Agreed.

I live in Australia and well, it's for those who want to be roasted by the sun...

It's just one of those things that needs to be sorted for " completeness " of the car to say everything works...

My 1980 W116 300SD had a power sunroof, and I converted it to a manual one with parts from a W123 300TD.

Any chance you could show us what parts you needed/used and any modifications you done to get it all working ?

Here you go. It was pretty easy (except for actually getting the whole thing in and out of the car). http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/282304-my-custom-1980-w116-300sd-project-10.html#144

Plenty of US-spec 240's had manual sunroof, as well as all wagons.

Manual Sunroof
 

Yes, most European cars had this fine sunroof, it almost never sticks .

I was thinking bout changing the dead electric sunroof in my '84 coupe over but the damned junkyard wanted well over $100 for the roof section and I had to cut if off the car...

Either way to have it working well you need to spend some serious time first cleaning it of old rock hard grease then lubing then re assembling it and the cables on the powered roofs have to be 'timed' ~ ever one tooth off and they'll never work right .

The manual roof locks with an easy twist of the handle in any position .

When I was a young man I loved sun roofs and had them and used them often .

Now I don't really care, I'd like to have it work just because but there's more important jobs to do .

If you're planning this, don't buy a removed manual sun roof ! cut the top off a junker, this way you'll have every part, screw, bushing and slider etc...

I've rebuilt / overhauled / serviced more Golde sunroofs than I can recall, none were difficult, all were fiddly ad time consuming and *very* rewarding when finished .

My phsycho-***** ex G.F. was very fond of auto sex with the sunroof open or convertible top down....

The vicissitudes of youth ;) .

I absolutely loved using my manual sunroof in Washington anytime it wasn't raining. When I moved to Arizona, I stopped using it entirely unless to vent the interior when parked in the shade.

But, one day something snapped, and now the wind deflector that pops out in front won't go down unless I push it down while closing the lid. The grease also got gummed up, so now it's permanently stuck shut until I can replace whatever it is that broke.

I like the idea of the simplicity of a manual sun roof. But there are best suited to temperate climates. I tried opening one in a wagon here in Phoenix a few years ago in summer and scalded my hand most unpleasantly. There is no use for one in a AZ except in winter. If I lived up north I'd probably have more use for one.

- Peter.