Considering the last minute change, the event went off without a hitch.  The change in venue ended up being to the advantage of one attendee, the Helios yellow 300D with black badging and door surrounds I had affectionately dubbed bumblebee arrived on the back of a tow truck.   Poor old bumblebee wasn’t starting, due to a blown glow plug fuse.

Turns out one of the glow plugs had shorted internally.  We were then treated to an impromptu demonstration of how to troubleshoot a glow plug issue in the older series glowplugs while eating rather excellent bacon and egg rolls. Since we were at MB Spares and Service, a replacement glow plug and fuse was on hand.  About 30 minutes later bumblebee roared into life again.

Bumblebee was the third car that suffered from an issue on the trip, which I think is testament to how W123 owners use their cars.  There was a Queensland car on the first day with a plugged fuel filter and apparently a local car suffered an engine issue, which is a shame.

The other interesting thing I saw was a Turbo wagon under construction.  On all the internet sites, the accepted wisdom is that the 617A does not fit in right hand drive vehicles due to clearance issues with the steering box.   Having seen the turbo being test fitted with an NA engine, its clear that it does fit.  Perhaps not to the standards of Mercedes-Benz, but I think the real reason why there was no right hand drive turbodiesels is that Mercedes-Benz did not see the market for them.  The not fitting thing seems like a convenient excuse.

Its been well documented that Mercedes-Benz did not originally plan to make a right hand drive version of the W123 wagon.  It was only due to the fierce lobbying of the UK importer that they did.  I suspect there could have been right hand drive Turbodiesels had the same sort of case been made.  Even if a little engineering was required.

seeing the wagon under construction, it is easy to see how different the OM617A is to the NA engine.  It is fitted with a much higher capacity oil pump, complete with double row chain.  There is an oil squirter under each piston as well as a tube in the bottom of the piston for the oil squirter to cool the piston.   In addition, on this car, the crankshaft is being balanced for a manual transmission.

After the farewell breakfast, I went and checked out the Australian National Museum with my family before heading back to Sydney around 3PM.   It was a really hot day, but the 240D did very well in the heat. The AC keept me very cool.  The coolant temperature sat around 90c at most times, going up to 100 during long sustained hills.   The uprated condenser I installed seemed to have done wonders.

From leaving home Friday morning to returning Monday evening, I covered 1,022km in the 240D.  Probably because I left later, I didn’t see a single W123 on my drive home.

Reflecting back on the event, I think one of the key things that made it so good was its flexible nature.  There was something for everyone.  Tt was perfectly fine for attendees to pick and choose the parts of the event that suited them.   Some like me wanted to do the whole thing.  Others just the show and shine, or something in the middle of those extremes.

Canberra is a very good central location for such events. It was also great to see how well all the interstate clubs embraced it.

I also think having no registration cost was great.  Its much better for each activity to be user pays, or in the case of the dinner room booking, sponsored.  I was very happy to be part of this event.  I am looking forward to mounting my grille badge on the 240D.  It seems unlikely that 80+ W123s will ever be assembled again in Australia.

The post W123 50th Anniversary – Day 4: Farewell and return appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

On the way I filled up my 240D for the first time on this trip.  I had gone through 627km from 62.7 liters of diesel, which I don’t think is that bad with my foot to the floor the whole time and the A/C on max. I have a 80 liter tank from a 280E in my car, giving it very good range.

We had a pretty good turn out of W123s at the cafe and everyone was able to grab some breakfast before heading over to the Show and Shine at the Spanish Club for the 10am start.

As each car drove in, they were allocated a number for judging.  This also made it easier to see how many cars we had.  The numbers slowly ticked up and up as more cars arrived.   We had the cars arranged by body style, with a couple of rows for Saloons, plus a row each for wagons and coupes.

