Newsletter No.112
Newsletter No.112
10th December 2007
Hello and welcome to our Christmas edition Newsletter for 2007. This newsletter we have some last minute Christmas present ideas, more website updates, and news of the recent AGOA Treffen.
Hope you enjoy it, John & Sandra Green.
Christmas opening hours.
The management and staff of M.B Spares & Service would like to wish all of our customers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. The following are our opening hours and service availability for the Christmas period.
Monday 24th Dec 8am - 4pm Parts open W/shop closed
Tuesday 25th Dec Closed
Wednesday 26th Dec Closed
Thursday 27th Dec 8am - 5pm Parts and W/Shop limited staff
Friday 28th Dec 8am - 5pm Parts and W/Shop limited staff
Saturday 29th Dec Closed
Sunday 30th Dec Closed
Monday 31st Dec 8am - 5pm Parts and W/Shop limited staff
Tuesday 1st Jan Closed
Wednesday 2nd Jan 8am - 5pm Back to normal……
25 years of the G Wagon here in Australia.
Saturday the 24th of November was the 25th anniversary of the W460 300GD Wagon release here in Australia. So the Australian Gelandewagon Owners Association (AGOA) celebrated in style by holding a rally of as many G's and they could get together at Mt Terrible near Mansfield in Victoria. This location was chosen as it is the same location as where Mercedes-Benz Australia held the press release for the 300GD back in 1982.
I attended the rally in my recently purchased 1986 230GE SWB G wagon with my Son James, who as of February next year will have his L plates (yes that is scary) and has suddenly taken an interest in all things to do with G Wagons!
12 assorted G wagons from the AGOA and two evaluation vehicles supplied by DaimlerChrysler Australia assembled early Saturday morning at the Old Mansfield Railway Station before the trip out to Mt Terrible. There was even a long wheel base 280GE that had come across from Perth and a 280GE short wheel base from Queensland that had tuned up for the event! You can see pictures of the line up at Mansfield and the rest of the trip here.
The two evaluation vehicles were both G270 CDI's (5 cylinder in line engine) where as the G wagons that the Australian Army will be buying are the new G280 CDI which is a V6. The Ute version was very interesting as it was fitted with beadlock rims to allow it to run very low tyre pressures and had an armour plated cabin.
The trip out to Mt terrible was very scenic and the view from the top even better. It was rather obvious why MBAU would have chosen such a location. After lunch we returned back to Mansfield via a rather steep alternate route that our G Wagons handled with ease.
That night a fine dinner was had at a local restaurant with the bulk of the tab being paid for by DaimlerChrysler. The next day was spent touring out to Mt Sterling to have a look at the efforts to rebuild Craig's hut. This hut was built for the Man from Snowy River movie series and is a popular destination for off roaders. Unfortunately it was damaged in the 2005 bushfires and is currently being rebuilt by volunteers.
Last Minute Christmas Presents….
Looking for something different for Christmas here are few thoughts.
- Don't forget our new range of alloy wheels, we are going to do a special of $100.0 off a set up until Christmas. We also have a one off special of a set of five spoke 18" alloys with tyres for $1700.00
- Sick of looking at your cracked dash, how about a dash mat for $45.00, that's 10% off.
- How about a W124 cabriolet as a present?? Price reduced to $29990.00 for a sale before Christmas.
- Chrome wheel arch moulds look great on most MB models. Normally $199.50 for most models, discounted to $175.00 but only until Christmas.
Sausages and Spanners.
Tuesday the 13th of November was our annual Sausages and Spanners night for the Mercedes-benz club of the ACT. Over 25 members showed up for a diner of Gourmet sausages (try Merlot and Cracked Pepper) and a cold ale.
This year we talked on a totally different subject, Rotary Engines! Yes Mercedes-Benz did look into them in the early 70's with the C111 coupe. The talk was done by Murray Mules our Spares manager with Colin Robb assisting.
After the talk Murray assembled a twin rotor NSU engine that had been sectioned so we could all look in and see the internals in action. The pictures from the night can be seen here in our Gallery.
More website changes.
As advised a few Newsletters ago we have been working on being able to automate the system that records your e-mail address whilst still being able to protect your privacy. Well it has been done and if you now need to change your e-mail address the process is as follows:
-Logon using your old Login (usually your e-mail address) and password.
-Click on the "Edit my details" link which will appear just to the left of your Login name
- Click on the tick box that says "My e-mail address has changed" and another box will appear for you to fill in. Fill it in and then scroll to the bottom and click save.
-A user's new e-mail address will need to go through a confirmation process - this simply consists of entering a code that is e-mailed to the user's new e-mail address when they elect to change the address.
Classic cars for sale.
At the moment we have a wide range of Classic cars for sale, here are just a few:
1959 300d limousine, project car.
280SE 3.5 coupe, over $80000.00 spent on the restoration.
And, if you read all the way down to the Cars for sale section you will find some very exciting news about a W112 300SE coupe we will soon be offering for sale.
Link of the week.
Check out these picturesof a very rare AMG modified W116 interior.
Here are a couple of Random shots, the last few are a bit sadL
Here is a very long but interesting read, if you want a short cut go to page 71.
The Pope has a new car!! Have a look at it here.
Facts of the week!
* Wooden wheels were a factory option until 1939 with Mercedes.
* Adolf Hitler had a false floor fitted into his Mercedes 770K, making him look 5 inches taller, when he stood up in the car.
