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Newsletter No.069 170 Mystery, MBCV Concours info, Electrical information


Newsletter Number 69
26th January 2004

(Happy Australia day)

Welcome to the first newsletter for 2004, been awhile since the last one I know. I have been away on leave at the 20th Australian Scout Jamboree in the Adelaide hills with 11000 scouts! It was not that relaxing but it certainly was a change from my normal day to day activities. One benefit of spending the time in Adelaide was that I got to catch up with some long term customers and OZVETS list members on my day off. In one day I saw two 170's four 300's a 220SE coupe and a 280SL as well as being driven from the Adelaide hills down to Mclaren Vale in a 300b!

This newsletter we have some interesting facts about electricity, news of some upcoming events that are not to be missed, the missing info on the 170 from the last newsletter and the usual regular articals.

Thanks John Green.


 Mercedes-Benz Club of Victoria

Concours d’Elegance

The Mercedes-Benz Club of Victoria will once again be holding there annual Concours d'Elegance in conjunction with the AOMC British and European Motor Show. Contact Brian Billing on 0409 501 677 for more information.
You can download the application form

Shannons Wheels 2004.

As usual the Mercedes-Benz club of the ACT will be putting on a large display at Wheels this year Wheels is a fund raising event held each year as part of the Canberra Festival. It is the Council of ACT Motor Clubs premier showcase event and charity raiser, Shannons WHEELS 2004 is on Sunday 7th March, featuring over 500 vehicles from Fiats to Fire Engines, and Minis to Mercedes. There is also an opportunity to donate to a local charity.

This year the display is going to be rather unique in that it will be held in London Circuit in the centre on Canberra city! Here is a page with pictures from the 2002 event. Enquiries to Council of ACT Motor Clubs Inc
0414 247 387


The mystery of the 170!

Sorry I didn't reveal all in the last Newsletter about the strange looking 5 door 170. Have a look at this photo and then read thew text below:


The car was supplied to a body builder in Spain (where the photo below was taken) direct from the factory in Stuttgart complete to the fire wall only. This was how they were supplied to body builders who built Hearses, Ambulances and Panel vans from them. It is the only normal sedan that was made by a body builder that I have seen. As you can see from the other picture below that was featured in Newsletter 67 they built the rest. The rear doors appear to be from the standard 170 sedan, as is the rear windscreen and mudguards. One interesting point is that the pop out side trafficators have been replaced with an indicator on the A pillar. I wonder which way the rear door opens?


The other part of the story is how I got these pictures. In November last year my parents along with about 30 other members of the Victorian Mercedes-Benz club went to New-Zealand for a holiday. Whilst enjoying a boat cruise on Milford Sound my father meet the  owner of the 170S that you see in the picture. They started talking and realised that they both have a Mercedes 170. Anyway as my father has no e-mail facilities I wound up with the pictures! Small world isn't it!

Fact's of the week.

 Ever wondered about the mysteries of your cars electrical system. Here is an interesting artical that should relieve your curiosity:

All electrical components and wiring harnesses depend on proper circuit functioning, which is the transmission of charged ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation known as "smoke". Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work. Don't be fooled by scientists and engineers talking about excited electrons and the like. Smoke is the key to all things electrical.

We know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of an electrical circuit, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing. For example, if one places a large copper bar across the terminals of a battery, prodigious quantities of smoke are liberated and the battery shortly ceases to function. In addition, if one observes smoke escaping from an electrical component such as a Lucas voltage regulator, it will also be observed that the component no longer functions.

The logic is elementary and inescapable! The function of the wiring harness is to conduct the smoke from one device to another. When the wiring harness springs a leak and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works right afterward.

Starter motors were considered unsuitable for British motorcycles for some time largely because they regularly released large quantities of smoke from the electrical system. It has been reported that Lucas electrical components are possibly more prone to electrical leakage than their Bosch, Japanese or American counterparts. Experts point out that this is because Lucas is British, and all things British leak. British engines leak oil, British shock absorbers, hydraulic forks, and disk brake systems leak fluid, British tires leak air and British Intelligence leaks national
defence secrets.


