Newsletter No.037 MBCV Albury trip, Self illuminating number plates, Freight cos...
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Ph 1300 787 300 Fax (02) 6280 4596
Supporting Australia's Mercedes-Benz
Owners on the Web since 1996.
Owners on the Web since 1996.
Newsletter Number 37
8th April 2002
Hello and welcome to another newsletter.
Hello again. The MBCV club trip to Albury was a great sucess. See below for a report. We also have some great links for you to check out, a freight calculator and a new batch of cars for sale in this newsletter.
John Green.
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MBCV Albury trip (part 1).
My son James and I left Canberra about 2pm on Thursday for the 4 hour drive to Albury. On the way down we saw a strange site, a SLK230 travelling at 85kmh! After overtaking it I realised it was the support car for a 230SL and a 220SEb that was travelling in front of it. I later found out that all three cars were drive by chaps called Barry!
The first event for the weekend was a dinner that night at the Country Comfort motel we were all staying at. There were 80 cars and 158 people in attendance. All the Mercedes-benz clubs of Australia were represented including Western Australia and Queensland, and an impressive 32 members from the South Australian club. Dinner was a noisy affair with many freindships made and renewed.
The next day we all headed off to Beechworth via Yackandandah. We had both morning tea and lunch at the Beechworth bakery (the best bakery in the southern hemisphere). Both Beechworth and Yackandandah are very historical towns with many buildings classified by the National Trust. Beechworth Court house is also the site of the trail of Ned Kelly. We entered Beechworth via the Gorge Road (see picture). The parking in the main street of Beechworth had been reserved for the cars and it truely was a magestic site to see all those Mercedes-benz's parked there.
From Beechworth it was onto All Saints Winery in Wahgunyah. Or at least that is what the route instrutions said. Some of us made a detour in Rutherglen to visit Gordon Mckinlays (newsletter list member) car collection. He proudly showed us a 1965 220SEb Fintail with 33000mls om the clock. It is the best looking Fintail I have seen for some time. He also had a 1958 220S and 1960190Db Ponton as well as some later model cars that are for sale.
Restored 220a
I have only just made a start on this page, so sorry you will have to wait. (it's worth it)
Self-illuminating number plates.
The latest idea from Stuttgart sounds like something you would see in the next Star Wars movie. But it is so serious an idea, that they have applied to the German authorities for approval to use them. I wonder how long until we will see them on the road? The text below is a press release from Daimler Chrysler in Stuttgart.
New development for added safety: self-illuminating number plates for the Mercedes models of tomorrow
· A millimetre-fine foil illuminates the number plate from behind ·
Good safety effect in the dark
· No longer any need for bulbs to illuminate registration number
· Official approval applied for
Even more safety at night or in fog such is the objective of the Mercedes engineers in developing a new type of car number plate which, thanks to the latest lighting technology, is self-illuminating and thus much more easily seen than conventional number plates.
This is made possible by a fine electro-luminescent foil (ELF) layer, just a few millimetres thick. This is applied behind the number itself which, as part of this new development, is also on a transparent foil. In what is known as a through-lighting process, the EL foil illuminates the whole surface area of the number plate from the back. This produces an evenly bright and clearly visible illuminated surface, which is thus an important safety feature at the rear of the car. In addition, the transparent foil on which the registration number is printed fea-tures a special coating that also reflects the light from the head-lamps of following vehicles. The new-style self-illuminating number plate makes superfluous the light bulbs that are used today to illuminate conventional number plates. Since less space is therefore needed in the rear bumper or in the car's bodywork, new opportunities are available to the stylists designing a car's rear end.
Mercedes-Benz will continue to develop the self-illuminating number plate ready for series introduction. Approval for this new development has already been applied for by the Stuttgart brand from the relevant authorities.
Site of the week.
A few sites to look at this time. First of all, a RHD Gullwing at a bargain price?
RHD 300SL Roadster at a bargain price. Not really it is a reproduction, but wouldn't it fool your mates.....
Check out this site from a MBCNA event. The Chicagoland / Midwest Mercedes Benz Listfest can be checked out here.
And finally check out how to make a ML in 22hours here. Go to "Factory" and then click on "Body". Then look at the pictures starting with the floor pan, wheel housings and the A pillars. The MBUSI site has really grown in the last 12 months and is worthy of a good nights viewing. (it really would take that long to check it out completely)
Freight costs page.
We have just posted a new page to help or customers who get their parts delivered to them. Have a look here to check it out. We send out more and more parcels every day now and are looking to streamline the process as much as possible. Part of this process to to make sure the customer is aware of the various choices they have. One day I would love to have a nice little java script program on the site that lets you calculate your own freight, but that is just a pipe dream at the moment.
Cars for Sale.
Once again sales have been good in the used car department. Sandra's A class has been sold and so has the 280SE pictured in the last newsletter. This week we have a very special car. It is a 1976 300D sedan, it has done 391000kms but is one of the nicest W123's I have driven for some time. The car belonged to one of out long term customers who had to give up driving it. We also have a very nice 380SE sedan for sale.
For newsletter readers who remember the cream 300d that was advertised a few issues ago I am happy to report that the owner is negotiating with a chap in Malaysia as a result of the picture in Newsletter No.33 . The internet is truly an amazing place!
300D Sedan 1976model.
An excellent example of one of Benz's most popular models in the 70's. Fantastic service history with 000's of dollars in recent work. Air Conditioning, Central locking, Power steering, long Rego. $5000.00AUDMore details
220S Hearse 1963 model.
When is the last time you saw one of these? Built in Melboune in 1963 using a Body made at the Australian Motor Industries plant in Port Melboune. 114600mls from new and in very good original condition. The back doors still open for storage. New exhaust, brake hoses, engine mounts, gear selectors rebushed and heaps of other recent work. $11990.00AUDMore details
380SE Sedan 1984 model.
Alloy block 3.8lt V8 model in very good condition. Cruise control, ABS, electric windows, cruise control, climate control, etc, etc and it all works fine. 211000kms with reasonable log books. Blue interior in excellent condition. $10990.00AUDMore details
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.