In the end, we had 83 cars there on the day.  That was an amazing result.   I went around and cataloged all the cars on display.  I must have missed a couple, as my count ended up as 80 cars, which consisted of:

• 300D – 17
• 280CE – 17
• 280E – 16
• 230E – 10
• 300TD – 7
• 240D – 4
• 280TE – 3
• 250 – 2
• 200 – 2
• 230TE – 1
• 230 – 1

Like with the number of cars from yesterday, the models were heavily skewed towards enthusiast models.  It also had at least one example of every model sold new here in Australia, and a couple that were not like the 200.   The 230 and 250 were sold new here, but few now remain and it was good to see a few examples.

The states were also well registered, with the 80 cars I counted registered in the following states.  Some of the NSW registered cars were probably local, from places like Queanbeyan.

• NSW – 34
• Victoria – 23
• ACT – 11
• Queensland – 10
• SA – 2

As would be expected, we didn’t have any cars from Northern Territory or Western Australia.  It would have been a stellar effort to drive one across the Nullabor in the peak of summer.  Regardless, it shows the popularity of the model, with so many people driving so far to attend the event.

It was also striking how many really nice cars there were on display.   Additionally, how well some cars wore their milage.  There were plenty of cars that were totally immaculate with over 300,000km on the clock.

As well as displaying the cars, everyone got to compete for some prizes.   The first two awards were by vote.  The crowd favorite was exactly as it sounds.  I voted for a lovely 300D in 476 Goldbraun.  It had been in long term family ownership and these period seventies colours are so thin on the ground now.  The deserving winner was the 300TD that won best in show at the ACT concours last year.

The next award was the workhorse award, which was for a car that had lived a full life but was still on the road and being used and here at the event.  The fitting winner of that car was a 300D with over 600,000km and plenty of battle scars to show for it.   This car was also piloted by the winner of the youngest owner award, fitting to see the next generation of W123 owners at the event.

We also had an award for the rarest and most unusual options.  Each person had to fill in the options list for their car.  My car, being a 240D, scored a goose egg for the options list.  Its not even sporting a lockable glovebox.  I did pick up some points for still having my Becker radio.

After some confusion with quite a few cars apparently having ABS brakes and column shifters, we worked out that the car that had the rarest options was a 300TD with a five speed manual transmission, cloth interior, sunroof and a few other options.

The next award was for the car with the highest mileage, standing at almost 850,000km.  Quite the contrast to the car that won the lowest mileage award with 28,000km.  There was also an award for the longest distance travelled to the event, a little over 1500km from Queensland.

There were plenty of cars that has been in low term family ownership.  However, the car that won the award had been picked up by the owners father brand new from the factory in 1977.  That car was one of the now rare 250 models on display.

As well as the awards, everyone was able to get a commemorative grille badge for their car.  These were only available on the day, so it will become quite a status symbol of being one of the 83 W123s that were there on the day.

The number of cars really exceeded all expectations, and it really showed the passion of the W123 owners group for their cars.  Not just for owning them, but also for using them.   I think its a bit sad that some models of Mercedes-Benz have become so valuable that they have passed into a different type of owner who rarely use them.  Pagodas are now like that for the most part.

I really enjoyed walking around and seeing so many amazing W123s.  And the range of colours on display was pretty special too. The weather was very hot, but that didn’t seem to deter anyone.  I know a few cars that left after the show and shine to head back to Sydney struggled in the heat a little.

After the show and shine, there were some optional activities.  I did the one at Questacon, which is a favorite of my kids.   Surprisingly they are far more interested in this than W123s.   Given how how it was, it was air conditioned which was good.

The final part of the day was the official dinner at the Belconnen Labour club.   This was where the awards detailed above were handed out, as well as a trivia competition and some other prizes, such as Penrite Oil.   The dinner was fun and low key, much better in my opinion than the ‘gala’ dinners that often go with events of this nature.

The post W123 50th Anniversary – Day 3: Show and Shine appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I have more W126 spares than W123, but I brought a few things that I thought could be useful.  The set of mudflaps I removed from my car, a used grille insert, some HD motor mounts I found too harsh, some suspension bushes and a few other miscellaneous things.  The only thing I sold as a reproduction exhaust Y piece for an early W123 M110 engine.  This is the same as on the W116 280SE, and I had bought this to put on my old 280SE, before realizing the entire exhaust needed replacement.

