Getting almost) back to the subject of this thread, I'm surprised that I haven't seen much mentioned in the way of pushbutton controls for the early automatic transmissions. Here's the unwieldy-looking button panel for the mid '50s Packard
Touchbutton Ultramatic:
First Row:
Neutral,
Low,
High
Second Row:
Park,
Reverse,
Drive
Probably the most famous was Chrysler's
pushbutton-controlled PowerFlite and TorqueFlite transmissions, offered between 1956 and 1964. Here's the button panel from a PowerFlite-equipped car:
(the parking brake was engaged using a separate lever)
Less well-known was the
Teletouch system used in the ill-fated Edsel line. Inexplicably, they chose to place the pushbutton controls smack dab in the center of the steering wheel, which probably caused some interesting transmission acrobatics when someone not well-acquainted with the system tried to honk the horn as you would on most other cars.
Here's a photo:
Closer view:
__________________
Visit my site!
Stereo: Pioneer SPEC-4, Pioneer SPEC-1, Kenwood KT-7500, Dual 1219, Nakamichi BX-100, Pioneer PD-M60, Paradigm Studio Monitors