The Mercedes-Benz Club of NSW had a drive day to St Albans, NSW today. I decided not to take the 450SLC as I’m not really happy to drive it for long distances with the current motor. Fortunately my good friend John, let me ride shotgun in his lovely W123 280SE Coupe.
The 280CE really is a lovely car for highway driving. What it lacks in outright acceleration compared to a modern car, it makes up for in ride comfort. It never feels strained at highway speeds, has enough power for overtaking when needed and gets decent fuel economy. John says he’s getting around 12l per 100Km in this baby.
We started the day with a quick stop for coffee at Vesbar in Marricville (great coffee!), before we headed out to meet the rest of the club at McDonalds in Windsor. From there we headed out to Wisemans Ferry to catch the car ferry across the river then off to the The Settlers Arms Inn at St Albans.
While we were stopped waiting for the ferry, I managed to get some footage of the other members cars.
The weather was perfect with the sun shining down on us through the wintery chill. There was plenty of scenery along the way to enjoy and the drive went mostly without incident. We did have a close call from a speeding A-Class driver on the narrow 1 way road just before we reached our destination causing John to veer off the road a little to avoid a head on impact. Fortunately we got through it unscathed.
Here’s a short clip I put together of parts of the drive up.
The food at St Albans was fantastic – the best fish and chips I’ve had in a very long time. We gathered for food, the odd drink and plenty of friendly banter before moving on to St Albans cemetery for some photos. Now, I know that a cemetery isn’t the first place you’d think of to take photos, but with the number of people at the Settlers Arms Inn, we really didn’t have anywhere we could stop for photos.
A great day was had, but it has me itching to fit my new motor and tranmission. I think it’s time I ordered the parts and started on the prep work.
