Floor and column shifters? - stats and or trivia?
 

Just curious about something...

Henrietta came with a column shift and the sunroof.

Brunhilda w/o sunroof and with floor shift.

Both cars are automatics

Obviously having both the sunroof and the floorshifter would be cool, but unless someone has a magic wand or wants to engage in some horrifying body work - its not happening.

Either way, does anyone with lots of brain space used here for exciting MBZ trivia know anything about the numbers of cars with both options?

Personally I think the floor shift is much cooler, but I am such a creature of habit, and always initally reach for the empty column when I first get into Brunhilda. Hopefully I'll reeducate that bit of muscle memory soon!

Ann

Change from one to another
 

It's easy to make a swap to your preferred location. I've found that all the parts swap over and the sheetmetal has already been stamped with the needed holes.

Just need to get all the parts you need beforehand.

All the 108/109 cars I've had were floor shift with a sunroof (250SE, 300SEL 6.3, 280SE 4.5), and the 250SE was a manual.

All my 114/115 cars were floor shift and no sunroof (7), except for one 220D with a manual and a 'roof and a 250C with a column shift auto and no 'roof.

All 123 cars have been floor shift (5), and only one lacked a sunroof. That was a manual shift 240D.

Jim

Sadly, about the only thing "good" on 'Etta is that sunroof. She's the parts car....

Are any parts for sale ?

Unless it's a complete rustbucket then don't part it out :P It isn't that hard to find parts for 108s, and it'd be a shame to see another one kiss the crusher.

Floor shift is not only "cooler" it's also considerably more valuable, e.g. on a 3.5 cabriolet the price difference can be $10,000 or more. Hatch does such conversions but they are very expensive - thousands of dollars, it can't be that easy, at least to do it correctly.

Why are people so stuck on the difference between column or floor shifters? I've had both and there is no real merit for one above the other imho.

- Peter.

It's easy
 

While I do not know about the intricacies of a 280SE coupe, I do know it's simple to change over a W114/W115.

Last one I did on a 72 250C, involved a swap from column to floor along with a change from auto to manual.

Needed to swap out column, IP cluster housing, console, and lever and linkage.

As I said, straightforward, especially when I had the donor car next to the coupe.

Jim

LOL, not if Tom has any say!

I was going to take what I wanted, sell some bits and then see about the rest. As soon as the semester is over, I'll unwrap her and then we shall see. Poor thing - she really is an example of the worst things that happen to these cars despite my best efforts.

Ann

I know - and here is the according to what I know and some additional info from Hatch and Sons in 1998, which was about when we stopped.

Apparently, - and totally unknown to me, Henrietta was sandwiched not long before I bought her in 1992. That wouldn't have been all that bad except the body work involved a lot of bondo, which wasn't done real well.

So the underside WAS in great shape, because she is a Cal car and I had her re-undercoated about 2 weeks after I shipped her out East. I say WAS because I'm afraid that is no longer the case - and more on that in a second.

Someone did the top end in there somewhere, which was good, but they made a mess out of the wiring harnesses and a few other things that made for some interesting electrical ghosts. I spent from 1992 to 1998 fixing things other people had fixed not very well.

Anyway, she looked pretty good for the first few years, except the interior was all horsehair poking through the worn out front seats and the wood needed to be done and the carpets were worn. The back seat was redone, in gray vinyl and actually looks pretty good, if you don't mind vinyl. At one point I replaced both the front window regulators and motors, and yes, those are not for sale - I need em!

The deal with the body didn't rear its ugly head for a few years. Initally she was garaged in a heated garage in New England and not driven at all when there was any salt on the road. I drove her a lot the rest of the year.

I took her to Hatch to see about injectors, kingpins, tie rod ends and the like, and they showed me where in the front, rust had started under the bondo - and the same in the back.

She also started with a rod knock about that time - and the folks at Hatch discouraged me from going any further with her unless I had a Whole Lotta Money. They were very politic about it too.

Then, due to an Unscheduled Life Change, she lost her garage and lived in a driveway out in the New England coastal weather for a couple of years. The trunk had already had some leaking issues, and the rust just spread.

I got her up to NH, and she lived outside for another winter. When I shipped her down here to Atlanta and picked her up at the shipping company, she overheated all the way to Decatur. Since I was a poor single parent at that point, she was my last priority.

My wonderful, long suffering, then boyfriend, now husband, let me move her to his property. Triple A moved her because she just would not start (gas had gone to varnish, I'm sure) and she has sat here wrapped in a tarp since 2001. We joke my car moved in with him before I did.

For a long time I weighed redoing her against buying another one. Well according to my mechanic, here I go again with the one I just bought...

So, no Tom, I don't want to see her "go the crusher" either, and if I knew someone was going to work on her and not let her rot - I'd grab a few things out of her (those regulators and motors, the glove box catch, the antenna mast,) and gladly sign over that New Hampshire title.

So, whattya think? Part her out, or pass her on?

Ann

Its the cool factor, Peter... Who knows why!

Column shift 4 spd
 

I once had a 108 250SE with a 4 spd column shift. It was a European model I bought when in Germany.

i am pretty sure a few 123s were built with column shifters at least for the automatic trannies.

tom w

cool cars names ADP!
my 250se is a column, which i dislike because the whole operation is a bit loose, and that selector indicator wire is precarious, but it is distinctive (compared to modern cars) and further, it allows two people to sit up front, which means six of us can go to the beach!

column shift Benziger
 

My 280C was acquired with a column shift and auto trans.
I also felt it was sloppy.
Upon investigation I found a link that appeared to be designed to introduce some play. I was not impressed with this, and took the link apart and put in an extra piece of rubber to tighten it up.
I am very pleased with the results.

YMMV

Doug Q