My Dad tried to teach me to drive his '68 VW Beetle, but my inexperience and his temper didn't make for a good learning experience. A couple years later, after driver's ED in an automatic Plymouth Sattelite, getting my license, and ocasionally being allowed to drive my parents Chevelle, I finally learned to drive a stick in my first Benz - a $200 Ponton 180b, with a 4-speed on the column. For a column-shift, the one in that 180b was suprisingly solid and precise - much more so than some floorshifts I've experienced - including that awful rubbery shifter in Dad's VW!
Since then I've owned several manual-shift cars. The best shifters were in my '62 Hillman Super-Minx, and later my '67 Sunbeam Alpine - rock-solid, with no slop whatsoever. Compared to my Ponton, the column-shift in my current '60 Fintail is a bit more stiff and notchy, but not bad considering it's now 47 years old.
As for the 4-speed floorshift in my recently acquired '81 240D, it's not as solid as the ones in my Hillman and Sunbeam, but it's decent enough and shifts well if I take it easy, which is kind of what driving a 240D is all about.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW