I purchased a 1984 mercedes Benz 300D Turbo Diesel recently. The VIN number can't be found by Insurance companies so I assume this is because it's from Europe; not sure though. Point: When I bought it, I noticed that to get it to shift, I had to let all the way off the gas and then press it down again or it would over-rev quite a bit before finally shifting. I was told that this was because it was a "'Manual Automatic Transmission' and this was because it was designed to have the pedal on the floor to get up to speed on the autobahn." Does anyone know of such a thing? I have never heard of it before, but had one MB mechanic confirm it, so I almost belive it...it just seems very strange.