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Old 11-30-2012, 05:20 PM
tram tram is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 442
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimFreeh View Post
My 69 300SEL 6.3 had "park" at the back, my 70 250C had it forward, or normal....

Jim
I had a '69 6,3 also- and mine was "forward". So was my old '69 230/8.

The reason I'm asking is because I want to switch my '68 230S from column to floor shift (just due to personal preference). This car is a real mystery. It's "technically" a 1967 according to VIN, and titled as a '68, but it has all of the 1968 attributes... "safety" steering wheel, smog pump (AND the blue tag for it under the hood!), brake reservoir level sensors, side markers, and a recessed square plastic surround around the ignition switch like 280SE coupes and convertibles have. It also has a red gel for the parking brake light (this doubles as the brake level warning light) in the instrument cluster.

This car is still in original paint with no signs of any work (hacked in upgrades) having been done. As far as I've been able to ascertain, the engine and trans are original... and here's where it gets interesting- the trans is the later trans like the early W114 and '68 on W108s came with... and the trans mount and bar fits like factory. Putting a later trans into a 1967 and earlier car- Fin or W108- CAN be done, but it requires some real fabrication at the rear mount because the bodies are stamped differently... e.g., you can't "just" bolt up a late mount bar and mount to an early car.

These later transmissions all have "park" at the top, due to a different transmission shift arm that requires the longer arm found on the "park at top" shift gates.

I have seen some early 6.3s with "park" at the bottom, but the trans that bolts up to the M100 is its own animal in some ways.

My thought was that this 230S should indeed have the "park at the bottom" shifter, but it's not gonna fly.

This car is a real oddball... I like it- a lot!
__________________
1968 230S Automatic, Elfenbein
1975 O309D Executive Westfalia Camper Bus, Blau/ Weiss
1972 280SEL 4,5 Dunkelrot
1966 VW Type 34 "Grosser" Karmann-Ghia
1963 VW 1500 Variant Pearlweiss
1969 VW Variant Automatic, Perugruen
1971 VW Squareback Automatic, Clementine Orange
2001 E320 4Matic Wagon- Our belated welcome to the 21st century! Polar White
1973 280SEL 4,5 Sliding Roof "The Bomb", Dunkelblau.

Last edited by tram; 11-30-2012 at 10:30 PM.
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