Instead of taking the direct route to the show over multiple days with the rest of the club, we crafted our own scenic route.   This allowed us to tick off as many bucket list items as possible along the way.   We were also set on doing the whole thing in our Classic Mercedes cars.   Doing the drive in a modern car would just be a long drive.   Doing it in a classic would be an adventure.

The way we did it the journey was just as big a part of our experience than the rally.

The Route

A full summary of our route is available here.   The plan was to take the coast road to Adelaide, taking in the NSW South Coast, Eastern Victoria, the ferry over Port Philip bay, great ocean road and then up the coast to Adelaide.   In Adelaide we would attend the National Rally.   We would not have time to attend the pre-rally or post-rally events.

On the way back we would experience the Outback, passing through Broken Hill, White Cliffs, Wilcannia, Cobar, Nyngan, Narromine, Mudgee and Lithgow.    Overall our route would be a little under 4,000KM, with the driving in Adelaide itself taking us over 4,000.

The Cars

Our group was doing a classic Mercedes rally, so we all chose classics we thought were appropriate for the trip.  As it happened, they were all high mileage cars.   We had on the journey:

• 1977 450SLC (mine): 306,000
• 1978 280CE (white): 445,000
• 1981 280CE (green): ~250,000
• 1983 380SEC: 277,000

We all spent time preparing our cars for the rally.   This involved fixing what we knew needed attention, and bringing spares we thought we would need.   I had a few things to sort out on my car.   I also packed a crate of spares and tools to help me on the way.   I’m glad I took what I did as I ended up using a fair number of the tools and spares I had.   These cars are over 40 years old, so no matter what preparation is done, there is always the possibility that something will fail.

On our drive, we did have some issues with the cars.   The important thing was that we got all of them through the trip and back home.    The 380SEC proved to be the most reliable car.   Its no coincidence that this is the only car of the group used as a daily driver on full registration.    These cars are at their best when driven regularly, and the less they are driven, the less reliable they will be.   Due to the lockdowns, the 1981 280CE had not seen a lot of recent use.  This is probably why a few parts failed on the journey and needed replacement.   It was all stuff that could be replaced on route, with some skill!

I lost the drive belts on my car, and while they were not all that old, in retrospect I should have just replaced them before the event.   Belts are consumables, and better to have the confidence of near new belts.

On the trip, I used 668 litres of petrol (with about 3/4 of a tank left at the end), so probably a bit over 600 in reality.   The cost was about $1,300.   The 450SLC is not the most economical car to begin with, and mine has the ADR27A pollution controls, which the government mandated to reduce emissions.  Consequently, it uses more fuel and produces more CO2 than the standard cars.    I also went through 2 litres of oil in covering about 4100KM.    On the trip I ranged from 14-17l per 100/km, with an average of mid 15s.   That is actually pretty good going compared to city usage.

I noticed that South Australian petrol was significantly cheaper than what was available in NSW and Victoria.   In some cases up to 50c per litre cheaper.   Not sure why that was.

Getting there

Our trip there took us three days.   On the first day, we drove down the NSW coast, crossed the Victorian border and stayed in Orbost.   The weather was diabolical through nearly the entire day, with a small break in the weather around lunchtime.   We could hardly see out of the cars, let alone take in the scenery.   Just after we crossed the Victorian border, the alternator on the 1981 280CE died, forcing us to limp the car back to the hotel in the dark without headlights or wipers.   The weather also highlighted how cars of this age are not exactly waterproof.

On the second day, we located a wrecker to get parts for the 81 280CE, which also involved addressing the cooling system too.   That took us to the outskirts of Melbourne.   From there, we took the ferry across Port Philip bay to our destination in Torquay.   Highlights of the day were ensuring the 280CE would be able to continue and the Ferry over.     A detailed description of the second day can be found here.

On the third day, we did the Great Ocean Road.   That was the highlight of our drive to the National Rally.   We also drove some great coast roads to Adelaide.   Even better, there was minimal traffic on those roads and the weather was great.   I managed to loose my drive belts, but had help to get back up and running quickly.   This was the most demanding day of the trip.    The great thing was all four cars made it.

The Rally

The rally itself was really well managed by the very friendly MBCSA team.   The highlights for me were the Show and Shine event and the scenic drive to South Adelaide.   The event at the Cube was also an interesting location and it was nice to visit a South Australian winery and see the Dali exhibition.    Adelaide and Glenelg were both new locations for me and I would like to come back at some point and explore further when I have more time.

I would do another National Rally assuming the schedule and location.  Next rally in 2024 is being held in Queensland.  I hope it is held in somewhere interesting, rather than Brisbane or the Gold Coast.   For example, somewhere like Longreach could be a cool place for a rally.

Getting Back

Our return Journey was an outback adventure.   I had not experienced driving in the real Australian outback.   It was hot and pretty demanding on the cars.   There were road trains, wildlife, and endless plains.   Seeing Broken Hill, the outback driving and the underground model at White Cliffs were all highlights.   A more detailed overview of the first day of the return journey can be found here.   There is very little traffic and you can move along quickly without seeing another car for a long time.

The return drive was a real contrast from the coast roads of the way over.

On our final day of our Classic Mercedes rally within a rally we drove over 1000km back to Sydney.   It was the most uneventful day of our entire journey and it was interesting to see the landscape change from desert to more fertile land and less arid environments.   This final drive is covered here.   It was a great way to end our National Rally experience.

