The **** has held up well with no scratches, but the car is not a daily driver.

No plans to fill in the numbers. I have too many other projects in process.

The **** is easily removed if you know the trick. You have to remove the base of the leather boot cover away from the center console. You do that by pressing the sides of the bottom of the boot towards the shifter to release the boot retainer clips from the console. You then lift the boot up and above the shifter ****. Underneath the leather boot cover, at the base of the shift ****, you will see a round screw on nut which is made out of plastic. Gently unscrew that "with you fingers" from the ****. With that nut unscrewed from the **** you can now just pull the **** up and off the shifting shaft.