This year was more about the drive. The other parts of the formula of getting as many Sacco cars together as possible, and finding a great driving road remained.   The route chosen was the Putty road, which is probably the best driving road in Sydney’s outskirts.

I took my 560SEC.  Of my Sacco era cars, it is the best suited to the Putty Road.   In any case the W124 is being repaired after the hit from the p-plater and the 560SEL has a coolant leak.

Our meeting point was a hotel in Windsor.  We left home at 7am, so I would have time to grab the kids breakfast at McDonalds nearby.   They were less than impressed when a power outage meant that McDonalds Vineyard was closed, and so was the Hungry Jacks over the road.   We had been running a bit late too.  We took Galston Gorge to the meeting point instead of the main road.  The road down the gorge was fine, but on the way up, we drove at 5km/h, as a group of selfish cyclists were blocking the road and preventing anyone from passing.   There were ample places where they could have paused to let the huge line of cars through, including an ambulance, but they didn’t.

We arrived at the meeting point about 30 minutes before the departure time.  The meeting point was serving coffees, but not much in the way of food.  Luckily the kids had brought a few snacks which they ate instead.

The weather was amazing and turnout was really good.  As would be expected, The W124 and W126 dominated. There were also a few W201s and a few R129s, plus on or two other Sacco era cars.

At around 9am, the group took off for the Putty Road. We had a waypoint of the Greygum Cafe, around half way along the Putty Road.  The route was quite simple so it was almost impossible to get lost.  In addition, this year we didn’t try and keep everyone in a tight convoy.  This worked far better.

When we arrived at the Cafe, the Aston Martin Owners club was already there.  There were some lovely classic Aston Martin’s there, including a DB5.  I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures as they left soon after we arrived.

We stopped at the cafe for around 40 minutes.  This gave me time to get the kids something to eat.  Pies and sausage rolls is the breakfast of champions and one of my daughters aid the beef pie was the best she had ever had.

After our break, we completed the second part of the Putty Road.   The Putty road is great as it has long sweeping sections, tight corners and interesting scenery.   Traffic wasn’t too bad, so we were able to get along reasonably well.   The 560SEC does pretty well on roads like this.  It is fast and comfortable.

Our destination was the BenEan winery.   We had a parking area in a back paddock where we could line up our cars.   The only thing I would have changed about the day is that it would have been good to have the non-sacco cars lined up separate to the Sacco cars.

We had an excellent lunch at the winery.   There was an outdoor area with was quite shaded – important given it was in the mid 30s.   Next to it was a pizza oven and the staff were making very good pizzas.

Prizes were awarded after lunch.   There were prizes for the best original Sacco car, best modified Sacco car, presidents choice, highest mileage and lowest mileage.   The best original car was a lovely green E320 C124, the best modified was a red R129 500SL and the the presidents choice was a lovely Bornite 420SEL.   All were very deserving winners.

Looking around the cars parked at the event, there were some really nice ones on display.   Youngtimer Sacco Day 2025 manages to bring out a lot of cars that are rarely seen at club events.  It shows how well a theme for events works.   A regular drive and lunch event wouldn’t get nearly as many cars.  But focusing on a particular era of cars and making it a bit special makes the day work really well.

My kids and I really enjoyed the day and hope to go again in 2026.

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As we drove, we kept passing the model solar system from yesterday.   Saturn was along our route, and Neptune was close to our breakfast location.

The countryside was gentle rolling hills and the roads were quite good as we made our way to our breakfast stop at Coolah.  When we got there, we found the bakery did not open until 8am, which seems quite late for a bakery.  Luckily the service station down the road had a cafe attached which was open.

After our breakfast we headed the short distance to Coolah Valley lookout.   The lookout offered quite good views back over the valley, but we didn’t stay long due to the cold.

Our next stop was the town of Wollar.  It wasn’t so much a town, more a few buildings and a disused service station.   The service station still had a working toilet, which was useful.   The operators left many signs warning people not to shower in the toilet.   I’m curious who tried!