* The Mercedes-Benz motto is "Das Beste oder Nichts" meaning "the best or nothing".
* The 3 pointed star represents Land, sea and air.
* The first car to be called a Mercedes had 35 horsepower.
* Mercedes and Benz united in 1926
* The oldest known Mercedes car was produced in 1902 located at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart)
* Over the last 100 years there has been over 19.4 million Mercedes cars sold worldwide.
* And the strangest one. One of the OZBENZforum members who worked at an MB dealer in the mid 80's reports that there was an idea to change the corporate colours change from blue/white to olive green/some sort of yellow. This is absolutely a true story.
He says his boss was the first to leap in and repaint the entire workshop area and add plants etc as suggested. Or more accurately the apprentices that did most of it...............
Being the first, a couple of MB reps came along to inspect our handy work, declared it a complete disaster and told them to change it back to blue /white.
Upcoming events.
Here is the current list of upcoming events. If you know of an event that would be of interest to our Newsletter readers please e-mail mewith the details as you will see below it does not necessarily have to be an exclusively Mercedes-Benz related event.. The plan is not to put each clubs entire calendar on here, just the major events. Here are a few that I know are coming up:
2nd march 2008 The Mercedes-Benz club of Victoriaare holding their Concours d'Elegance to be held in conjunction with the RACV Classic Showcase promoted by the AOMC at Flemington Racecourse. Discounted Concours entry fee when paid on or before February 4th. More details here and the entry forms here.
16th March 2008. Shannons Wheels Expo is one of two major annual events hosted by the Council of ACT Motor Clubs. Each March since 1982, hundreds of vehicle enthusiasts have participated in this trip down memory lane which is an official part of the Canberra Festival supported by Australian Capital Tourism It is held on the lawns of Old Parliament House, Canberra and this year is being hosted by EJ-EH Holden Club ACT. This event has traditionally been very well supported by the Mercedes-Benz club of the ACT with over 50 cars on display.
18th - 22nd April 2008. As reported in the last Newsletter the next Biannual rally for the Mercedes-Benz clubs of Australia is being hosted by the Victorian club. Maybe you will have attended or seen our reports from the ACT Rally held in 2006 which was a great success. This rally also is shaping up to be an excellent time. Please have a look here for a general overview as supplied by the Victorian club. If you are interested in attending the rally application forms will be available from your local Mercedes-Benz club. A listing of their contact details can be found here.
Joke of the week.
If you need a good laugh, try reading through these children's science exam answers .
Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.
Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.
Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.
Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? (brilliant, love this!)
A: Keep it in the cow.
Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.
Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.
Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.
Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.
Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.
Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? ( e.g., abdomen)
A: The body is consisted into three parts -- the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs , and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I, O, and U.
Q: What is the fibula?
A: A small lie.
Q: What does "varicose" mean? (I do love this one...)
A: Nearby.
Q: Give the meaning of the term "Caesarian Section."
A: The Caesarian Section is a district in Rome .
Q: What does the word "benign" mean?'
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.
Cars for Sale.
We have a strange problem, for those of you who watch or website you will have noticed this E320 wagonhas been with us for some time. Now when we brought it there were only two other such models advertised elsewhere on the internet on websites like drive.com.au. So we thought we were onto a good thing. It is a very smart car with good history and the very rare, but desirable on a wagon, option of Parktronic (parking sensors front and rear). But five months and 3500kms later I still own it! And in that time I have only had a few people test drive it, which is very unusual for a wagon. It's not that heaps of people have come and looked at it and thought it was too rough (which it isn't), it's not a yucky colour, it's an Australian delivered car, and it drives great (so great I did 3500kms in it!!). The problem is that we just haven't had any one who really wanted to buy a white E320 Elegance wagon find it on the web…….. As that is what sells cars. There is a saying in the trade that "there is a bum for every seat" Somewhere out there, there must be someone who wants this car!!! So it has got to go, price is now reduced to $25000.00 which is a huge loss for us.
However, the big news in the cars for sale department is that we will sometime in the not so distant future be offering for Sale a one family owner 1967 300SE coupe. This is a super rare car and in exceptional original condition. It is an Australian delivered car with white duco and black trim. It also has both factory A/C and Electric windows. Stay tuned for more details or if you want to be amongst the first to be notified of this car when we get it make sure you have your preferences set correctly on your selection sheet.
280SE 3.5 coupe, rare Australian delivered V8 version of the W111 coupe, this car is from a deceased estate and over the last 20 years has had a considerable amount of money spent on it including new paint, new rubbers and chrome and a beautiful new leather interior in the correct style. You can check it out here.
E220 cabriolet, what a stunning car, you can check it out here. Price reduced to $29990.00 as a Christmas special.
Finally I have decided to sell the W114 factory stretch that I have been working on for the last five years. It in a unfinished project, factory stretched W114 sedan. 2.8lt twin cam engine with 4 speed auto. Over $10000.00 spent on bodywork and full rubber seal kit. Black interior with perfect dash and timber work. many other new parts. Would make a great club car or wedding car.
You can check out all our Mercedes-Benz's for sale here. Or you can check out all the other cars we have for sale here:
New cars into stock:
Cars sold:
420SEL sedan 1991 model
E320 Sedan 1996 model
Also in stock we have:
So that's it for another newsletter. Hope you liked what you saw. If you
have any ideas or want to contribute any articles, pictures or other
material please
e-mail me
here. Also, don't forget that you can check out the
old newsletters here
Thanks, John Green.