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Our drive today was to take us all the way back to Sydney.  We would go via Cobar, Nyngan, Narromine, Mudgee and Lithgow.   This would be over 1000KM, exact distance depending on each person, as the convoy was to split in Lithgow.

White Cliffs is at the end of a 95KM road from Wilcannia.   It’s sealed, but doesn’t carry a lot of of traffic.    Despite basically being in a desert, there is a lot of wildlife around, and it would not have been safe to drive our cars on this road in the dark.   Sunrise was 6:20AM, so that is when we planned to leave.

This was a good choice, as there were many animals on the road.   There were plenty of kangaroos, goats and black cows.  The black cows would have been invisible in the dark.  The kangaroos are the biggest worry as they are really stupid and have a habit of turing around and hopping into the path of oncoming cars.   A fact I know only too well.   I had purchased a set of kangaroo whistles to put on my car.   I have no idea if they do anything at all, but I did notice the kangaroos hopping away more as we approached.   This could have been because of the noise of four cars instead of one and nothing to do with the whistles.   In any case, we never hit a kangaroo.

While the kangaroos are more of a worry, there were more goats on the road.   They like to eat the grass that grows by the road’s edge.   They generally get out of the way and are not erratic, but sometimes need a few blows of the horn to get them moving.

After leaving the road from White Cliffs, we headed towards Cobar on the Barrier Highway.   Our first stop was Emmdale Roadhouse about 100KM from Wilcannia.   This was a much better option than that strange petrol station in Wilcannia.   After a breakfast of Bacon and egg rolls we were back on the road to Cobar, which was still another 160KM away.     As with yesterday, we had been taking advantage of petrol stations as they came.   We generally didn’t let the tanks get below half full until we got past Dubbo.

Even though were were back on the Barrier Highway, there were still goats on the road on a regular basis.  However, there were few goat carcasses on the side of the road as compared with kangaroos.   They seem much better at getting out of the way.

After we left Cobar, our next destination was Nyngan, another 121KM away.   As we got closer we could see the scenery starting to change.   Red dirt and slow scrub started to turn into some sparse greenery and even some trees.   There were fewer goats too, even though there would have been richer pickings for them.

Passing Nyngan, on the way to our lunch stop at Narromine, the change was more drastic, it was much greener and there was far more vegetation.  The Bogan River seems a boundary between the outback and the rest of the state.  Traffic started to pick up too.   Out towards Broken Hill and Cobar,  It was rarely necessary to wait to overtake slower traffic.   Now, there was more traffic to overtake and it took much longer to find a safe spot.

It also wasn’t as hot as we ventured further east, so my car and the white 280CE had no real problems keeping the A/C on and the car in a reasonable temperature.  I was sitting in the mid 90s most of the time.   It was a different story in the other 280CE.  There were still times the heater was needed to keep the car cool.

At Narromine, they had a statue of former Australian Test Cricketer, Glenn McGrath.  I actually thought it was somebody else at first, as it didn’t look much like him and the park had a different name.   It was right by a used car dealership in the centre of town. It would also seem that the local birds are no lovers of cricket.

From Narromine, our next stop was Mudgee.   Mudgee was about 167KM away.   Once we got there, we had really broken the back of the trip, as Mudgee is within day trip driving from Sydney.   The roads around Mudgee were pretty rutted and potholed and there was quite a bit of traffic, making overtaking hard and slowing our progress.    In the end, we decided not to stop and continue to Lithgow.    We got to Lithgow an hour ahead of schedule and went our separate ways.

Not long from home, my car rolled over 310,000 on the odometer, signalling we had covered over 4,000KM on this trip.   Other than losing the belts, the 450SLC had performed well.  I’m glad I chose to bring it along for this trip.    I will soon be installing the new National Rally 2022 badge on the car, along with the 250,000KM badge and the MBCNSW badge.  The other choice would have been the 560SEL.  A much as I like that car, and it would have been more comfortable and fuel efficient, the SLC was still the right car for the trip.

The days driving had gone pretty well – The only one with no real issues on any of the cars.   While we had a lot of driving to do today, it was always Day 3 I was most concerned about.

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Yesterday, our group had decided to leave early to ensure we got to our hotel while it was still light. We were keen to ensure we were not driving around Wilcannia and White Cliffs after dark, and wanted to see a bit more of Broken Hill. Therefore we rolled out of the Stamford Hotel at 4:30AM in the morning.

Our goal was to get out of Adelaide while it was still dark, and stop for breakfast around dawn to ensure we were not driving on outback roads when kangaroos are too active. We managed to see the sunrise while we drove and then stopped at Terowrie for a fuel up and a service station meat pie for breakfast. We planned to fill up more often than previously on this drive. The service stations are fairly far apart (often 200KM) and we didn’t want to chance one being closed our out of fuel and running out. Therefore, we filled up every 200KM or so to be sure.

At Terowrie, a lady staying at the roadhouse urged us to drive through the old town before getting back on the highway. We were a bit skeptical, but we were really glad we did. She had told us it was this original old town from the 1880s that was basically untouched and she was right. It was definitely worth the short detour to take a look. There were still buildings with blacksmith signs and so on.