After Wollar, we headed towards Jerry’s Plains, our lunch stop.  To get there, we took Bylong Valley Road.  I’ve done this road a few times and have always enjoyed it.  It has a good mix of sweeping corners, good scenery and there is never any traffic.   I took a day drive here after I had the SLS re-installed in my 560SEL to see how much better it was.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Since we only stayed at the lookout a few minutes, and skilled the Wollar stop, we got the Jerry’s plains very early.  We refuelled at the service station, which was super busy even though it only had two pumps.   As we did so, we saw a pair of Police BMWs drive past at high speed, lights and sirens on, only to stop at the place we planned to have lunch.  A couple of paddy wagons and another BMW arrived soon after.

We waited back for a few minutes to see what was going on.  When one of the BMWs that was blocking the driveway left, one of our group went to see if we could go in.   There were only two police vehicles left – A paddy wagon with a flat tyre and a Sergeant who was interviewing somebody at the restaurant.  Apparently police officers are not allowed to change tyres.  We were given the all clear and went in for lunch.

We were meeting a couple of people who had come on our previous road trips but could not make it this year.   It was great that they were able to come up and drive the last leg with us.

After lunch a few of the group had to leave early, but the rest of us went down the Putty road.  It was a great way to end the trip and the people that left missed out on a great road with little traffic.  Putty road is probably the best driving road close to Sydney.   I’ve done it many times, but I usually take it northbound, and it has been a long time since I’ve done it southbound.

After we said our goodbyes at McDonalds Windsor, we each headed our separate ways.   I arrived home at about 5:15PM, my car having covered 4,954km over eight days.   The planned route, including the amendments for Day 1 was 4,941, so the slight extra makes sense. I’m creeping up to 350,000km in the 560SEL, and will probably pass that next year.

It was a great trip, and given it was the most ambitious yet, we had the fewest car issues.  I’m already looking forward to next year.

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The idea was to find some good roads for the classic car driver who wants to get out and explore the area a couple of hours around Sydney.

Mudgee via Bells Line of Road

The first drive I did was to Mudgee.   I took Cattai ridge road from Glenorie through Maraylya.  This is a drive I do quite a bit as it can be done in a couple of hours.   Instead of returning, I then took Bells line of road up through Lithgow and then up the road to Mudgee.

Bells line of road is always an enjoyable drive, especially during the week without much traffic.   The road up to Mudgee is a nice undulating road with some fast sections and some tighter sections.

I made the mistake of coming back via the Great Western Highway.   It really is a horrible road.   Congested, insanely low speed limits, speed cameras on every corner.   Next time I would go back via Bells Line of road again.

I took my DS.   On the way up the DS drove really well, but it was a bit unhappy on the way home and I had to nurse it back.  It felt like something was dragging on the motor, perhaps one of the accessories?    I did this drive first, before the hot summer weather came in.   The DS isn’t the best as a hot weather car.     It is really comfortable and soaks up the bumps on a rough road like few other cars.

I really enjoyed this drive and would do it again.

Putty road, returning via Wollombi

I did this drive as part of a mid week drive with the Mercedes Club.   This drive is already covered here.    I took my SLC.    The Putty road is so much better mid-week than on the weekend.  The return via Wollombi is much nicer than going on the M1.   This drive is on most Sydney Scenic drives list.

Bylong Valley

This one was a surprise because I just started looking at google maps to find roads that might be interesting.   The self-leveling rear suspension had just been re-installed in my 560SEL and I wanted a good drive to give it a work out and make sure my used struts were not leaking.    Not only was this a good drive, but it fulfiled that requirement as the road was quite rough.   The car was transformed.   The horrible old ute feel was gone and it was back to driving like an S-Class again.

I started by driving up to Singleton where I had lunch.   I then took the Golden Highway to Bylong Vally Way.     The Bylong Valley Way is a really enjoyable road.   A bit rough in times, but scenic and twisty as you cross the mountains.

Return was via Lithgow and Bells Line of Road.  You pop out very close to Mudgee  so the return is very similar to the drive above.   The SEL is better than most people would expect on twisty roads.   It also has plenty of power to accelerate up hilly roads.      This drive really cemented my decision to put the SLS back in.

You could probably make this drive even better by taking the Putty road up to the Hunter and then continuing the drive from there.  Large sections of this route have no phone reception.

Oberon to Goulburn

I’ve been wanting to do the Oberon to Goulburn drive for years.   I’ve always heard it was good but never got a chance to try it.    After I got the cooling system working again, I took my 560SEC.   I figured of the cars I own, the SEC with its 220KW engine or the E-Type are the most ideal cars for this drive, and given the weather was iffy at the start of the day, the SEC was the best choice.

