W123 50th

50th Anniversary of the W123 series

January 23rd – 26th 2026

In January 1976 on a cold snowy day in Stuttgart a press release was held for what was to become one of the defining models of the Mercedes-Benz passenger car range. Fast forward to the Australia Day Long weekend in January 2026 where the Mercedes-Benz club of the ACT in conjunction the other Australian Mercedes-Benz clubs and the W123 Australia Facebook group will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of this event here in the nation’s capital.

Below is all the information you need to attend this event. The organising committee have set up this event to cater for all budgets. This has been done in part by allowing attendees to choose what they attend, where they stay and where they eat. The event is to run over 4 days in the National Capital and will be attended by W123 owners from around Australia.

Events:

  • Over these 4 days are 11 separate events which attendees can choose from.
  • On the Saturday and Sunday mornings we have a W123 related event. Each afternoon we have some optional tours of some of Canberra’s attractions.
  • Each event has its own Trybooking page with a link to these in the L/H margin of this webpage, you can attend as few or as many events as you like.
  • Each event is free to enter, but some do have costs associated with them on the day.
  • Full details of these costs are included in the description for the event on the Trybooking page.

Event schedule:

Friday 23rd January

  • 6:00pm. Early arrivals welcome BBQ

Saturday 24th January

  • 9:00 am. Swap meet.
  • 10:00am. Scenic drive ending up at a Lanyon Homestead for a BYO picnic lunch.
  • 2-5:00pm. Lanyon Homestead tour, or MOAD tour

Sunday 25th January

  • 7:30am. Cars & Coffee, Silk Café in Fyshwick.
  • 10:00am Show & Shine, Spanish Club Narrabundah.
  • 2-4:00pm. Questacon tour, or Australian National Museum tour
  • 6:00pm. Dinner at the Belconnen labour club

Monday 26th January

  • 7:30am Farewell breakfast, hosted by the Queanbeyan Girl Guides

Coming from interstate:

  • All of the state clubs have a member who is coordinating a convoy to drive to Canberra
  • If you are not a club member you are still welcome to make contact with them and join the convoy. You can do this by Googling the relevant state club and using their contact page.
  • Of course you are most welcome to make your own way here, and to even stay a little longer and enjoy some of the other attractions in Canberra.

Where do we stay:

  • Keeping with our desire to make this event appeal to all budgets we are not suggesting everyone stay at the same location.
  • Canberra has a wide range of accommodation options ranging from Caravan parks to 5 star hotels.
  • The events are spread across Canberra, so a central location or possibly just South of the lake would be the better option.
  • Don’t forget that Queanbeyan is just over the border and also has many accommodation options.

Awards:

We will be handing out a number of awards that will be judged at the Show & Shine and handed out at the dinner. These awards will include:

  • Longest distance to attend event, checked using Google maps.
  • Longest ownership of your W123, bring the receipt from when you brought it or your oldest rego papers.
  • Highest odometer reading, self explanatory.
  • Hard luck award, an award nobody wants!
  • Crowd favourite standard
  • Crown favourite modified

Other points:

  • If you don’t own a W123 you are still welcome to come along. We will however only be displaying W123’s at Lanyon Homestead and at the Show & Shine.
  • If you have questions, you can use the “Contact Event Organiser” button on the Trybooking system.
  • You do not need an account with Trybooking to use it to book tickets.
  • You do not need to be a member of a Mercedes-Benz club or the W123 Australia Facebook group to attend.
  • When we get closer to the event we will start a WhatsApp group to contact everyone as a group.
  • We have a photographer who will be taking pictures of the event, including a shot of everyone’s car in front of Parliament house. These pictures will be made available to everyone after the event.
  • We are in the process of designing a T-shirt for the event. The artwork for this will be given free of charge to attendees who will then be able to get Officeworks or a similar company to print it on whatever colour/size you want.