Newsletter No.116
Hello and welcome to latest Newsletter.
This newsletter we have the first of the various articles I am writing on my trip to the UK and Germany a few months back. We also have a historic look at our website and all the other usual stuff. Don't forget that if you have something that you think we could put in the Newsletter to send it to us.
Thanks, John & Sandra Green.
Brooklands.
As promised here are some details on the new Mercedes-Benz World complex at Brooklands in the UK.
In July 1907 the first purpose built racing circuit in the United Kingdom was opened with great fanfare. And as you can guess several Mercedes-Benz cars were present on day one. Over the next 32 years the brand of Mercedes-Benz became famous for breaking many speed records at the Brooklands circuit. Unfortunately with the outbreak of the Second World War the racing ceased and the land surrounding the circuit was used to build fighters and bombers for the war by Vickers. Racing never returned after the war but the relationship between Mercedes-Benz and Brooklands was to stand the test of time.
Nearly 60 years after the end of the Second World War Mercedes-Benz purchased what was left of the old circuit and commenced building "Mercedes-Benz World" You can click hereto see the company website. The building is a huge 3 stories and over 16500 square meters. Essentially it is a huge dealership with sections for each one of the various models. A class, B class, C class all the way up to Maybach and Mclaren which have their own special room. The C class section had the new W204 C class wagon on display. This has only just been released here in Australia.
There is the very special Gullwing café that serves great tartsand several interactive displays. There is a virtual assembly line that you view with 3D glasses. You travel in a CLK down the production line as it is being built. The other display that I was most impressed with was an interactive display featuring the Mercedes Simplex from 1907. You are required to solve some of the very basic problems faced by vehicle designers from the early 20th century. When you have finished all the tasks set, the screen in front of you where the pictures are clears to display a fully restored Simplex. The Simplex was a model which was cutting edge technology in its day.
Each floor has a nice selection of classic cars on display. These cars are rotated on a regular basis and are drawn from local collectors and the Classic Center collection in Germany.
Outside there is a skid pan and 2.5km test track where for a sum you can test drive any of the AMG models you like. There is even an off-road track to check out the new ML63! Next door is the Brooklands Museum, which bills itself as the Birthplace of British Motorsport and Aviation. It is housed in all of the original pit buildings and workshops from the famous circuit. Some of these workshops have many stories to tell. For example one of them was used by Sir Malcolm Campbell for many years to build his various speed record cars. It is well worth a visit, they even have a Concord on display which you can look though.
You can see a selection of the pictures I took at Brooklands here. Next newsletter, the Crayford story and then onto Germnay.
New options for your dream car and e-mail etiquette
We have made a few changes to some of the options you have when signing up for our Newsletter and wanted to bring to your attention a small problem that seems to be happening quite often these days.
First the problem, we love getting e-mail parts requests. They are sometimes easier to handle than phone requests especially as you can answer them when you have time. Murphy has a rule that if one customer rings for a quote, three others will all ring at precisely the same time! However what is happing is that we are getting some customers sending the same request to two or even three of our e-mail addresses? So guess what, sometimes unless we all talk to each other the same customer gets two or even three sometimes slightly different answers, then of course mass confusion sets in. We have even had a case where we ordered the same part for someone twice… So here are the rules which will help us to help you:
- Please only e-mail one of us. Maybe there is some logic in e-mailing two of us, if so please make it very clear in the text of the e-mail that this has happened. (which some of you already do)
- If you need a same day answer to a quote/question you are best to phone us on the toll free number 1300 787 300. The same rule about three customers ringing at once also applies to the number of e-mails that can arrive in one day if one of them is very urgent.
- Please include heaps of detail, things like chassis numbers and even a digital picture of what you are after would be great.
Now something more interesting. To help us keep up with the times we have added a pile of new options in the drop down boxes that you select from when signing up for the Newsletter. These are:
W164 Wagon ML280CDI, ML320CDI, ML350, ML500, ML55 ML63
W169 Wagon A170, A200, A200 Turbo
W211 Sedan & Wagon E200K, E240, E270CDI, E280CDI, E320, E350, E500, E55, E63
W209 Coupe and Cabriolet, CLK200, CLK240, CLK320, CLK350, CLK500, CLK55, CLK63
W220 Sedan S320, S350, S430, S500, S600, S55
W221 Sedan S350, S500, S600, S55
So now is the time to log on and check what your preferences are and if you are interested include these new options in your preferences….
To do this go to our home page www.mbspares.com.au, enter your e-mail address and password in the fields at the top r/h corner, then once logged in click on the "edit my details" link which is just to the left of your e-mail address. Then scroll down past your address and phone number to the preference boxes.