From Terowrie, we ventured further and further into the outback. The traffic really started to thin out and eventually it was mostly road trains, Toyota Landcruisers and the occasional car. For readers who live outside Australia, the Land Cruiser is king of the hill when it comes to outback Australia. Nothing comes close. I had never driven with Road Trains before, so it was quite the experience passing them. Most of them were doubles, but there were the occasional triple road trains along the way.

Eventually we reached the NSW/SA border at Cockburn. At this point it was starting to get pretty hot and the green 280CE was starting to suffer. It was able to maintain our pace with the windows open and the heater on full, vents pointed out the window. That would keep the temperature at about 100c. In addition, the rear suspension had sagged even further that the car was starting to resemble a taildragger airplane.  This car, being an 81, is was not equipped with SLS.

Eventually we reached Broken Hill for our lunch stop. we had made pretty good time arriving at 11:30AM instead of our planned 1PM, thanks to our early start. Broken Hill was quite different to what we had anticipated. There were a lot of people around and some of the shops on the main street seemed more at home in Byron Bay than a previous mining town. Still, you couldn’t get away from the mining heritage, with the Miners Memorial dominating the skyline above the town. After lunch in a local cafe, we went up to take a look at the view and the memorial. It really highlighted how dangerous mining was until the second world war, and how gruesome some of the deaths were.

At that point my car started to run pretty hot in the city. The auxiliary fan had stopped working. Luckily, it was just a fuse and we had it up and running again quickly. It had obviously been running a lot as temperatures were starting to climb. I was seeing about 90C on the gauge before lunch. My electric can is modified to cut in mid 80s to ensure reasonable A/C performance with R134A.

Up until this point the scenery had been quite interesting. However, the first hour after Broken Hill was pretty monotonous. In addition, both 280CEs and my car were starting to feel the heat, so we had to maintain 110KM/H to keep temperatures around 100C. At this point, the white 280CE and my 450SLC could maintain 100C and have the A/C on. The green car was still cranking the heater to keep temperatures under control. The day was so hot that as soon as we stopped, coolant temperatures rose quickly due to the lack of air flow and water pump. At our stops during this part of the drive, you would see all three cars with bonnets open and electric fans running to try and keep temperatures reasonable. The 380SEC was completely unaffected, highlighting how good the W126 cooling system is. Certainly on 40+ days in Sydney I would normally drive a W126.

Eventually we arrived in Wilcannia. There was a real eerie feel about this town. It seemed almost deserted, like the residents had just picked up and left. Given we had a 200KM round trip to White Cliffs, we decided to fill up at the local BP. It was the strangest petrol station I have ever used. Down a lane in the back of town, it looked more like a junkyard with a petrol pump. You had to pre-pay your petrol in a kiosk while the lady running it eyed you off from a shipping container room. it was really expensive too.

From there, we started the final leg of our drive to White Cliffs. We stayed at the White Cliffs Underground Motel. A downside of this choice was that the room don’t have their own bathrooms, but the novelty of sleeping underground seemed worth it. The rooms didn’t disappoint, it really was quite a cool place.

We had dinner at the Hotel which was nice but quite expensive. After starting at 4AM, we were pretty tired and ready to retire to our caves for the night. Tomorrow is a 6:15AM start and the marathon 1,000KM drive to Sydney.

Today’s drive was long, but really good. It was such a different experience driving in the outback, from the road trains, to the scenery, to the vast expanses of emptiness in all directions. Totally different to driving in the USA or Europe, which I’ve done more than my own country!

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The drive was really good.  Not only did we see some really nice coast roads, it was interesting to see some of the houses built by the beach.   There were also many cars (mostly 4x4s) on the sand, something that you don’t really see in NSW.    In addition, we stopped for a break at a dam which had great views of the surrounding area.    The road was really good and it was a great showcase of the drives available in the region.

From that point we continued down the coast to the lunch destination, a golf resort with great views over the water.    There were probably about 60 cars on the drive, so the organizers split us up into groups.   That was probably a good idea as it would have been hard to stay together.   They had one local car heading each group, which was nice.    Throughout this event I have found the local club members to be very friendly and welcoming.  The grouping is a good example of that.

On the way back from the event I had hoped to catch up with an old friend, but unfortunately the times didn’t work out.   We were only in the area for two days so it was a pretty packed schedule.

Before I even left on the drive to Lady Bay, I had to make some repairs to my car.    Yesterday, one of my friends noticed that my front left indicator was not working.   I bought a new bulb during the visit to Repco, but an indicator bulb change on a 107 is fiddly.    It requires the removal of some of the front trim and the whole headlight assembly from the front.    Had it been a rear bulb I could have swapped it in seconds in the Repco parking lot. Luckily these bulbs don’t go out often – It must be 15 years since I’ve had to change one.  I’ve found the trick is to push the piece of trim that goes below the lights into the cavity behind the bumper bar.  This should stop it getting scratched.

As well as the indicator globe, I had one more repair for my 450SLC.   The shredded fan belt had taken out the A/C compressor belt. This repair was beyond a roadside fix, but I had an offer of help with this job if I could locate the required tool.   The tool in question was a 150mm thin adjustable spanner.   This was small enough to get down onto the belt tensioner for the A/C but had a wide enough mouth to actually grip it.  There is very little room down there, so a longer for fatter tool makes this job very hard without more disassembly than is feasible in a hotel parking lot.

In the end, our whole group took a six-pack of beer up to the parking lot to do the belt change. My car is now ready for the 2,000KM drive home.

