My Allard experience taught me that if you get the basics of cooling right, the extras are not necessary. In that case an engine (the Flathead Ford V8) had well known cooling issues. The previous owner had addressed the symptoms - extra capacity expansion tanks, Kenlowe fan and uprated alternator. The problem was the basics - block silting from the original casting sand (a well known issue on Ford engines of that era), a small block crack (fatal in a flathead where the exhaust goes through the block), worn out water pumps and a radiator on its last legs, as well as a removed engine fan. The answer I rejected was the waterless coolant - a patch rather than a solution. It may be the answer for engines that fundamentally cannot cope with cooling, but for sound ones it has no role.
Here the engine has no known cooling issues. A mechanical pump places a constant load on the engine, but one that is not necessarily tied into the need to cool - so when the car is not moving, water is circulating slowly (and the vicious fan turning equally slowly) and airflow is low, so very poor cooling, which an electric pump can compensate for through thermostatic activation. Equally at high revs, with commensurate fan and airflow cooling, the water pump is churning unnecessarily at full speed, possibly cavitating. Again, electric pump thermostatic triggering is helpful.
Short answer, none of that muck in my Benz...