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:
21stSeptember 2008 The Mercedes-Benz Club (NSW) Inc, Concours d'Elegance will be held on Sunday Sunday 21st September 2008, at Parramatta Park, Parramatta NSW.
28th September 2008. The Mercedes-Benz club of the ACT , Concours d'Elegance will be held on the Sunday 28th September at Rond Terraces in conjunction with the Shannons German Autofest. This year the German Autofest will feature the Rare Marques group in addition to all the usual suspects. The pre-Concours function on Saturday night is a cocktail party at Capital Star Motors, who are the local authorised Mercedes-Benz dealers.
M.B Spares is a major sponsor of this event so stay tuned for more info.
Easter 2010. Yes I know that is a long way off, but there is no harm in advance planning. The Mercedes-Benz club of WA will be celebrating their 50th birthday and running the next Bi-annual Mercedes-Benz Clubs of Australia rally at over Easter in 2010. Planning is in its very early stages at the moment, but you can get some details here.
History in a box.
Check out the picture at the top of the Newsletter of the 500K being worked on in an old garage! (don't forget to click on it to enlarge it) It is actually a model in a diorama. These are made by a local artist here in Canberra and can be purchased from us. Price for the pictured example is $795.00. Lots of money I know, but they are super detailed. He can also do a similar one with whatever car you own in it, so long as there is a model of your car available. Please contact me for more details if interested.
Links of the month.
First up an apology about one of the links from the last Newsletter… The link about the 300SEL 6.3 was moved for some reason by www.benzinsider.com this also meant that the question of the month was a disaster as you guys could not see the picture of the 6.3 towing a caravan. So after a bit of a look around their site I have found the new URL for it. Click here and hope they don't move it again…..
- Here is what our website looked like in 1999.
- Here is what our website looked like in 2002.
- Here is what our website looked like in 2003.
- Here is what our website looked like in 2004.
- Here is what our website looked like in 2006.
- Finally check this out, it is a satellite shot of the MB plant in Sindelfingen (outer suburb of Stuttgart) with it zoomed in on the Customer Center. This is where you go for the factory tours and to pick up your new car if you tick the box for factory delivery. Use the little plus and minus symbols on the l/h side to zoom in and out.
Upper control arms.
Do you own a W116 or W123 sedan wagon or coupe?? When did you last have a look at the front suspension upper control arms? Have a look at the last picture at the top of this Newsletter. (don't forget to click on it to enlarge it) These arms are made from aluminium which unfortunately does not wear to well. They have a rubber pivot bush at the end that attached to the chassis and the upper ball joint which attaches to the stub axle on the other end. Once the inner bushes start to wear and become loose in the arm they combine with all the dirt that is under the wheel arch and start to grind away at the alloy arm. The picture above is a rather extreme example but you can see just how bad this can get. So if you own one of these cars go and jack up the car and have a look at your arms. You need to do the inspection with the car off the ground as this is when the arm is stretched out.
Now the good news, if you check yours out and they are less than perfect we are going to run a special on them for the next month. The normal retail is $125.00, special price is $95.00 each.
Question for the month.
OK, same question as last month only this time the hopefully you can see the picture….. Tell me where the picture of the 6.3 towing the Caravan was taken and the significance of the picture. Answer next Newsletter.
Cars for sale.
The E270CDI and 560SEC have arrived. You can view the pictures of the SEC here. If you are interested I have heaps more pictures that can be e-mailed to you. E270 pictures here.
Other cars that will be arriving in stock soon include a rare 1998 C180 with manual transmission.
Not long since the last Newsletter so only a few cars have been sold these include a 190E sedan that we sold on ebay and the Silver E280 sedan, the 300CE and 380SL have both just been picked up and are with their proud new owners.
Don't forget Sandra's Viano 7 seat van, this has been our family transport for the last two years and is a great vehicle for a large active family. It has been a wonderful car, over Christmas we drove to Melbourne, across to Adelaide and back via the Hay plains averaging 9lts per 100kms for the trip including driving around Melbourne and Adelaide. Not bad for such a big car.
You can check out all the cars we have for sale here.
New cars into stock include:
280SE W108 sedan
Cars sold include:
E280 sedan 1995 spec
Also in stock we have:
Vito 113 manual van, low mileage
W114 long wheel base sedan project
Getting old, are we?
This was sent to us by a caring customer…..
Reflexes slowing down? As I remember, the automobile driving manual says the average driver's reaction time is: .75 seconds -or- 1 car length for every 10 mph...
Test your reaction time with this special test.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf
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.
