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Will Someone In Australia Near Five Dock, NSW Pick Up An Item For Me And Ship?

Started by Squiggle Dog, 23 January 2019, 08:43 PM

Squiggle Dog

There is an item I have to have on Gumtree, and the seller won't respond to me. I've been trying for months now. This is the item I want: https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/five-dock/other-parts-accessories/mercedes-steering-column-manual-w111/1193950484 . If someone in Australia lives near Five Dock, NSW, would you be willing to purchase it and ship it to the USA? It would mean a lot to me. I need the shifting shaft and some internal parts from it which are interchangeable with a left hand drive column.

Their price is a bit steep at $345. An offer of $200 would be closer to what I'm willing to pay after the high price of shipping and compensation for the person's time.
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1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

Squiggle Dog

Someone on OzBenz in Western Australia is going to have the steering column shipped to them from New South Wales, and then they will ship it to me.
Stop paying for animal cruelty and slaughter. Go vegan! [url="https://challenge22.com/"]https://challenge22.com/[/url]

1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

floyd111

A RHD column shifter? Put that in a 280SEL and you got the rarest of W116's! What is it you're planning there?

Squiggle Dog

Quote from: floyd111 on 01 February 2019, 07:00 PM
A RHD column shifter? Put that in a 280SEL and you got the rarest of W116's! What is it you're planning there?

It's a right hand drive column shift steering column for a manual transmission out of a W111 fintail. It's for my fintail wagon project, which was made with a column shift manual transmission, but from August 1967 through February 1968, the fintails were mandated by USA law to have a collapsible steering column. So, the steering column became thicker and the steering and shifting shaft are sleeved so that they can collapse along with the column so in a hard frontal collision the steering column won't come toward you and knock your head off. Also, the steering wheels had a thick hub which would deform if a person's body struck it in a collision, which would absorb some of the energy and reduce the chance of injury.

So, I've been wanting to upgrade to the collapsible steering column for years, but they only made them on the fintails for six months, so they are very scarce. A friend found one in a wrecking yard, but I found it won't work because it's for an automatic transmission and the shifting shaft and hardware won't work for a manual transmission. But, I just hadn't found any for column shifted manual transmission for sale anymore in years of extensive searching.

Then I had the opportunity to buy a right hand drive fintail wagon that was in really good condition, but the seller ended up changing his mind and deciding that instead of giving me a bargain on it like we were discussing, he would throw it up on eBay with the starting bid at $10,000 and let it go from there. But, he never got around to it. Anyway, when I thought I still had a chance at buying it, I decided I would look at parts for right hand drive fintails and came across that right hand drive steering column on Gumtree. But, after months of trying to contact the seller (who completely ignored me), I gave up on it, and then the deal with the fintail wagon didn't happen.

I kept searching for the elusive collapsible manual column shift steering column for a fintail with no success. Then out of curiosity I searched through EPC to see if any other steering columns used the shifting shaft and hardware I would need to convert my column shift automatic steering column to a manual. I found that only a W108 uses the same shifting shaft and hardware as a fintail. So, I searched hard for a column shift manual steering column for an August 1967 or later W108, but they seem non-existent. I did find a guy in South Africa with two of them (Old Merc Guy), but he won't ship to the USA.

I also searched EPC and found that the shifting shaft and hardware are the same part number for left and right hand drive cars; they are just placed on the opposite side of the column. So, I've been posting around asking if anyone in Australia would be willing to contact the seller of the column on Gumtree and ship it to me. Plan B would be to have someone in South Africa ship one of Old Merc Guy's columns to me. But, finally someone in Australia who doesn't live anywhere near the column said he'd buy it for me and then ship it. I sent the funds, but bank transfers take SO LONG. So, I'm going to use the shifting shaft and hardware from it to convert my left hand drive column shift automatic column to a manual.

This is what the column looks like in a car:

Stop paying for animal cruelty and slaughter. Go vegan! [url="https://challenge22.com/"]https://challenge22.com/[/url]

1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+