This may be a shot in the dark, but thought someone may have an idea... I bought an '84 300D at a surplus auction and haven't seen the car yet, but the auctioneer said they can't get it out of park and they don't know how to start the car. They said the former owner (who is long gone and unavailable) said there was a "trick" to get it out of park.
Does anyone have an idea why it would be stuck in park? Maybe related to the steering lock? I'll know more when I get there to pick up the car, but thought someone may have a thought on what the problem might be and what I should check when I get there. Thanks!!

Did you get that 300D on the Purple Wave auction in Kansas? I almost went after that one, but decided I didn't need another car... I hope it turns out to be as nice as it looks...

Yes, I waited to see if anyone else wanted it and since it was going fairly cheap I put in a bid and got it for $875. I have one identical to it I use as a daily driver with 192K and figured for the money even if it didn't run I could keep it as a spare for parts. The car ran when it was seized by the patrol, so it should run again.

lubricate shifter cable going into the tranny

shifter is in the middle right??? disassemble and rebuild....isn't that difficult.

In 1984 I don't believe there was any mechanical link between the transmission shift lever and the steering lock.

You may want to start on the shift problem first and then the starting problem may resolve through the repair. I would check to see if something is broken or disconnected with the shifter first. Along with that issue would be the neutral/park safety start switch - it may be thrown out somehow too.

You should be able to shift the transmission itself with the shifter disconnected, so you will be able to divide the problem between a transmission issue and a shifter mechanism issue.

If the rest of the car is nice then I'd say this is the type of problem you could fix yourself and get a good car really cheaply.

Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles