Transmissions: column vs floor shift, three- vs four-speed automatics

A well-informed point of confusion: pre-1972 automatics are four-speeds that start in second, so non-owner sellers often mislabel them as three-speeds; only the 1972/73 4.5 V8 W108/W109 cars got Mercedes' new torque-converter three-speed. Column shift was the default with floor console a factory option on W108 six-cylinder cars, while W109 300SELs are described as floor-shift only. …