The great thing about the tool we needed was that it was readily available at Bunnings warehouse.   I was able to purchase it on the way back from the scenic drive.   While there, the owner of the white 280CE purchased a new battery for his car.   The old one was kind of old and it wasn’t performing well at idle.   Better to have one than not in the remote areas we are traveling tomorrow.

As a group we also discussed our plan for tomorrow.   We agreed that it was better to leave very early to allow more time to actually see Broken Hill.   If we leave at 4:30AM, we should be able to get out of Adelaide without hitting any traffic and be ready to drive on the open road once the sun comes out.   We do need to be careful at dawn of Kangaroos, as they are most active at Dawn and Dusk.    We can try and time our breakfast stop for dawn if possible.

The final part of the day was the Gala Dinner and farewell.   Formal events are not really my cup of tea, but it was well managed, the food was quite good as was the musician.   We were able to chat a bit more with some of the local members before we went up for an early night.    They also had some bottles of wine as door prizes.  In addition, there were two modern Mercedes-Benz cars on display.  These were not door prizes.

As I look back on the rally, I have enjoyed my time in South Australia and at the Rally.   I’ve never traveled to Adelaide or South Australia before.  I would like to come back and see a bit more.  Perhaps with the family when I have more time.   The event was really well organized and a real credit to the Mercedes-Benz club of South Australia.   I thought the major events such as the Show and Shine, visit to the Cube and the scenic drive were all great.    The next event is Queensland in 2024.   Not sure if I will be able to make it, but I kind of hope its out of Brisbane so I can experience a new place.  I have been to Brisbane many times.

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Our plan was to go over before breakfast and get the cars washed.   Two of us left the hotel about 6:15AM and found this carwash, which was open but deserted.    You were not allowed to use your own products, but you could put coins in the system and select various modes for the nozzle provided.

The first problem we encountered was a lack of change.   The carwash only accepted gold coins, $1 per 90 seconds.   Since the 450SLC was my daily driver when coin parking meters and bridge tolls were a thing, I had some change in the glovebox.   The gold coins only amounted to $3.    Luckily a cab driver arrived who was willing to swap a $10 note for some gold coins.  We now had $13 to see how clean we could get the cars.

The first setting we tried was the pre-rinse.   That was a waste of a $1.   It was just a pathetic trickle of water out of the hose.   Even breaking a $50 wouldn’t have got us clean cars on this setting.   The pressure soap wash and rinse were the only settings worth a try.   I probably couldn’t have pointed the pressure nozzle at my face without ill effects, but it was at least enough to start washing the cars.   I cheated somewhat by using a few of my microfiber towels to go over the most soiled section of the car after using the wash setting.

A combination of the two pressure settings (with and without soap) and a couple of microfiber towels got the cars passable after a while.   Luckily, there was nobody there to tell us off for not following the rules properly.   I don’t think we could have got the cars clean by the water alone.   We went through $12 of our $13 doing the two cars.     It was at that point that our friend in the 380SEC joined us.   He didn’t have any change and we only had $1 left.

In the end we devised a scheme to have one person on the hose and the other with the towel – 45 seconds with soap and 45 seconds without.    It worked well enough to get the most egregious road grime off the car.  It was certainly better value, as the 380SEC wasn’t noticeably worse than the other two.

I was finished first, so I decided to look at my rear passengers side indicator.   I had been told via the radio that it was really faint and only really visible in the dark.    On removing back of the light cluster, the problem was apparent.   The reflector was broken and the piece that was for the indicator was not allowing the bulb right through the hole.    Simply repositioning the broken reflector to where it should have been if it wasn’t broken fixed the problem.

After breakfast, we continued to the show and shine event, which I will cover separately with a photo gallery.

After the photo gallery we had some free time in the afternoon.   I was keen to get the parts needed to get my air conditioning working again.   When I purchased the set of spare belts for the car, I made the mistake of using the owners manual to order what was required.    The issue is my compressor is not original.   Its a more modern replacement in a similar housing to the original GM A6.    Instead of the standard belt, it was using a 13×875.   Luckily a trip to Repco showed they had this belt in stock, as well as another bottle of coolant if the engine fan has to be removed.

Actually, we needed to take two trips to repco, as my front passengers indicator failed driving out of he store.   I purchased some new bulbs for later fitting.   There was some free time to explore around the hotel, and then there were buses to the evening event.    This event was held at “The Cube” located on the d’Arenberg Winery in McLaren Vale.   The Cube featured an art gallery dedicated to the works of Dali as well as others in his style.   Certainly a snail sculpture for $1.1M plus GST was enticing, but I didn’t think my kids would appreciate being turfed out of their house to own it.

On the higher floors there was wine tasting, food and excellent district views.   I found the cube an interesting experience and better than a standard dinner event at a restaurant.   I tried their Shiraz and found it quite good.   With the wine available, rally attendees were bused to and from The Cube.

Again, another action filled day.   I’m a step closer to A/C for the drive over to Broken Hill.  Tomorrow is a drive day, and for the first time non early start.

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After a wash first thing in the morning, we assembled the cars in the park and it ended up being an impressive line up of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, old and new.   I would expect around 80 cars were on display. My two favourites were the 220SE Cabriolets, two of which were in display.    Both were local cars.   As well as those, there were a couple of really nice W110 fintails, a 190 and a 230, a model that is not often seen at our displays in Sydney.

