car in question is manual transmission 1983 240d. the last car of this type i had was a 79 and it was necessary to lift/pull up on the shifter to get to reverse. not so with this 83. did a search and found this:Sticky shifting '83 240D...bad clutch? not too much info. can someone provide me with a fix. for i too have difficulty choosing first over reverse. i am assuming the 83 shifter should be lifted to select reverse. would like to resurect this feature.

Probably something worn out on the shifter itself as it once had a reverse detent.

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