I ended up taking home more than I arrived with, which is either a big success or a terrible failure, depending on how you look at it.  I’ll go with the former.  I managed to get a brochure set for my W123, some spare hubcaps, a toolkit, a first aid kit, a non-working Becker 1402 and a few other bits and pieces.   I was pretty happy with my haul.   It was good to see many people embracing the swap meet and I think it was a big success.

After the swap meet we did the scenic drive.   The organizing team picked a great route for us.   We came down Black mountain and headed towards Anazc Parade towards the National War Memorial.  We then turned back down Anzac parade so we could see the W123s on both sides of the road.

After Anzac Parade, we crossed over Lake Burley Griffin and drove past Parliament House.   A Parliament house we had a photographer stationed to take photos of the cars driving past.  We probably couldn’t have actually stopped, as the AFP are probably not lovers of W123s.  Their loss.

Photo Credit Kanwal Singh.

From Parliament House, we headed over for a lap through the National Arboretum.   This has quite tight corners with views back over Canberra and is quite scenic.   We then left Canberra city and headed out towards Cotter Dam and onto Paddys River Road and Tidbinbilla Road.  These turned out to be a good driving roads and a good place to exercise the 240D.

Our final destination of Lanyon Homestead.   Despite the organizers sending out detailed route instructions, a google map link with waypoints set and even printed instructions for those who wanted them, it was surprising how many cars went shooting off the route.  I don’t think the organizers could have done any more and I think everyone took it in good spirits and reached the end, even if not quite on the roads planned.

Lanyon Homestead is a restored 1850s homestead which pre-dates Canberra.  It was quite interesting and there was lunch available.   While everyone went to queue for lunch, I was curious about the different models we had on the drive, so I did a quick Inventory:

• 300D: 9
• 280E: 9
• 280CE: 9
• 300TD: 7
• 240D: 4
• 230E: 2
• 200: 2
• 230: 1
• 280TE: 1

I’ll be curious how this changes for the show and shine tomorrow.  I don’t think this spread of models is probably that representative of the surviving W123’s in Australia.   It looks like it skews hard towards ‘enthusiast’ models such as coupe, wagon and diesel models.  The mainstream cars like the 230E are hardly represented at all.   On the other hand, you have to be a big fan of the W123 to dedicate an entire weekend to celebrating it.   And even more so to go roaring around twisty roads in 34c heat.

I found myself parked nose to nose with another 240D from Queensland.  I found out that it is also a 1981 model and was produced a month before mine and is only 209 cars separated in the VIN sequence.  That car was originally a Sydney car with a Yorkstar inventory plate, and my car was sold new in Melbourne by Lanes.   There was another 240D, nearby, that one a manual, which was a few thousand cars earlier than ours.

While I counted cars and obsessed over chassis numbers, most sane people did a tour of the homestead.   After some of those tours, it was possible to get some photos of the cars in front of the historic homestead, three cars at a time.

With that done, it was time to head out and back towards Old Parliament house for the tour of the Museum of Australian Democracy.  The tour was quite interesting.  I shared my 9 year old daughter’s astonishment that the first female toilets were installed in the mid 70s.  Apparently in 1927 it was assumed there would never be female Parliamentarians.  However, in 1943, a female MP and a Senator were elected.  For the next 30+ years, they and every subsequent female MP and Senator had to use this absurd system where they would take off their shoes before entering a male bathroom, with the men knowing not to enter if ladies shoes were outside the door!

The bathroom is still in use today for tourists and a rather bemused lady came out as a whole tour group were all standing and looking at the bathroom door.

With the tour over, last order of the day was to go and wash the 240D, now quite dusty from the dirt driveways of the homestead.