I took Bells Line of Road to get to Oberon and then proceeded to Goulburn.   This road really lived up to expectations.    There are some long fast sections were I got to push the SEC along as well as some curvy bits decending down the mountains.     The road to Oberon from the Great Western Highway is really picturesque as you can see from the photo below.

The only real downside to this drive, is that the return journey on the freeway is a bit boring.

Goulburn to Oberon

I enjoyed the Goulburn drive so much I decided to do it again, but in reverse.   I just had the E-Type ready after its new fuel pump.      The E-Type drove really well and was really in its element on this drive.    I did this one as a pop up drive with the Mercedes Club.   It is kind of funny the one I did on my own, I did in a Mercedes, but the one I did with the Mercedes Club I did in a Jaguar.

I think its slightly better to do it in this direction.   Not because the drive is better, but it’s easier to manage traffic that way, especially if you live north of the Harbour like I do.

Grand Pacific Drive

I’ve done the Grand Pacific Drive through the Royal National park many times.   Both on club events and on my own.   Most recently I did two variants, one that took me inland to Berry and another over Macquarie pass through to Mittagong.   We didn’t have time, but the Berry drive would have probably been even better to return via Kangaroo Valley.   The drive through the Royal National Park is nicer during the week and very scenic, if a bit slow.   The speed limits are artificially slow and heavily policed.   There are also a lot of cyclists.

I took my 250SE on the drive through Berry and the 300SE on the other drive.   Like Putty road, this one is also on most of the Sydney scenic drives list.

Wollombi, returning via Wisemans Ferry

I had a bit less time this day so did a shorter drive.   I took the old Pacific highway to Peats Ridge, and followed the roads north to Wollombi.    On the way back, I turned off and went via Wisemans Ferry.   This is quite a nice drive if you don’t want to spend the full day.   The roads up to Wollombi are in decent shape although the one to Wisemans Ferry not as much.

I took my 560SEC.   The Old Northern Road after you cross Wisemans Ferry is a nice drive too.

Hunter Valley – Scone – Merriwa

On this drive, I took the freeway up to the Hunter Valley and then went up towards Scone, where I had lunch.   From Scone, I took the road to Merriwa, which was scenic and deserted.  I was able to push the 450SLC along a bit.    This was quite a nice drive once I got up to the Hunter but the freeway section was boring.   It could be combined with Putty road or Old Pacific Highway.    I think Bylong Valley was better though.

Barrington Tops

This one was a bit speculative.   There looked like there could be a nice road through the Barrington Tops national park from Barrington across to Scone.    And there is.   Problem is that its unsealed for about 80km.    I took my 560SEL, and while it could easily do an 80km unsealed road, I didn’t want to.   I drove on the unsealed bit for about 5KM until an information kiosk.   When the extent of the unsealed section was apparent, I turned back.

I had tried to get up there without using freeways.   Getting up to Peats Ridge via the Old Pacific Highway was good, and then I went towards the coast towards Alison.   From there I should have taken the motorway as I ended up driving through the Newcastle suburbs.      The other Alternative would have been Putty road and skip the whole area.

During my navigation, I discovered some key differences between Google maps and Waze.   When you avoid Motorways on Google Maps, it just avoids Motorways with an M prefix.   A roads that are built to almost motorway standards are OK.   Waze is stricter.    Major A roads that are dual carrigeways are also avoided.    Thus, Waze will tell you the only way to get up there without using Motorways is to drive up to Queensland and take the silly route around the top.   Google will take you on the A roads.

Waze has an option to avoid Dirt roads, but it doesn’t show them on the map.   Google doesn’t show them at all.   I wish it would.   Maybe I need to invest in a proper printed road atlas to explore more Sydney scenic drives.

It may be worth at some point exploring up Thunderbolts Way.  This takes up towards Tamworth which is too far, but there could be some good intermediate stops.

Future

If I get more time to explore more Sydney Scenic Drives, I may look at more roads on the other side of the great dividing range.   From Oberon, as an alternative to Goulburn, it looks like you can turn off earlier and go via Wollondilly.   There may also be some roads in the area between Bathurst, Mudgee and Lithgow.   I can probably explore further West too.