As well as those, there was a good selection of models from the 70’s and 80s in really good condition, including a W123 with 90,000km on the clock.  Other W123 and W116 models were almost as well preserved.   I had spotted a W188 300S in a photo from one of the pre-rally events and I had hoped to see that car, however it was not there on the day.   This is an incredibly rare car in Australia.

Considering the distance, MBCNSW was well represented with a number of classic and modern cars on display.

I was pretty impressed with the event, not only the cars on display but the organization too.   It was great to see a couple of cars I had seen for years on various forums like Ozbenz in real life.  A good example was the red 190 W110 finnie.   Seeing two w111 cabriolets on display that are actually used regularly is a big plus.

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To account for this we left very early – 6:20AM on the road.    After the previous days repairs, the 1981 280CE was now running well.  A rebuilt electrical system and new cooling system will do that.   I didn’t really know what to expect with the Great Ocean Road.  I had heard it is very scenic, but also that it can get very congested.    It sounded like it could be either amazing or a complete tourist trap.   Still, two things were in our favour.   Firstly, it’s a weekday and not yet school holidays.   Secondly, leisure travel is only just opening up.   Travel in the world of COVID is still difficult enough that vacations outside visiting family members are still not back into swing.

Our first leg had us driving 90KM to Apollo Bay for a quick breakfast.   We were on a tight schedule so we grabbed something from a nice Bakery and Pie shop.    The thing that struck me about the Great Ocean Road was that it is this really interesting combination of scenery and great driving road.   Mostly not at the same time, but alternating from one to the other at short notice.    It was great to take my 450SLC through the twisty sections of the road and see our convoy of classic Mercedes-Benz coupes on the road.

All the cars were going well at this point.   The only minor problem was the 380SEC has an issue where the steering occasionally loses power assist if the wheel is turned more than 90 degrees in one direction, but not the other.   Its been happening through the trip, but has been most noticeable in this section.   It sounds like a fault inside the steering box, which is beyond roadside repair.

After the horrible weather of the first two days, we really couldn’t have asked for better weather for day three.   It was bright and sunny without being too hot.    It was even possible to drive with the windows open at times.

From Apollo Bay, the next leg completed the Great Ocean Road.   On paper, our route included a stop at Allensford, 150KM away.   In reality, we planned to stop at a couple of the viewing platforms for the twelve apostles, and skip the Allensford stop.   That is what we did – we checked out three lookouts in the end.   The first one was a bit of a bust, with a path to nowhere.   The second allowed us to see some great views, but not the Apostles, and the final one we tried turned out to the best.

I really enjoyed driving the Great Ocean Road.   The biggest surprise was some of the fast sections in the middle bit.   The scenery was as good as I had anticipated and thanks to the factors mentioned above, it wasn’t particularly crowded.   I would do it again – but having your own car is the key.   I can’t see it as nearly so much fun in a three cylinder rental car.

By the time we hit Allensford, we were a bit over an hour behind the schedule we set.   Not fatal, as we planned to go easier on the breaks in the afternoon.    Our next leg would have us hug the coast for 206Km to Mt Gambier and cross the Border into South Australia.   We found the roads west of Warrnambool to be pretty deserted and were able to make good time.

It was interesting to note the difference crossing the border into South Australia.   It was noticeable how much better maintained the roads are in Victoria than South Australia (or NSW), but conversely the speed limits in South Australia were far more sensible and the roadside was not littered with useless signs like it is in Victoria.   The Victorian roads had all these signs telling the driver there were barriers ahead (Yes, I can see them), that overtaking was possible or not (Yes, I understand how broken and unbroken lines work) and various other messages about road safety that merely distracted the driver.    No wonder the speed limits are so low, everyone is too busy reading the signs.

At Mt Gambier, we debated driving directly to Glenelg, or if we should continue to take the coast road.   When we checked, the time difference was negligible so we stayed with the B101 coast road.    Before we even got there though, we had more problems with the cars.

This time, it was my turn.   All of a sudden it felt like there was something wrong with my steering.   At first I thought there might be ruts in the road, but then I realized I had lost power assist.   Looking down at the instrument cluster, the temperature gauge was in the red.

A roadside inspection revealed that both fan belts were shredded and the A/C belt had been dislodged too.   The belts were not that old, so it wasn’t apparent what had caused the issue.    One theory was one of them had a minor nick, which had grown over time.   Another was a piece of roadside debris.   Regardless, by the time we stopped, the car had overheated, so we let it cool down with the engine fan and heater.

As it happened, luck was on my side.   I had brought a spare set of belts for the car, and nothing else was damaged.     To swap the two fan belts and fit a new alternator belt would have taken me two hours.   Luckily, one of our group is the owner of a of a well regarded Automotive repair and service business, so he helped me change our the belts in about twenty minutes.   Actually he really did all the work, I just fetched the new belts and a few tools. I had brought spare coolant, so we topped that off too.   We had to cut off the A/C belt as it was damaged by the fan, and changing that one out would have been hard by the side of the road.    We will try and find the time to change that one before the return to Sydney.

With my 450SLC back up and running, the plan was to skip the next planned stop and drive up to Murray Bridge via the coast road, about 350KM.   We had all filled up in Mt Gambier, so we had mostly full perol tanks.   However, there was one small problem.   In the excitement of a belt shredding 450SLC, the owner of the 380SEC had locked his keys in the car.   This is possible because his 380SEC is fitted with a remote locking and unlocking feature.    Perhaps a reason to stick with the original keys and locks.    In any case, we had access to the boot, but nothing more.