The post W123 50th Anniversary – Day 2: Swap Meet and Scenic Drive appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

50 years later, the Australian Mercedes-Benz clubs and the W123 facebook group, led by MBCACT are celebrating the anniversary of this model that appealed to taxi drivers and luxury car buyers alike.

The event is being held in Canberra, as its the most centrally located city for such an event, being very accessible from both Sydney and Melbourne, and reasonable accessible to Adelaide and Brisbane.

The core of the event is over the Australia day long weekend.  Today is mostly about getting to Canberra and attending the welcome BBQ.   The event has been designed to be as accessible to W123 owners as possible.

Instead of a fixed agenda and a cost to register for the event, it has been set up as individual events that people can choose to attend or not-attend as they like.   That means some people may choose just to attend the show and shine only, while others like me will attend the entire thing.   I think this is the best way of doing things.   That includes there being no event hotel.  People can choose to stay where they want in Canberra that fits in with their budget.   On car events, I prefer to choose basic accommodation as I’m only using it to sleep, and don’t spend any time in the room.  It just needs to be clean, have air conditioning, a private bathroom and decent parking.

While a lot of the heavy lifting to set this event up has been done by MBCACT, each of the state clubs had a volunteer to be part of the event committee.   I volunteered to be the MBCNSW representative.   This involved creating a drive down for those who wanted to do the entire event.

We met up with a group from MBCQ at Pheasants Nest to do the main part of the drive down to Canberra together.   In the end we had 12 cars, although we picked up one of them along the way.   Seven from NSW and Five from Queensland.   That included two coupes (both 280CE’s) and a wagon (at 300TD), with the rest sedans.   The sedans were made up of 240D, 300D, 230E and 280E models.     I would have liked a few more cars from NSW, but I know quite a few people are driving down tomorrow.   Mileages in our group ranged from the 300TD with almost half a million kilometers to one of the 300Ds that only had 28,000km.

We drove together from Pheasants Nest to Weereewa Lookout at Lake George.  I found my 240D was able to maintain normal freeway speeds on all the hills except for one.  I think that is pretty good.   This was with my AC on max the whole time.

At Weereewa Lookout we stopped to get some photos of our whole convoy.  From there, we went our separate ways to our various accommodation.

At 6PM, most of us met up at Black Mountain Peninsula for a welcome BBQ.   I was impressed by the number of cars we had at the BBQ, given how many are coming in tomorrow.   The event was kindly catered by one of the MBCACT members, which was incredibly generous.   There were a good number of local cars as well as quite a big contingent from MBCV and at least one car from South Australia.     There was a good variety of cars in various different colours.  Its a great reminder that it used to be possible to buy cars in colour, instead of monochrome like today.  There were a few cars that are now rare like the 230 and 250.

The weather was the total opposite of the original Launch in Stuttgart. It was hot and sunny, and I am very glad I had my A/C regassed for this event.

The post W123 50th Anniversary – Day 1: Drive to Canberra appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The main difference between a tank from a petrol W123 and a diesel is the petrol cars had the swirl pot at the bottom of the tank.   The swirl pot allows fuel to continue to flow even during hard cornering, as the return line not only keeps the pot filled, but draws fuel in from the rest of the tank.  Presumably the diesels don’t need this as they flow a lot less fuel and are less likely to do hard cornering.   In addition, an algae outbreak could clog up the little hole in the bottom of the pot.   I’ll be using the biocide additive on my car regularly, so I’m not concerned about this.

When the tank arrived, I was really impressed with how clean it was.  I couldn’t see any rust at all in the tank. The petrol fuel strainer was also quite clean.  Since I don’t want to do this job again, I gave it a clean and was able to get some of the normal residue out of the tank before installing it.   I used my pressure washer to clean inside the tank as best I could, then dried it with my cordless blower.   After that, I used some methylated spirits to make sure I got the last of the water out.

I came back the next day to prepare the tank for installation. I installed a new diesel fuel strainer.   The diesel strainer has a coarse mesh, to allow minor algae to get through and be caught in the pre-filter which is easier to change.   This is part 124 470 01 06.   I also re-installed my fuel sender.   Mercedes thoughtfully made both of these items use the same 46mm hex.   I also had to glue on the rubber ‘foot’ that sits around the strainer and between the tank and the body of the car.

