Harry Hickling was at the Motorclassica in Melbourne, Australia's equivalent of the famous Pebble Beach. Celebrating the Mercedes is the second oldest car entered (beside a 1986 Benz Velo) and Australia's oldest known surviving Mercedes. The car is not yet finished but is already gorgeous.
You may know Harry from earlier features at these pages.
Harry describes the car as: 1908 Mercedes Simplex shaft drive. 35/40 hp engine. A very rare car, being the oldest known shaft drive Mercedes in the world, and similarly the oldest known surviving Mercedes in Australia. And only some 25 pre 1909 surviving cars known.
Originally with a Barker Body. The history is know through to 1914 when the car was overhauled and sent to a Sheep Property in QLd, called Issis Downs. It may have originally been owned by Sir Andrew Spence Chirnside, and then / or alternatively from new Robert Whiting or Sir Rupert Clarke who owned Isis Downs.