My 1982 240D w/ automatic trans has been parked in the driveway since
last Tuesday night when the big Midwest snowstorm landed its bullseye
on me. I parked the car that night to awake to 4 inches of snow. I live
in a rather hilly area and hitched a ride into work. Later that night
the main storm hit and we ended up with around 22" of snow. The car
remained parked and unstarted until Sunday. I decided to atleast dig
the car out and help my dad clear the rest of the driveway. The car
started up with a bit of engine starting fluid as an incentive (note
the car had not been started in 5 days and it had not been above
freezing and my block heater is kaput). I allowed the car to warmup to
60c or so and put it into drive and the tires spun, we then used a tow
rope and our 02 Ford Explorer Sport Trac to pull the car out (in drive
w/ slight gas applied) in order to be able to clear the driveway. This
worked fine, no strange noises, pops or cracks and i left the car
running while we cleared the area. I put the car into reverse to back
it back into its preivous parking place and the tires spun again (ice
was caked on the tires themselves). So i held the brake to stop the
tires and put the car into park to go get my dad to push the car a bit
and get it moving. When i stepped out of the car i was amazed to see
the tires still spinning. I checked and surely enough the car was in
park. I tried shifting to drive and other gears and the shifter gave me
no trouble and the car made no noises. Amazed, i looked under the car
for damage and checked the trans fluid, nothing looks to be damaged or
hurt in any way. I eventually assumed there had to be ice building
blocking a lever, no such luck as the temperature reached 50 today and
ice would have surely melted. The trans would not shift hard, as in
later than factory but not danagerously when driven  with the ac turned
off, i always drove with it on when driving in town. When in "park" the
reverse lights are not lit, but the car is in reverse when shifted to
reverse the reverse lights come on.

It truely is time for me to find a new car, and im eyeing a pre-EDS
300D from the early nighties, however ill be waiting for my income tax
returns before i go car hunting. Any and all ideas are welcome, minus
those cut out the floorboards and do it flintstones style :)
- Mitch
Stuck in reverse