Stick Shift 3.5 Coupe For Sale
 

1971 3.5 Coupe For Sale - black with red interior, 4 speed manual transmission (one of about 130), original 040 black paint, quite original except for new leather interior, entirely rust free, one of the finest 3.5 coupes in the world, located in West Texas, $23,000, for pictures and additional information, please email: ltyler@wcc.net

I bought this almost two years ago. It's been an absolute delight. I would like to find a NOS stick shift lever in place of the one it has. Any ideas?

At that time I was helping John sell it. I had sold it to him about 5 years before that. I'm glad you like it. It had come out of the Bay Area and before that Amsterdam. The original owner was the mayor of Amsterdam who had special ordered with a stick and with the flag holder on the front right fender - for politicial parades. Remind me what NOS stands for. Do you have a picture or drawing of what you're looking for?

New Old Stock

What a beauty that car is! Are you saying there are only about 130 of these with stick shift rather than automatic transmissions? Quite a pedigree, too.

It is a great car and that is a fine example, but they are not quite that rare. A friend of mine in Germany has one and he says there was about 800 of them, or about one-fourth of production.

MB coupes are some of the most beautiful cars ever in my opinion. Yours is such a classic!

So here is a shot of the inside. Is this stickshift original? I thought the original one was a small cue ball style gear shift. Any thoughts?

http://i17.tinypic.com/5x7ykav.jpg

Are you serious?! You want to replace ANYTHING in that car? That looks fantastic! If you need something to keep youself busy with, I can give you plenty to do around my house. I wouldn't mess with what you've got, if I were you.

I have a thought. It could surely be wrong but...
I thought the "cue ball" was for the autos. Not the manuals. I'd imagine a cue ball would be an uncomfortable shifter, and MB would know that, so your shifter probably is stock...

Yeah, that makes sense. I once drilled out an eight ball and made a shfter knob for an old VW I had as a teenager. It looked cool for a while, but didn't fit my hand very well.

What's there is not original but original is not the round white ball either - that was older sticks, e.g. 113 bodies, 111 coupe sixes. This was a new transmission and shift knob when it came out - same as a later 240D stick, or any stick from the 70s.

Ah, thanks, Dean. Much appreciated.

I'll see if I can get a picture of my friend's in Germany - may take a while.

I've got a 65' 250 cabriolet that has an original 5 speed stick on the floor and the shift knob on it looks like a smaller white cue ball also.