Re-installing the tank was easier than getting it out.   The only slight hiccup was the rubber ‘foot’ had been somewhat dislodged and I had to use screwdrivers to reposition it from under the car.

Once the tank was in place, it was a fairly simple matter to install a new fuel supply hose.  The car was using the fitting from the original hose, with a normal fuel hose clamped to it.  There probably isn’t anything wrong with this, but I bought the proper cohline hose.  It is for multiple cars, so I had to trim a few cm off for the W123 diesel.

Next was the return line and breather hoses.   The EPC states that these hoses are both 120mm.  I cut 120mm hoses, but I found the return hose was too long and I trimmed a few cm off it.   The breather hose was also thicker.   I didn’t actually install the breather hose at first, I waited until I had the car running so I could move it to the hoist under its own power.   I had bought the proper hose clamps for the engine bay and the supply hose, but forgot these two, so had to use the regular hose clamps here.

While I was at it, I also replaced all the hoses and filters in the engine bay.   The pre-filter was quite dirty, and needed replacement.   The main filter probably wasn’t, but I replaced it anyway.  I also used the proper hose clamps that don’t bite into the hoses.   According to the EPC, the hose from the supply line to the pre-filter is 140mm and the hose from the pre-filter to the lift pump is 40mm.

The EPC also lists a special return hose some people refer to as the ‘Cigar’ hose.   This is part number 000 997 51 52.  A lot of people don’t seem to bother with it, but since I was ordering new parts I got one.  I found it to be very long, and I had to push it a long way onto the return hard line so it didn’t kink.

At this point I was ready to refuel the car.  I had 30 liters of diesel I had pumped out of the car through a filter, so I added this to the tank.   I was happy to see there were no leaks and I began to prime the system.

The primer pump felt very odd, and I couldn’t work out why it didn’t seem to be moving much fuel.   After about 30 minutes of trying various things, I noticed that one of my hose clamps was stopping it from going all the way in.   Simply rotating this clamp restored full travel to the primer and I was able to get quite a lot of fuel moving.   I think my issues priming the system last time were due to my blocked strainer, as I was now getting quite a lot of flow.

It still took quite a few times of priming the system, trying to start the car, priming the system, and trying the start the car until it finally roared into life.   It ran well and seemed to be idling better than before.  I wonder if it wasn’t getting enough fuel with the blocked strainer.

A quick test drive around the factory complex showed no leaks and the car running well.   The downside was that the A/C had stopped working, which I will need to attend to.

Since I was happy with how the car was running and there were no leaks. I re-installed the boot trim, and left an Easter egg for a future owner on the fuel tank.

I will check the condition of the fuel pre-filter over time, but I expect that with all this work my fuel delivery problems should now be behind me.

The post 240D algae part 7 – Installing a new W123 fuel tank appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

When I returned 24 hours later I realized my mistake.   It would have been a second to pull it out the day before but even after 24 hours it was stuck.    Try as I might, I was not able to pull it out, even putting my feet against the tank and pulling back with all my weight.

A couple of days later I came back with a new plan.  Instead of pulling it out, I would push it through.    I hammered through a couple of thin drill bit.  I thought this might break the bristles off the walls of the tube, allowing the pipe cleaner to be pulled or pushed through.

It wasn’t to be.  After using a slightly bigger one, it managed to break off.  I then used a punch to try and hammer it through, but the tank was so well sealed it just went through the walls of the return line.

While it is probably possible to cut out this part of the tank and weld a new section, I don’t have the skills for that.   So I am now on the lookout for another W123 diesel fuel tank.   It’s a shame, as other than rust at the bottom this one was in reasonable shape, and it looks like it was an 80 liter tank from a later 300D.

