Gear Lever Length

[Garry]

They say that size doesn't count!!

I always thought that my gear shifter was about 1" too short and that somewhere in an earlier life someone had cut it down for some unknown reason. (I think I am leaving myself open to a Benz Dr comment).)

I finally got around to ordering a new one from Millers and it duly arrived and sure enough it was longer by about 1".  However, when trying to fit it, the base is too wide and it does not fit. At the same time the old one does not look like it has been touched.

I went back to Millers and questioned what I had received and after some research they have advised that my VIN number, (ending in 12948) is just under the change from the very early to the later lever that fits all of the rest of the 113 chassis vehicles and this very early lever is no longer available nor can it be supplied.

My question is, do any others with an earlier 230SL have what I see as a short gear shift lever?

Garry

[Benz Dr.]

 

[garymand]

I've seen it on sticks a long time ago,  I assumed it was someone trying to shift it like a Hurst flour shifter.  The shafts would flex and break, and the shaft was re-threaded to a new shorter length.  My 250 came that way, until I found a transplant 300SL lever in a wrecking yard with the shift lever still in it.  Its a little beefier 

[Benz Dr.]

The 230SL I just sold has a fairly short shifter arm in it. Anyone who has ever driven a ZF 5 speed car will know that first and second gear are much farther over to the left than a regular four speed trans. This shifting patern has a way of being right in my way when I'm shifting from first to second and the shifter is still fairly close to my knee even in fifth gear.
Not so on the car with the much shorter shifter. Since I had never diven another car with a ZF 5 speed I had nothing to compare it to. This one works nicely and better than my own. I might just try to find a broken shifter lever and modify the lenght. I'm sure this problem has nothing to do with me being 6'3''.