Ivory Shift Knob for Automatic?

[KevinC]

My car has an ivory steering wheel but a black shift knob. I have noticed pics of restored cars with an ivory knob when the wheel is ivory. Is this combination correct for a "late" 230 SL (019213)?

Kevin
Boca Raton, FL
1967 230 SL Automatic
670 Light Ivory
113 Bronze/Brown MB Tex

[Mike Hughes]

My U.S. spec 1966 230SL automatic came with the white wheel and black shift knob.  Serial #15466.

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[Ed Cave]

As far as I know, there are only three interior components that you can choose to have in ivory vs. black; steering wheel, shift knob and seat lever tips. Although they may be more readily available now, last year when I did my restoration the automatic shift knob was nearly impossible to find but I did get one from Van Dijk www.classicsl.com

Back to your question; is an ivory shift knob correct for a late 230? Not sure if it's correct, but IMHO certainly a desirable choice to have these things match when the steering wheel is ivory. The shift knob was 28,57 Euro (about $34 US) and it seems like the seat tips were around $15 US.

The attached photo includes all three of these components.

Download Attachment: Ivory-Components.jpg
45.15 KB

Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA


1971 280SL
1973 911S
2004 A4 3.0
2006 GS430

[Mike Hughes]

Ed -   Didn't know about the choice of seat lever tip colors!  Mine are black, to match the shift lever.  Only the wheel is white.  I've seen a number of other 230SLs with white wheel and black knob like mine - funny though, I don't recall ever seeing a car with a black wheel and white knob!

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[KevinC]

Thanks for the response, guys. I think that the ivory shift knob would look okay in my car, but with the bronze-brown MB Tex not nearly as slick as in your car with the lighter interior, Ed.

Oh well, just another package that will arrive at the house so my wife can say: "what did you buy for your car NOW?" I think the $240 sunvisor took the cake...wait til she hears that I want to buy a passenger side visor just to get a "matched" set!!



Kevin
Boca Raton, FL
1967 230 SL Automatic
670 Light Ivory
113 Bronze/Brown MB Tex

[hands_aus]

quote:Originally posted by KevinC

My car has an ivory steering wheel but a black shift knob. I have noticed pics of restored cars with an ivory knob when the wheel is ivory. Is this combination correct for a "late" 230 SL (019213)?

Kevin
Boca Raton, FL
1967 230 SL Automatic
670 Light Ivory
113 Bronze/Brown MB Tex

Hey Kevin,

My car is like yours
The interior of my car is fairly original.
It has black shift knob, black seat lever knobs and ivory steering wheel/pad/center button.

Because of the white exterior there is a good colour match with the steering wheel and the dash colour and the knobs match very well with the black interior.
My opinion is that using standard MB choices the combination can be changed to suit the owner.

Do you really dislike the combination you have now or have you run out of other more important projects?

Bob Smith (Brisbane,Australia)
RHD,1967 early 250 SL, auto

[LFrank]

I have ebony and ivory, living in perfect harmony (and who stole my seat lever covers!?)

LFrank
Washington DC
65 230 sl - auto
DB334/Hellblau

[pagode.info]

Mercedes Part Numbers:

Black: 113 267 0010

Ivory: 113 267 0010 26

Both available at any
local Merc dealer.

Have a nice day,

Tom

www.pagode.info

[vincesy]

Can anyone please tell me how to remove / replace the shift knob?
I thought it was simply screwed on but I can't seem to get it out.
Is there a special trick?

Thanks,
Vincent

[graphic66]

You can put an open end wrench under it and hit up on it with a hammer and it should pop off. If you worried about marking it you could probably put a rag or something between it and the wrench. It is just friction fit not threaded. My Unimog has red shift knobs and a black wheel and they look good not "matching". Some of the shift knobs on the Unimog are identical to my 230SL only red. It is amazing how many identical parts are on my 230SL and my Unimog.

[114015]

Ivory color admirers,

As to my knowledge, the ivory-colored shift knob was not available via data card ordering but you could get it from the dealer's shop if desired.

The ivory-colored seat levers are definitely not original, the SLs always came with black ones.
These parts are no typical SL parts but the tip of the turnsignal lever from the Ponton. Since that older car generation was typically delivered with ivory steering wheel (in the 50ies), the gear & turnsignal levers just matched.
The ivory ones might still be available - I don't know, the black ones (128 545 04 35) are definitely not.

On the SLs (stick shift or automatic) you have just to pull off the knob. A little difficult perhaps but works.

Best,

Achim
(Magdeburg, Germany)

[J. Huber]

Hey Achim -- did I hear somewhere that an ivory-colored e-brake button was uncommon? just curious (as, you guessed it -- I have one)

James
63 230SL

[rhersberger]

Does the knob on a four speed "just pull off" too? It doesn't seem to screw off.  I've wanted to replace my black one with ivory to match the driving wheel.

Rod Hersberger

Santa Barbara

'68 280 SL, red, tan, 4sp, two tops
'01 Jag S Type brg
'07 Cayman S Carmon red, sand beige (on order)