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Attendance was pretty good for a mid-week event.   I took my 450SLC.   The 450SLC is well suited to this route, but the choice wasn’t really much of a choice, as only the 300SE and 450SLC are up to a longer drive at the moment.   The 250SE is not charging so would promptly run out of electricity.    The 560SEC is currently without a radiator or coolant hoses, and the 560SEL is having some minor panel damage repaired.    Exacerbating this situation is the long shipping times due to Covid19.

As well as my SLC, at the MBCNSW mid-week drive there were two other 107s – a 380SL (with a 5.0 engine) and a 350SL.   Sadly the 350SL failed to proceed early on.   It was belching out black smoke and the owner thought he might have a batch of bad fuel.  I sure hope it was only that!   There was also a 380SEC and a manual 190E, which are quite rare in Australia.    As well as the classics there were three moderns, a C Class, an E class and an SLK.

The route started out taking us west, towards Richmond.   From there we turned off at Comleroy road, and then at Blaxland ridge road.   These are both roads I am quite familiar with, using them to come back from the mountains and avoid the M4 or M2.   We then joined the Putty road, the original way to the Hunter.   The Putty road has some twisty sections and some long straights.   It is nice to drive it without bikes up your tail every few minutes.     We took the Putty road right up to the hunter and then turned for Broke.   There is a slightly faster way to go for Broke, but the road is not as good.

We had a rather nice lunch at Harrigans Irish Pub and then a few of us took a rather spirited drive back via Wollombi and Central Mangrove.    It was really good to get the SLC out and stretch its legs.   I suspect both my SLC and the 380SL 5.0 will need new fuel accumulators as they both struggled to start when warm.    I’ll probably need to replace the transmission mount.   I have not yet inspected it, but from the vibrations I was feeling I am pretty confident it is collapsed.

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Given the problems I had with overheating last year, I was rather dismayed that at 5:15 this morning, my temperature gauge was not working.   Turns out the flying lead had become wrapped around the steering column and turning corners had ripped the ends of the wires.   I was able to do a quick and dirty temporary fix to ensure peace of mind on the drive.

Turnout this year was not as good as last year, but we had two DS, A Traction Avant, an XM and two modern Citroens.

The traction was a rare Slough Big 6 with the small boot.   However, unfortunately the owner found the steering heavy and had replaced the Big Six motor with an ID19 motor and gearbox, and the  front suspension with that from a 6H.   Seems a shame to do this conversion in such a rare car.

Tellingly, not a single car on the run had historic registration (despite four of them being eligible), again showing how poor this system is in NSW.

The run was a lot of fun, and the DS was even overtaking slow moving hatchbacks.   Of course, many motorbikes (and their shadow, Police cars) were on the road, but not enough to make the drive unpleasant, and Putty is far enough away that you don’t get stuck behind push bikes.    I wasn’t able to stay for lunch, but all in all a good day.

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This was an event organized by the Citroen Club and there were some nice cars in attendance – the Blue D is a DS23ie BVH Pallas.   The Green car is a just completed restored DS23 Pallas.   The 2CV was breaking in a new engine, and there was a nice GS that is not in the photo, plus a couple of modern Citroens.    Breakfast was at the greygum cafe on the Putty and lunch at one of the hunter wineries.    Overall this was a good day – I like the club runs that cover longer distances – if you’re going to get the car out – get it out for a decent drive.

Unfortunately, my repeated radiator flushes did not sort out my overheating problem like I thought.   The car ran well on the flat sections and downhill, but heated up quickly on the uphill sections, so much so that it overheated twice.   Despite flushing the radiator, the coolant was a murky brown colour again, making me feel that this radiator is going to need a recore.

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This weekend, I chose the Putty road and to take the E-Type, and this decision was vindicated by a great drive with minimal traffic, vs the people I was meeting up at the hunter who sat in traffic getting on the F3 and then at Cessnock.   The E-Type performed well, especially on the back roads and it was good to get it out for an extended drive.

The route takes you through some great twisting bends, and good scenery.  Being a public holiday, you also miss being buzzed by the massive number of motorcycle riders, although you might have to wait for  a few cows, like I did.

View Larger Map

I can also recommend lunch at the Verandah restaurant in the Hunter.  It is a bit on the pricey side, but the food is excellent.

Moreover, there are plenty of places you can stay with undercover parking….

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