It is rather annoying as the car is going to be off the road for far longer and I am up for the cost of another tank.  However, mistakes like this are going to happen from time to time when you take on jobs like this yourself instead of taking to a professional.   This is is why I try to take on things that the ramifications of a mistake are fairly correctable.  For example in this case a 2nd hand tank vs an engine rebuild.

I don’t regret trying to seal the tank, my mistake was not making sure all three openings were clear.

The post 240D algae part 6 – How I ruined my W123 fuel tank appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

One of the things that got me over the line was that the tank does not have a swirl pot like the petrol engine cars.   On the petrol cars, I would be worried that the sealant would block the small hole in the swirl pot that lets fuel from outside the pot be drawn inside.   On the diesel, I would not have to worry about that.    I’m actually kind of surprised there are no baffles or anything like that to stop the fuel sloshing around during hard cornering.  I suppose the assumption is that diesel drivers don’t do stuff like that.   Challenge is that many of these cars were taxis and clearly the MB engineers never met a Sydney taxi driver.  I’ve even taken my car on a lap of eastern creek raceway.

Sealing the tank added another week and a half to the project.   You can’t just buy the tank sealers at Repco or Supercheap, so first it took 3-4 days to arrive.    The sealers are also part of a three stage process, which adds time.   I went with the KBS Gold Tank sealer, primarily because I could buy the parts individually and they had the sizes I wanted.   The POR15 product required me to buy an entire kit for over $200.   The first stage is a strong degreaser that I already have.   Then there is the rust converter, then finally the sealer.

I bought the KBS Gold rust converter and then the sealer.   While I waited for the new products to arrive, I used the degreaser.  The tank was already pretty clean but it did seem a little cleaner after that process.

The rust converter and KBS Gold coating arrived yesterday, so after my kids went to bed, I went down to start the process.  The first step was the rust converter.  Since most of the rust was in the bottom of the tank, I needed a way to make sure it did not run out of the drain hole.  I took the old fuel strainer and broke off the mesh part, and then used a bolt, washer and nut to turn it into a makeshift cap.   I also used a wire cleaning brush to mostly block the return line.

The instructions called for a minimum of 20 minutes using the rust converter, moving the solution around every 5 minutes.  I ended up doing about 35 minutes and while the tank was fairly clean, I got some minor rust debris out once I removed my makeshift plug.

Once the solution had drained, the tank had to be washed out a few times and then fully dried.   Washing it out was fairly easy, but drying was a slow process.   It took about an hour using the small 18v blower I use to dry the car after a wash.  I stopped every 10 minutes or so to peer into the tank with a torch to see where I had to direct the air.   I also used a paper towel that I rolled up long and thin to dry the low area around the strainer opening.

It took about an hour to get the tank dried out.

Next step was to start the process of coating the tank.   I put my makeshift plug back in the hole for the strainer and made a funnel out of an old coke bottle.   I wish I had put gloves on at this point.  My hands are still covered in the paint.

Basically the process is that you’re supposed to coat the insides of the tank by rotating it around to get an even coverage.  Than after about 30 minutes drain the excess.   I coated the bottom and the sides, but didn’t want to clog the breather, so didn’t coat the top.   I was left with maybe 100mls in the bottom which took an eternity to drain out.  The drain hole has a lip around it.   After a lot of rotating the tank, I got about 90% of it out.  I then tried to angle the rest so it dried into the seam of the tank.    The whole process took about an hour and a half.

I now need to leave the KBS Gold sealer to cure for 96 hours.   That means I can refill the tank over the weekend.   I also suspect I may have an 80 liter tank instead of the 65 liter tank the car came from.   I’ve had a look at pictures of the tanks online.  The 65 liter tank seems to have a different shape.   I’ll be able to measure it when I refill it later.

The post 240D algae part 5 – Sealing the W123 fuel tank appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I drove around my local area in a mix of heavy traffic, back roads and bigger roads with a speed limit of 90km/h.   At no time did I feel like I was holding up traffic or that the car was ‘dangerously slow’ like people claim.  During the night drive last night, I was even getting away from the group at times.

