Aussie National Merc Rally

[Else1969]

Greetings all,

I thought I might share some snaps from our recent Mercedes club national rally which went from Albury, NSW across the Great Dividing Range and ended up on the 90 Mile Beach at Lakes Entrance, VIC. In all about 120 cars made the trip with about 250 occupants, some from England, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand and even Tasmania!

Albury greated us by raising flags around town:
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Our car display in Albury attracted a lot of attention:
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Morning tea in lovely Bright. 3 Pagodas out of 4 parked cars ain't bad:
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We were in a convoy of 5 SLs (2 x 107 and 3 x 113)travelling across the mountains:
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Download Attachment: Following SL230 across Hotham Heights.jpg
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The view from the top of Mt. Hotham was stunning, as was the weather (a week later they had 15 cm of snow at this spot):
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Most of the run off the back of the mountain was down long banking turns, a contrast to the tighter uphill fun earlier:
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The better half had fun driving too:
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Our car was indeed in good company parked next to 2 190SLs in the old gold mining town of Omeo:
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Download Attachment: Happy SL drivers- Omeo.jpg
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Proof that the cops will stop a Pagoda...."blow please!":
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At Lakes Entrance we met up with Pagoda SL Group member Garry and introduced ourselves, our wives and our cars:
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Final pictures of Else where Lake Tyres spills out at the Ninety Mile Beach:
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Download Attachment: Parked in front of the Waterwheel Hotel.jpg
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Dirk
1969 Signal Red Auto 280 SL named "Else"

Edited by - Admin, 2 May 2008

[Garry]

Great photos Dirk,

That one at Lake Tyres parked in frount of the Water Wheel pub is really great, and one for the Coffee Table book!

Dont know what came over us letting the girls into the drivers seat.  Kate wants to learn how to drive a manual car now so she can take the car out on sunny days!!!  What have I started.

Cheers
Garry

Garry Marks
Australia
69 280SL RHD Ex Scotland, Data Carded 5 speed, currently 4 speed Manual (watch this space)
02 320ML
05 A200

[Mike Hughes]

That last one is a stunner!  I can't open the next to the last one.

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[franjo_66]

Hi Dirk

I really enjoyed your photos, hopefully my beast will be back on the road soon and ready to join you guys in any upcoming drives/rallies, etc.

Garry, you should never let the missus learn to drive manual....I made that mistake with my M3 and I rarely got to drive it after that...

Rgds
Frank
1965 230SL Black/Auto/RHD
1996 W210 E36 AMG

[Else1969]

Oops, I can't seem to get the second last photo to work. Can someone please tell me how I managed to bugger it up?

In our case, Marion and I have a great driving relationship. We learnt over 20 years ago that if our marriage was to survive, then she would drive and I would navigate (whenever neither of us knows where we are going). Marion is an excellent driver (better than myself), but can't for the life of her work out what those funny coloured lines and symbols are on that large sheet of paper. Even rotating the page just does not seem to help! I believe the term is maplexia femalus which seems to be a common affliction. Marion in fact prefers a manual transmission over an automatic....she was most peeved that she couldn't get her new ML in  manual. The fact that my wife likes to drive has probably cheated some divorce lawyer out of his/her illgotten gains.

I have been thinking about the coffee book...hmmm....might have to think some more.

For anyone contemplating the next Australian National Mercedes Club car rally, then I believe it is in Perth, WA in 2010 followed by Adelaide, SA in 2012.

Dirk
1969 Signal Red Auto 280 SL named "Else"

[Peter van Es]

quote:Originally posted by Else1969

Oops, I can't seem to get the second last photo to work. Can someone please tell me how I managed to bugger it up?

Dirk,

since you are asking. You put ( and ) in the file names. I also recommend against spaces. Have a look at this:
http://www.sl113.org/forums/faq.asp#GetForum

I have fixed it for you, just this once...

Oh, and one more hint, NEVER, EVER upload .BMP files again, they are lousy quality at 5 times the size. The new forum software (soon to be here) will not allow .BMP files to be uploaded anymore. Convert them to JPG files using your favourite (or the recommended free XnView) package.

Peter


1970 280SL. Also known as 'admin@sl113.org' and organiser of the Technical Manual.