Having spent quite a bit of time making Clara a) oil tight and b) prettier it was time to go to the show. There is a very informal show that requires no booking and which doesn't require you to stay all day, so we went to that with both our coupés.

Bertha And Clara
Bertha And Clara

Mercedes were represented by our two, a nice W124 E220 Coupé and a camper van, so we were 50% of the attending Mercedes!

E220 Coupé
Volvo P1800ES
Volvo P1800ES

I have always had a soft spot for the Volvo P1800s

Chevrolet Corvair

I think this is a Chevrolet Corvair. It is a rear-engined flat six, so it must be hilarious in the wet!

Porsche 912

Porsche 912! Nice.

Alfa Romeo GTV

Classy little Alfa

Custom Car?

As for this one, I can only guess that it is custom made. Whatever, it is powered by an Offenhauser V8 and appears to weigh about as much as a pram so it must go pretty well!

Having managed to avoid getting wet, we decided to call it a day and go home - and we got photographed by some of the visitors, which was gratifying! My wife followed me home in Bertha and seeing her in the rear view mirror was lovely: she looks so good and has such 'presence'!

A week later we were due to meet up with Kevin Howlett, a friend of ours that we made through his Facebook group Mercedes Owners UK, at MB World at Brooklands so we set off in the pouring rain to meet up!

It will be interesting to see if Clara uses any oil on a slightly longer and much faster trip (it is mostly national speed limit dual carriageway between us and Brooklands).

Pimpy (Kevin's car) is a 1995 320ce, so it is great to park them together and look at how the twice-facelifted 124 coupé compares with the first version.

Pimpy And Clara

There was an exquisite W121 on display...

Mercedes 190SL

... and after we had looked at all the cars and had coffee (twice) we sneaked to the front of the museum for a quick photo opportunity (we did get a few glances from passers-by!) before heading for our respective homes. It was a very good day out.

Clara And Pimpy
Clara And Pimpy

When I checked Clara's oil and coolant levels the next morning I was delighted to find that neither had changed!

Would I Do It All Again?