Okay, I'm a total newbie. I bought a 1977 300D a week ago. I have simply fallen in love with the weird old girl. She runs great. Has power windows, climate control, sunroof, all of which work very well. I have a few questions about her. I don't have any point of reference to know how she's supposed to behave so I am asking those who know. Below are my questions:

1) I notice that the tranny starts out in second gear unless i floor her. I guess this is the way she was designed. She will shift as long as I am accelerating. It seems like she will only shift by herself under pretty high revs. If I want her to shift early, I let up off the accelerator kinda like my stick shift cars and she will shift up into the next gear. Is this the way she's supposed to work?

2) She's pretty loosey goosey in the steering. I have about an inch of play off center before she'll steer. She therefore tends to drift around a bit. I know she's a 29 year old car so I expect a little bit of looseness in her behavior.

3) The Temp Guage hangs out at about 175F while driving. Is this okay?

4) The oil pressure guage hangs out at the needle (45) as long as I am driving. When idling it falls to about 30. Hows that?

Well. Any advice would be appreciated.

Rick