Luckily, the boot provides access to the emergency sunroof release.   This was enough to grab the keys from the top and allow us to get back on our way.

I was a bit worried about any damage that the overheating had caused to my car.   So far, everything seems normal.    It held temperature as it normally does on the drive to Glenelg, and was charging as normal too.

The coast road up to Murray Bridge was pretty good.  Other than being quite bumpy, there was very little traffic and were able to make good time and see some really nice scenery.    By the time we hit Murray Bridge, we were on track to make it by 7:15PM, which barely seemed possible when we were stuck by the side of the road a few hours earlier.    In the fast sections, the temperature of the green 280CE was climbing a bit, even with its new radiator.   Its likely the engine block is a bit silted up.   Running the heater with the windows open soon took care of that.     By this point both 280CEs were seriously low at the rear, and the 81 is not even fitted with SLS.   Small ride height issues were not going to stop us getting there.

I assumed that once we got on the motorway at Murray Bridge there would be plenty of freeway service centres where we could refuel.  It didn’t seem worth it diverting into the town for petrol when things were going so well.   That turned out to be a bad assumption, so we didn’t actually fill up until we had reached Adelaide and made the turn off to Glenelg.    We did over 400km in a single stretch and really broke the back of the days driving.

In the end we got there about 7:30PM.   It took a while to find parking, as the owners of many of the modern Mercedes were parked across two spots so there were not any left.  This was a bit of a contrast with the pristine 280SE 3.5 Coupe parked perfectly in the lines!   While our original plan had us arriving at 6:15PM, that didn’t take into account overheating cars or acrobatics trying to unlock them.   There was a Welcome event starting at 6:30PM.   Our plan was to check in and get changed for that event.

The event called for smart casual, but we were still in old shorts and T-shirts.    Still, the organizers were kindly waiting for us, so we went straight to the event for a well deserved cold beer.   Our poor attire managed to balance the equation however, as there was a strange push from some in our club to wear suits to this event – and nobody had died!  I wasn’t going to do that, but I wasn’t planning on wearing fraying shorts either.

After three days of driving and over 2,000KM, we were finally there.   What an adventure!    Our forty year old high milers had all made it.   We managed to do the Great Ocean road and the trip to Glenelg all in one day.

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We stopped for fuel not far outside Orbost, where I learned the 450SLC had done about 16l/100km. Not bad for 450, particularly with the ADR engine. Surprisingly, this petrol station didn’t just stock every brand of crisps on the planet, but actually sold useful stuff, like car batteries. We left with full tanks and a fully charged spare battery. It was still raining, but a lot less than the day before. Mostly light showers.

We reached Stratford without incident and had breakfast at a local cafe. Of course, after 90 minutes of driving it was time to check the battery on the 280CE. It read around 11 volts, which actually wasn’t too bad. Instead of using the new battery so early in the day, we decided to swap the battery out of the 280CE with a good alternator. This would allow the white car to charge the battery that had previously been in the green car.  After a while, we would swap them back.   We even used one of our jump packs to ensure the owner of the white car did not lose any of his radio settings during the change!

By then, it was late enough in the day to start making some calls.   turns out finding an alternator for a 1981 W123 is not so easy at short notice.   In the end, we found the only used alternator available in the state of Victoria, located in Dandenong (an outer suburb of Melbourne).   Dandenong was in the right direction for where we were going, although not on our planned route.     Our planned route had us basically hug the coast until we reached Sorrento.

We decided as a group that the best course of action would be to do directly to Dandenong and get the 280CE working again, so we could complete the rally.   Our itinerary for day 3 is planned to be pretty hectic, so today was the day to get everything ready.   Going directly would save an hour or two and put us on the motorway.

The first hour was on A roads until we hit the motorway.   Just before the motorway began, we stopped and swapped the batteries again.    Overall it took us about two and a quarter hours to get to the wrecker in Dandenong from Sorrento.     The owner of the 280CE did the alternator swap in the driveway of the wrecker, and it was quite odd seeing a shiny new part being removed and replaced with a dirty old one.  The old alternator was a real Bosch unit.   The one in the car was near new, and had been advertised as a Bosch, but looked to be some kind of clone.

The replacement alternator wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot better than the one we had removed.   It actually charged the car.     It struggled a bit when the auxiliary cooling fan and headlights were on though.     On the short drive to lunch, it was apparent that the auxiliary fan was on nearly all the time, and the temperature wasn’t dropping very fast on the motorway.   It actually looked like these two problems were somewhat related.   The car was struggling to cool itself, causing the auxiliary fan to come on all the time, putting more load on the charging system.

At the lunch stop we tried two more things.   Firstly, the new voltage installed yesterday was put on the used alternator, which did improve charging somewhat.    The thermostat was also gutted to try and provide more flow to the radiator, plus we stopped at Repco to buy a few supplies to rig up a manual switch for the auxiliary fan.

This wasn’t the only 280CE that had problems today though.   The white car was still having issues with ride height.   Even after another adjustment while the alternator was being fitted, it still rode too low.  It is better than before, and will probably be fine to complete the trip.   The height corrector valve is going to need a rebuild as the car sinks quickly after being parked.

