'87 300 SDL - No Reverse, May Sell

[Gregory]

Last night as I was backing out of a parking spot it felt like I just barely bumped into something. Nothing was there, I pulled forward, then put it in reverse again.

The stick "bumped" it into reverse gear, but when I hit the throttle nothing happened, it just sat there.

My friends piled out and pushed it back enough to get going forward. It shifed into Drive just fine and we went on our way.

This morning I took it to a recommended MB indy in San Diego. He sat in it, ran through the shifter range, checked the fluid and says, "Tranny rebuild, $3500, 1.5 weeks."

He said this failure mode is kinda common at 300,000 miles, with reverse failing. I asked if he thought it might make it 1500 miles back home to Idaho. He said they have a loaner with no reverse that has been going forward only for several years.

Can anyone comment and advise on this tranny problem?


So I'm considering selling the car, maybe while I'm in San Diego, which is a better market than home.

The body is straight, the interior is fair. The dash has 2 small cracks. I installed a new windshield last week. The paint or top seal coat is beat, to look right the car must be painted.

The engine runs strong, I drove from So. Idaho to Vegas, to Tucson, to San Diego in the last week, mostly at +80mph.

It has 297xxx miles. It would be a good restore project that runs well already.

Comments and advice are appreciated.