Gee, that isn't a common problem. Is this the car that had some sort of stuck in park / forcibly pulled out of park issue? I seem to remember someone having this problem.

The shifter is not part of the transmission and can be removed by taking top of console apart / removing an under car shift rod clip. If the console was apart, this is a 45 minute job. I'd expect the console to add 1 hr but I haven't done one of these before.

Be aware that switches in these shifters suffer when liquids are spilled, this can lead to the trans staying in 1st and not automatically shifting.

I looked on the salvage yard searcher car-part.com but it isn't showing shifters for any MB in that era so I think the system is currently broken. However, searching for a transmission turns up some cars. I'd expect to pay about $ 100 or less for a used shifter assembly.