Sometimes you may miss the component releasing the smoke that makes your electrical system function correctly, but if you sniff around you can often find the faulty component by the undeniable and telltale smoke smell. Sometimes this is a better indicator than standard electrical tests performed with a volt-ohm meter.

In conclusion, the basic concept of transmission of electrical energy in the form of smoke provides a clear and logical explanation of the mysteries of electrical components and why they fail.

"A gentleman does not motor about after dark."
- Joseph Lucas, 1842 - 1903


Cars for dismantling

The following cars have arrived to be dismantled:

280S 1974, absolute piece of junk, but with a near perfect black MB tex interior and carpets. Has a gas conversion and a Holley carb for anybody who might be interested in a similar conversion.

250SE 1967, Not a bad car for the age but not good enough to resell. Has a very good engine and auto transmission.


Why do? Why does?

I seam to answer a lot of these sorts of questions each day so I thought that I might put some of them in the Newsletter. 

Q: How come the US market seams to be selling the next years model car in September? This is rather strange when you see 2004 cars for sale in September 2003. This question was asked on one of the other mailing lists I monitor The statement was made that there is no such thing as a 1976 W123 chassis and here is the answer.

A: Interesting story that........  Apparently the next years cars coming out ahead of time was started many years back to make some of the US dealers happy as there was always a delay between production and the goods being
sold. When the dealers were competing with the local product they were always behind with the "New" model.

To my knowledge it is only the US market that has had some fixation on  making sure that each years model was so different to the last.  Take for example how in the 50's each years Chevy changed so much! Over the years they moved the months back where the next years production started (once again to make the US dealers happy) and the time it took to get the cars to the US dealers shrunk, so we now have the silly situation of being able to buy a 04 car in late September 03................ If anyone else can offer a better (or more accurate) answer I would be glad to hear it.

 Here in Aus a 12/76 plated W123 is a 76 model.......

Joke of the week.

Some toilet humour this time (but not what you think)


 This bloke walks into a public toilet where he finds two cubicles, one is already occupied. So he enters the other one, closes the door, drops'em and sits down.

A voice then comes from the cubicle next to him "G'day mate, how are you going?" Thinking this a bit strange but not wanting to be rude the guy replies "Yeh, not too bad thanks" After a short pause, he hears the voice again "So, what are you up to mate?

Again answering reluctantly, but unsure what to say, replies "Am, just having a quick poo. How about yourself?"
He then hears the voice for the 3rd time..... "Sorry mate, I'll have to call you back, I've got some twit next to me answering all my questions"

Links of the week.

These are from Bruce Taylor on the OZVETS mailing list:

How strong is a Benz?

What did hubby say?

Petrol queue in Zimbabwe

This month's special in Zimbabwe

The worlds most expensive 300SE cabriolet from Anthony Maniatopoulos But, it is a five speed manual and in rather nice condition. Check out all the pictures by clicking on the 'Next photo" button 

Cars for Sale.

The C220 and the E280 have both been sold. The C220 was sold during the last business hour of last year. The lady needed the car quickly so she rushed to the bank and got a bank cheque and took delivery only an hour after doing all the paperwork. I think it this was the fastest car sales transaction we have ever done! We have also sold the 450SLC that we got into wreck (in the last newsletter) as a complete car.

As I have been away there are no new cars but we are working on it so stay tuned. Don't forget that if you are interested in the purchase of any particular model to make sure you have your preferences correctly noted on your subscription. For example if you are interested in a W107 450SLC then you need have W107 selected in the "I would like to own" or "And also like to own" box. To check this please log on and then click "edit my details"

Click here to see all the cars for sale.

The following cars have been sold:

E280 1995 sedan 203000kms

C220 Sport 1994 model 146000kms

The following cars have recently arrived for sale:

None sorry I have been away.

Also in stock we have:

300E 1986 sedan 220000kms

C180 1997model 103000kms

230E 86 model 179000kms

Collection of three factory Stretch Mercedes-Benz's


Thanks, John Green.