In fact, I enjoyed driving the car and would be happy to drive it as a daily.   It is certainly more appetizing to me than anything that Mercedes-Benz is making today.     You have to adapt to the car and use full throttle a lot more than you would need to in a modern car, but there is something to be said about being able to use all the power a car has.

The gearing of the car makes the performance quite good from zero to legal speeds on the motorway.   This makes the 240D a good proposition for urban driving and long distance motorway driving.   In order to provide good performance, the car needs to be kept in its power band.  That means the transmission is kicking down a lot.   I could see a situation where the vacuum system had not been maintained and the kickdown switch not working that performance would be poor.   In that case the 240D automatic would simply bog down in top gear.

The one type of driving I could see the 240D being unsuitable for is driving on back roads that require overtaking large trucks at 100km/h.   Redline in 3rd gear is around 105km/h, so there is no gear to overtake at those speeds.  This is where you want a V8 like a 450.

In addition, the 240D struggles to maintain speed on long uphill  motorway sections.   On the most recent night drive, there were a few of those coming home.   Speed would drift down to about 85, then I could kick down and bring it back up to about 95.   On more gradual grades it would hold a speed of around 100km/h but no more.     This is probably where the extra power of the 300D comes in.   On a flat section I was able to cruise at 120km/h so the 240D is generally fine on the motorway.  Even on the uphill sections where performance is lacking, it is still faster than the trucks.

Driving my 240D, I am reminded what a good transmission the 722.1 is when adjusted properly.   Nice crisp changes and a hugely rugged unit.   I’m not disappointed that my car is a 240D automatic.   The automatic transmission is properly set up and works really well.

I also found that over the time I was driving the car, it fixed itself.    Moving the temperature wheel around had the A/C kicking into life.    I guess just a dirty contact in the switch.   At first the lighting for the gear selector didn’t work, but that burst into life at some point.

The only thing I took out of the drive to add to my todo list was the thermostat.   The car ran a little hotter than I think it should for a day in the mid 20s.   There is a lot to like about this car, comfortable, cold A/C, and good on fuel.   I drove for nearly 100km before the needle moved off the full position.

After I had driven the car around for a while, I went to take a few more nice photos.   I was passed by some very expensive luxury SUVs and thought that I would much rather drive my cheap 240D.

Today I had to go and pick up some things from the inner west of Sydney.   Narrow roads and heavy traffic.   The 240D was a great car for this, nimble, comfortable and excellent on fuel.   Plus the around town performance really is quite good.   I’ve now done 350km and the fuel tank is still showing more than half.   Of course, its a Mercedes, so once it gets below the half mark, it will be empty in no time, but it really is very good for a car of this age.

People who think these are dangerously slow should actually drive one.  I’m really enjoying mine.

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The main thing that appealed to me was how original the car looked.   So many of these cars had a very hard life and are still running in spite of that.   This car looked like it had been used carefully and had been the pride and joy of its owners.  I’ve outlined a lot more detail about the W123 240D and this car on this page.

This will be my third W123.   My first was the first ever Mercedes-Benz that I ever owned – a 1985 230E.  The second was a 280CE that I rescued from sinking into the mud in somebody’s front yard, fixed up and sold to my brother.    While the 230E was a very nice car, this 240D is in nicer condition, and I sold the 230E over twenty years ago.

My W123 diesel is painted in China Blue, which I think is the nicest of the standard W123 colours.  The paint appears very original, as does the dark blue MB-Tex.   As you would expect for an Australian delivered 240D, it was bought with no options.   Australian delivered 240Ds came standard with air conditioning, power steering, central locking, a Becker Europa 596 & power antenna, a front arm rest and a passengers side mirror.   You didn’t even get a lockable glovebox.    I like the simplicity of the options, it feels in keeping with the car.

I bought the diesel sight unseen.   This is somewhat of a risk, but I work a lot and would not have been able to go and look at it.   The price was such that if it had been a lot worse than I thought, I could have just sent it to auction and not been too out of pocket.