From lunch, the plan was to try and take the ferry across the mouth of Port Philip bay as we had originally planned.   This was far preferable than batting rush hour traffic going across Melbourne.   However, after getting back on the road it was clear that these modifications were not enough.    The car would not keep cool enough top stop the auxiliary fan coming on.    This is where the group temporarily split up.   The owner of the green car went to get a new radiator and viscous fan coupling.  This meant doubling back to Dandenong.  The rest of the group went and took the 4PM ferry to Queenscliff and then on to Torquay.

By the time we got to the ferry the sun had actually came out and we were able to enjoy the views from the ride over to Queenscliff.  The ferry is quite a pleasant ride, although it is very expensive at $72 for a car and driver.  Its extra for any passengers!  It was better value than the $33 cigarette lighter to USB plug I had to buy at Repco as mine failed today.   Annoyingly, I have plenty of these at home.

After our now smaller group got to Queenscliff, we checked out a lookout and Royal Australian Navy memorial.   The memorial was extensive, including  a bit of a focus on World War two.  Coincidentally, There was a plaque dedicated to a ship that the father of one of the members of our groups served on during WW2.

The view from the lookout was great, and it was nice to experience the sunshine for a change. I even opened the sunroof for a while. I would have been drenched had I opened it even a few hours earlier.  The cars look much better in that photo than they do in reality, as they are filthy from all the grime of wet weather driving for two days and over 1,000KM.

From there we headed on some nice coast roads to our hotel in Torquay and found a good brew pub for dinner.   We were later joined by the owner of the other 280CE who came with a new radiator and viscous fan coupling.  He had managed to grab these minutes before the closing time of the vendor, and just make the 6pm ferry.    We have a very early start tomorrow, including almost 900km of driving.  Because of that, he made quick work of fitting all those parts in the dark.   The 280CE now has a used alternator, new voltage regulator, replaced viscous fan coupling, new radiator and a switch to control the auxiliary fan.    It is now hopefully ready for the big day tomorrow and our whole group is really keen to see everyone make it in the car they started in!

Our revised route today took us around 460KM,   I filled up the 450SLC just before we got to the hotel in Torquay and managed to get 14.5l/100KM, which is almost a record for my car.   It’s actually not too bad when on the open road.   Despite a few issues with the cars, the trip has been a lot of fun so far.  There has been the added challenge of trying to do what we can to make sure each car makes it.

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One of our group had made magnetic rally stickers for our cars, which was a fun touch.   They are meant to look like those period rally badges and detail our route.  The east coast of Australia has been caught in the grip of one of the wettest autumns I can remember.   Therefore our expectation for day one was consistent rain, which is what happened.   There were only a few short periods around lunchtime when it wasn’t raining.

Our first leg took us through the Royal National Park and the sea cliff bridge through to Nowra.  This is always a nice scenic drive, although the weather was extremely poor and we hit a lot of traffic around Wollongong.   We had originally planned to stick to the coast right through to Kiama, but we did a bit more on the motorway to gain back some time.  At Nowra, we stopped at a shopping mall to stretch our legs and have a break.

The second leg took us from Nowra to Batemans Bay and was the only leg where we had long stretches without rain.   This also got me to the end of familiar roads and to places I have never been before.   We stopped and had a nice lunch by the water in Batemens Bay.  We were able to take advantage of a beak in the rain for our lunch break.

The third leg took is from Batemans Bay to Eden hugging the coast where possible.   We went though towns such as Bermagui and Tathra.   Unfortunately the weather was shocking and this was the worst we would experience on our drive to Orbost.  There were points where we could hardly see anything, and we had to slow right down to ensure we stayed on the road.   I would like to do this drive again because I could see glimpses of great scenery and water views through the terrible weather.

We finally got to Eden over an hour late, so we took a quick 10 minute break and got back on the road to try and  make up some time.  At this point we were on track to arrive in Orbost at about 6:45PM.

About an hour into the drive is when the trouble started.   We had made really good time in the first hour, with litle traffic on the road and only light rain.   However, at this point one of the 280CE’s reported being down on power.    We had walkie talkies in the cars, which would prove to be invaluable later.     The power was much better with the lights off, so we kept going as best as we could until it started to get dark.

At that point we pulled over and attempted to repair the 280CE.   It became apparent that the alternator was not charging the car.   The alternator was a only a few months old, so all the signs were pointing to a bad unit.   At this point we still had 100km to Orbost.

Too eek out the remaining twilight, we bunched up together, slowed down to 80km/h and let the lights from the other three cars light the way for the 280CE.   This got us another 25km until it was completely dark and the 280CE was now practically invisible.   We stopped at a service station, not only to have another look at the 280CE with the bad alternator, but to troubleshoot a self-leveling suspension problem with the other 280CE.   That car had become very bouncy and the ride height was far too high.

The second 280CE was easily put right.  The control rod for the self-leveling rear suspension had broken and we did a makeshift repair with cable ties.

The situation with the other 280CE was far worse.   The battery was getting low and it was now completely dark.   After more troubleshooting, we tried the spare voltage regulator I had for my 450SLC.   We were able to get some charge out of the stricken alternator, albeit with a pretty bad burning smell.

