As part of the celebrations for the model, the Mercedes Benz Club decided to attempt driving 107 107’s across the Harbor Bridge.   According to club officials, the 107 is the most popular model in the club.   That meant we may be in with a shot!  It was still going to be a big ask.   There were less than 3,000 107 models ever sold in Australia, broken down as follows:

R107:

• 280SL (74-75): ?
• 350SL (72-75): 311
• 450SL (73-80): 395
• 380SL (81-85): 549
• 560SL (86-89): 255

C107:

• 280SLC (74-75): ?
• 350SLC (72-75): 273
• 450SLC (73-80): 793

I don’t have numbers for official 280 imports, but since they were offered for such a short time, It can’t be too many.   In those years there were three models offered simultaneously, which would have depressed numbers of individual models.

For the R107s, the 300SL, 420SL and 500SL were never sold in Australia.   The 500SL was a common import during the 81-85 years when the 380 was the largest variety on sale.   The 300SL and 420SL are rare, although there was a 300SL on the day.    For the C107s, the 380SLC and 450SLC 5.0/500SLC were never sold in Australia, with the 450 5.0/500 never manufactured in right hand drive at all.   The private import market was pretty good, so I would imagine another couple of hundred came in that way.

The 350 models have not survived in big numbers in Australia, but the rest of the cars were well represented on the day.

The drive started in a parking lot at a boat ramp near the airport.   That would give the convoy a straight shot with no traffic lights onto the eastern distributor and then the bridge itself.   Keeping a convoy of 107 107’s together was not going to be easy – especially on a busy road like the Harbour Bridge.  Even with tight spacing that is still a 1.6 kilometer convoy.    This proved to be the case as there was a constant stream of gormless SUVs pushing to the line.

The weather in Sydney has been terrible these last two weeks and I was wondering what the attendance was going to be like.   The 107 crowd is particularly sensitive to rain.  Not only are a good proportion of them convertibles, but they will rust away in front of your eyes.   The rain held off and we had a pretty good turn out.   I didn’t make a count at the start, but at the end we had 47 107s.

The ending point was a park in lane cove where we had a really good line up of the cars.   Coincidently, I ended up next to two other 906G Silver Grey 450SLCs.   There was a prize that went to the only 300SL in attendance.  A particularly nice car in UK spec with signal red paint and the cloth interior that was never offered in Australia.

This was the first event that I had my SLC after all the work I have done recently.   It drives much better with the new subframe mounts, the A/C no longer leaks all over the passengers floor and I’m really happy with the looks and driving feel of the 15″ Penta Wheels. I was still re-fitting the carpets and under dash panels at 10pm the night before.     I did find a new problem though, the spring in the handbrake is rattling in the drivers side rear.

We didn’t end up getting 107 107’s over the bridge, but it must have been quite a sight seeing such a big group of the cars driving along.  For starters, the 107 was available in colours, not just shades of grey like most modern cars.

Update:  One of our club members posted a video from an overpass as the cars passed.   I counted 47 cars over the bridge on that video too.    Not a bad effort.

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In the short term, I removed the broken lens so I didn’t have anything sharp sticking out of the front of the car.     Not only was the lens broken, but the bulb was dead too.    I then set about trying to find a replacement lens.   There are a lot of lenses out there, but I wanted a proper Bosch lens to match the other side.

I could have purchased a URO Parts lens for a song, but given my experience with the quality of that brand, I imagined it would break just by looking at it.   I eventually found some Bosch lenses for a decent price in the USA and ordered a pair so I would have a spare.

Unfortunately, that package was lost by FedEx.   It was a real shame as I had some rare workshop manuals and some used SLS struts I found for a really good price.   Not only that, but by the time I re-ordered the lenses they had significantly increased in cost.

Today I went about fitting the lens and replacing the bulb.    It is pretty easy to get the frame off, it is held on by two screws.   Once the frame is removed, the reflector and bulb assembly are removed from the light assembly.   This isn’t required to change the lens, but it is required to change the bulb.

The H3 bulb used by the foglights has a wire built into the bulb that can be seen in the picture below.   It was pretty easy to remove, being held in by a metal clip.

Once I had the new bulb in place, I gave it a quick test before I refitted the lens.   The lens is mostly held on the frame.  There are also four metal tabs that hold it into place against the reflector and bulb assembly.     It was pretty easy to get it in and tighten down the frame so that the lens was snug against the light.

This was a very simple job – replacing the W107 foglight lens is something any owner could do.

Another quick test showed the foglight lens still working.   Living in Australia, fog lights very rarely get used.   Consequently not many drivers know how to use them.   Additionally, Australian delivery cars are wired up so they can’t be run at the same time as the headlights.   They are only available with the parking lights.

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