bilpin was also our destination earlier this year for a regular club drive.   We all enjoyed the dessert and coffee and left quite late for the drive home.

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This drive was actually rescheduled from earlier in the year.   On the day it was supposed to happen, there was a big storm and the power was out, causing the original event to be postponed.   I had gone to the meeting point and almost drowned in the 10 meters from the car to the McDonalds.

Today the weather was much better, if still a little wet.   This time I brought the whole family – Apple Pie and Ice Cream is a powerful draw card for small children.   The drive to Bilpin up Bells line of road is quite nice and the traffic was fairly light.    As I had the whole family, I brought the 300SE.   It was a good run for the 300SE as it normally gets used for very short trips around my house.

There was a pretty good convoy of cars for the drive to Bilpin, including a W108, a couple of W126s (my 300SE and two 420SELs), 107, 114 coupe, a W140 in a fairly unusual colour, an A124 and some more modern cars.   Also in the line up was a McLaren.

The whole family enjoyed the pie, and there was a raffle draw where I won a voucher for some car detailing.   As I’m terrible at car detailing, I am sure this will come in handy.

From there, the rest of the group did an extended drive up to Mt Wilson.   We peeled off and went for a walk in the nearby Blue Mountains Botanical gardens before driving back home.

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