We had 75km to go, so we hoped that this small amount of charge would be enough to power the fuel pump, ignition system and the parking lights. Again, we bunched up, kept our speed to about 80km/h and set off into the night.  Our aim was to nurse the stricken 280CE to our hotel stop in Orbost without headlights or wipers.  The walkie talkies were really helpful for this part of the trip.   Ever so slowly, the distance to orbost started to tick down. Firstly to 50km, then 20km and finally to 10. We were close. The 280CE was also almost out of electricity. We had to shut off the lights for the final 10km, but in the end we did limp the car into our hotel and check in around 8:30PM. That was an opportunity to remove the battery and place it on the trickle charger for tomorrow.

Luckily, after we checked in, we found a local cafe about to close. The very nice lady running the cafe stayed open and we were able to grab some dinner.  We plan to start very early tomorrow to take advantage of daylight so we can get as much out of the fully charged battery as possible in the 280CE.

In some ways, our experience today is actually a testament to one of the advantages of classic cars.   While they are more likely to fail to proceed due to age, their simplicity means you’re more likely able to limp them home.   In a modern car, a charging problem would have rendered the car inoperable.  We would have been stuck waiting for a tow truck for hours in the rain.

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This event was interesting to me because not only have I never been to one of these events, I have never been to Adelaide either.    A ground of friends from the club had the same idea, and we figured not only would we go to the event, but make a really interesting road trip out of it.   We would get to participate in the event, see Adelaide and see some other parts of the country we have never seen before.

On the way there, we decided to hug the coast, all the way to Adelaide.  This would also allow us to do the Great Ocean Road, something I have always wanted to do.   For the return journey, we decided to take the route via Broken Hill and far western NSW.   The total route was about 3900km, not including any minor detours or driving at the National Rally venue.

Participating on our journey will be four cars.   We originally had five, but one of our group had to withdraw due to work commitments.     My 1977 450SLC will be the oldest (and the thirstiest).    On the trip we’ll also have two W123 280CE models (a 1978 and a 1981 model) and a 1983 380SEC.    My SLC is almost at 306,000, so I will likely roll over 310,000 not far from home at the end.   This will take me close to 50,000km on the car since I became its custodian.   I’ve recently been preparing the car for the trip and making sure I have a few essential spares.

In planning our route, we have tried to avoid driving at night.  I don’t want a repeat of the Kangaroo incident of last year!  In addition to our group, there is a larger contingent from the MBCNSW taking the more direct route to the event.

Day 1:  Sydney to Orbost

The first day will take us down the coast of NSW, starting with the Royal National Park, then through Kiama,  Nowra, Batemans Bay, Eden and then into Victoria.   I’ve never driven further south than Jervis Bay.   Once we cross the Victorian border, there are few towns until we get to our stop for the night in Orbost.    We’ll cover about 630km over about eight and a half hours of driving.   I expect the driving will be quite scenic with the route we have chosen.

Day 2: Orbost to Torquay

The second day will be our easiest day of driving, with only about 530km to cover.   On this day, we hug the coast again until we get to the Mornington Peninsula, where we take the car ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff.   I’ve never been to any part of this days route, and we will pass through coastal towns such as Port Albert.    We end our day in Torquay so we can do the Great Ocean road on day three.

Day 3: Torquay to Glenelg

The third day will be a more intense day of driving with a bit under 900km of driving.   We at sunrise with the Great Ocean road.   I’ve always wanted to do the Great Ocean Road, and doing it on a Friday in April should hopefully mean its not as busy as it gets during tourist season.   The Great Ocean road is well know outside Australia with sights such as the 12 apostles along the way.   Once we have done the Great Ocean road, we need to make good time to get to the National Rally.   There is a Welcome event in the evening that we would ideally arrive in time to attend.   Between the Great Ocean Road and Adelaide, we will hug the South Australian coast.

Day 4: National Rally Day 1

The first day of the National Rally includes a show and shine in the morning, a free afternoon and an evening experience.   The show and shine should be a great opportunity to see all the cars from South Australia and the other states I don’t normally get to see.   South Australia may also be feasible for intrepid owners from WA to make the trio across the Nullabor.   I’ll have to keep an eye out.

Day 5: National Rally Day 2

The second day of the National Rally starts with a morning drive, a catered lunch and then a farewell dinner in the evening.    I wonder if the official drive will be as picturesque as our route to the event?

Day 6: Glenelg to White Cliffs

Day six will take us through some remote areas of Australia.   We’ll leave Adelaide to the North via the Barrier Highway and head towards Broken Hill.   Once we get out on the open road we are really in the Australian outback and there are very few towns until we reach Broken Hill.   This day will take us around 815km, although with few towns average speeds will be higher.   I’ve always wanted to travel through real outback Australia, and this trip will give us a very small taste of it.    We’ll finish the day at the White Cliffs Underground motel.   Temperatures in White Cliffs are high all year round, so many residents live underground.   This keeps everything at a livable 22c.    I’ve always wanted to stay at one of the underground motels.

Day 7:  White Cliffs to Sydney

The final day has the largest distance to cover.   We’ll start in the outback and travel through towns like Cobar and Nyngan.   From there we’ll see the countryside getting greener and the population density grow as we pass near Dubbo, go through Mudgee and start getting closer to Sydney.   We’ll split up at Lithgow, as some of us will return home via Bells Line of Road and others via the Great Western Highway.   Mudgee is as far as I have gone in this direction, so a lot of this route will be new to me.

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