Ornbau - the big gathering

I set of at 6.30 am (see yesterdays posting to calculate how much sleep I got), drove the car out of my garage, closed the garage door behind me, turned right at the first crossroads and drove right away into the arms of an police control. Well, not quite, as the car decided to stall a few meters in front of them. What a start. But they only wanted to know whether I drank lots of booze yesterday or today, and I wholeheartedly answered "NO". The police officer stepped to the right (the right) side of the car, but he approached me in german. Kind of an half-hearted attempt. But very friendly, although being asked to show the car documents I answered (less wholeheartedly this time) "no". Well, I got away with it.

After collecting my co-travellers on the way, we set of for the big Mercedes-Benz club gathering at Ornbau, located in the most beautiful southern region of Franconia. As you can see, there was no time to visit the hairdresser.



Spirits were high, weather was best, the car behaved - almost, coming to a stop when we were nearly there, with fuel starvation. Filling up the tank helped. Calculating the fuel consumption (12 mpg) did not help. Readiness to travel restored. Oil level checked. Drops lots of it.



We then resumed our travel without problems and drove right into the huge gathering, with hundreds of cars and thousands of visitors.



The car got parked next to another Crayford, no stroke-eight of course but a W116 that was somewhat "improved" during its restoration. A very interesting car, and putting two Mercedes Crayfords together should not have taken place for some time.

The funny thing is, everybody has got an opinion about the Crayford stroke-eight. And although everybody got the same opinion about it, everybody needs to tell it to me. As if I never saw my own car before. And yes, I KNOW that the roofline is not perfect.

But what a wonderful way to spend a wonderful day. We talked, bought parts and in any way socialised for the rest of the day. Then Michael, one of my co-travellers, asked for the car keys and I gave them to him. A few minutes later, he appeared with the car right in the middle of the meeting and drove it into the club headquarter, where TUeV checks are carried out during the day. And then it all started.



The TUeV officer, a member of the Mercedes club, gave us very helpful advice on what to do so that the car will gain TUeV approval. From the technical side, there was not much to nag about, brake hoses at the rear and one or two rubber buffers. Examining the structure, there were more severe problems, and we were explained in detail what needs to be welded and what can remain like it is. We also got valuable advice about the procedure to acquire the german historic number plate, where special examinations and tests are carried out.

After all the good news, we put the car to rest and started to party in a serious way. A stroke-eight taxi took me to my hotel late at night. One of the things I still remember.