More to add:
My new mechanic said that he saw one other 300e 5 speed in Canada, tried to buy it, but it was sold already. He said that 5 or so were shipped to Canada. No way to prove that, though. He wondered if mine might have been a conversion. I don't think so, but I don't know.

On the car option tag by the rad, which code signifies a 5 speed?

My odometer and air conditioning work again!
Thanks,

__________________
VR
1967 250SL

Link for body tag info:
http://home.concepts.nl/~vlimmere/bodytag.htm

717430 is for manual transmission, you can verify with a vin lookup on the Mercedes-Benz Club Russia website.

http://www.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/?lng=eng

This site will provide the info you are looking for and more, make sure you convert the vin and click on the full version box:

e.g. 300E = 1240301 substitute characters 4 thru 10 and replace 999999 with your vin's last six numbers (sequence#)
WDBEA30D8GA999999 = WDB1240301A999999