Newsletter No.132
Sorry we missed the January Newsletter, like usual we had too many things to do and lots of customers orders to fill and cars to fix. Amongst other things that we have done in the last two months is the following:
- Finished the mighty 560GE that was built for a customer from WA, who then drove it home across the Nullarbor! Will do an article on this in the next Newsletter.
- Finished the restoration on a 250SL for a customer in SA.
- Did a lot of Air Conditioning repairs, as we had a hot summer!
- Finished the restoration of a 280SL for a client in Singapore and packed it in a container to go home.
- Finished an engine rebuild on a 220Sb Finnie with a difference, it is now powered by a 280SE M130 engine!
- Finished sorting out a stunning W114 280CE, see picture in the r/h margin.
- Employed a new staff member for receiving and dispatching parts. For those of you who get your parts delivered, they are now being sent by Steve.
- Arranged new staff uniforms, also see picture in r/h margin.
- Posted some great stuff on our Facebook page.
50 years of the Pagoda.
Over the last few newsletters we have been promoting the upcoming event for the 50th birthday of the W113 pagoda. Well, we are now under a month to go and this event is certainly looking like being a landmark event in the history of Mercedes-Benz clubs here in Australia. At the time this Newsletter was published the organisers have received applications from 56 Pagoda owners who will be attending the event. We know of quite a few other owners who are looking at attending so the numbers could push past 60 cars.
So be warned, this is possibly your only chance of ever seeing a spectacle like this. The best public viewing will be on Sunday the 17th at Thoroughbred Park where the event participants will be on display from 10:00am as part of the annual ACT Shannons Wheels display. Thoroughbred Park can be accessed from Randwick Rd, Mitchell ACT.
You can see a sneak preview of all the cars that will be attending here , on the pagoda50 website. If you own a Pagoda and are keen to attend it is not too late. All the details are on the website . Cars MUST BE REGISTERED as they will be numbered to help with the Judging and the photo shoot at Old Parliament House. Cars that are not registered will not be able to attend the photo shot and will not be judged, but can attend the display at Thoroughbred park.
Hell has frozen over.
There is a great joke about Hell freezing over that you can read here . Or you read about how I have decided to sell something that for some time I vowed would never be for sale.
Back in November 2004 we purchased an O319 bus. Now back then I didn't know that much about them, I had owned an L319 van for a few years and done some basic reading on them, but that was all. Little did I know at the time that what we had brought was possibly the only example left of the rarest O319 ever built.
The O319 is a small bus (or coach) available in a number of seating configurations, each with a number of different specifications or options. Mercedes-Benz would build these to order with a very large number of available options, but basically they came in 10, 17 and 18 seat versions. They were produced from 1956 -67.
Of all the O319's made, reportedly only 961 of them were the 10 seat Luxury version like the one we had purchased. Most original owners of these were Motels, Airlines or big business's. The luxury version was equipped with 10 "aircraft style" reclining seats, panorama windows and a full length Webasto roof amongst other options. In their day they were the ultimate people mover.
The rest of the story is rather long and can befound here along with some extensive picturesof the current condition. So if you or someone you know would like to own the ultimate classic people mover please contact me.
Cars for sale .
The last Newsletter was in December and we didn't have that many cars for sale, well now we have the opposite. Plenty of interesting cars for sale including some very low mileage A and B class examples. The B class was ordered new by someone who was not afraid to "tick all the boxes" when it came to options. Have a look and you will see what I mean.
Also worth a mention is the E320 wagon, it is great value as a family car compared to the original owner who would have paid over $135000 when new…..
B200 Hatch , only 13000kms
A160 Hatch , only 30000kms
Mercedes SLS wins Bathurst 12 hour.
Things are looking good for Mercedes-Benz racing fans. Erebus Motorsport in conjunction with AMG Customer Sports recently won the Bathurst 12 Hour race. The Bathurst 12 hour is an endurance race for GT and production cars that are more of less standard. Unlike the local V8 Supercars which are nowhere near standard production. You can watch a great video put together by Erebus here. If you are wondering about the odd exhaust note from the SLS, it is because each bank has an exhaust system that exits just in front of the rear wheel, so when it drives past you are only hearing 4 cylinders!
The next event for Erebus Motorsport is the maiden outing for their new V8 Supercar team at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. Should be interesting….
Time killers.
Bored?? Try these:
- Low mileage G wagon with a difference.
- An ugly 540K , but mind you I would still be happy to walk out to the garage and find it parked there.
- One owner 240D , only just run in.
- I think this was good value, they don't make them like this anymore.
- Some scary stuff here , I love the first shot where "Grandmas lounge" is just sitting on the footpath.
- This guy has one of the biggest Mercedes-Benz collections I know of.
Cars for dismantling.
We are churning though an amazing amount of cars that are being offered to us for dismantling. I guess it is a sign of the times. The stand out model is the W168 A class with many people opting not to repair them following major breakdowns. It is interesting to reflect back when we had piles of W116's and W123's in the workshop and were regularly doing engine and transmission overhauls. People were happy to spend the money to keep them on the road as they knew they would go the distance. Modern cars just seem to be junked when something goes wrong. More recent arrivals include:
- W124 230E sedan
- W168 A160 hatch
- W116 450SEL sedan
- W108 280S sedan (with Americana headlamps)
- W202 C180 sedan
So that's it for this Newsletter. For those of you coming to the Pagoda50 event we look forward to seeing you there. Please drive safely and enjoy your Mercedes-Benz.
John & Sandra Green.
