When did floor shifters change....
 

... from "park" at the bottom to "park" at the top? Was it on 1968 cars with the redesigned "safety" steering wheel? Anyone know for sure? Many thanks.

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!

The 108/109/111/113 shop manual shows that the floor shifters changed in May 1969. This change coincided with the the introduction of the automatic transmission K4C-025 and the lateral shifting manual transmissions. The transmission tunnel had to be enlarged to allow the use of these transmissions. I don't know 114/115 cars very well, but I think they used the newer transmissions from the start of production in 68. The mercedes EPC would be the best place to verify what transmissions the 114/115 cars used.

The 113 continued to use the older K4A-025 automatic and top shifting manual transmissions till the end of production in 1971 and the shifter never changed.

John