The car arrived on a tow truck last weekend and I was able to drive it around the industrial complex where I store most of my cars.   I was quite impressed.   Nearly everything seemed to work, other than the A/C.   The car was very much as described.   Everyone describes how slow the 240D automatic is, but my first impression wasn’t of a slow car.  The tyres are on the older side, but still in very good shape. The engine was very clean and was not leaking oil or diesel.

I didn’t think the car needed anything to get registered, so I booked it in for a pink slip.   The car passed inspection, and with pink slip in hand, I was able to get it on club plates.    While there car was in having the pink slip, I asked him to see if he could re-gas the A/C.   It took a charge, but the compressor was not turning on with the switch, although he was able to get cold air if he applied voltage directly to the compressor clutch.

Due to the silly size of the NSW club plates, I had to make up an adaptor.  I had a spare blank plate for the rear, but not for the front.   In the end I found a previous adaptor I had used on the 250SE.  I’ll probably change it for a black one later.

On my way back from getting the car registered, I also picked up a few oil filters.   I have the original service book, but not recent history so an oil change will be one of my first jobs.

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I’ve been surprised how many classic Mercedes are still on the road and in daily service.    I see a lot more of them than I do in Sydney.   On most days I’ll see a couple of W123s and a bunch of W124s.    Most of them a clearly doing daily use, but there are also a few that have been nicely done up.   I’m sure it takes real effort to keep these cars on the road as the climate (which is very humid for much of the year) is not kind to the cars.

The cars I’ve seen on the road have all been saloons.   I’ve seen a couple of coupes in various stages of repair, but not wagons.     Seeing an S-Class is also very rare.

The car culture is also very different here in Surat Thani than in Sydney.   Most of the cars are modified in some way – normally wheels, steering wheel, radio and even bumpers, complete interiors and sometimes body kits.    I was also told about one that had an Isuzu motor and gearbox.

The W124s are mostly the final facelift models, predominantly E220s, but with some E280s in the mix.    The pre-facelift models are mostly 230Es, but I’ve seen a couple of 260s and a 300.    The wiring harness issues that scare off buyers in Australia off the final models are probably less of an issue here as labour is cheaper than parts.

I read somewhere that there were a lot of UK delivery Mercedes exported to right hand drive countries in this part of the world during the 80s, 90s and 2000s.   This seems to make sense, as all the W123s I could see past the tint had their instrument clusters in MPH.  Back then, they were basically worthless in the UK, but fairly valuable out in Asia.

On the first day I noticed a mechanic shop with a bunch of classic Mercedes out the front.   I was able to stop buy a couple of days later to take a few photos and have a chat with the owner.   There were a lot of nice cars in there, including some other models I don’t normally see on the roads here.

These included a W116, C123, C124, W201 and a /8.  There was also a C107 shell that had just been painted.    The W116 was badged as a 450SEL, but it had a manual transmission, and looked like a short wheelbase.   The /8 model was a 200 petrol.    The C123 was a very early UK model with the burl wood interior.   The seats had been redone in modern pattern like a W126 SEC.     Regardless it was great to see these cars still on the road.    They probably wouldn’t be if they had remained in the UK.

I also stopped by another mechanic shop that had a couple of W123s  in the lot.    The only other marque that is even close to as well represented on the roads is Volvo.  I’ve seen a couple of 7 and 9 series models driving around.

Both mechanics indicated they find their parts mostly from Bangkok or overseas, but that old Mercedes were popular in the Muslim areas in the south of the country and its sometimes possible to get parts from there too.

In addition, the city buses seem to be old Mercedes from the 60s.   Most of them have Mercedes badges on them.   However, a couple have Hino badges, and look very similar.   They seem to be front engined, which according to wikipedia doesn’t seem to make sense for Mercedes buses of the era.    They all have W123 turn signals!    Possible they were older chassis, or even truck chassis locally bodied.  Or perhaps they are all Hinos and the Mercedes Badge just has more cache.

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