K-cars

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

A friend had a '58 Mercury that had a form of a push button transmission.
It had a park position lever that had to slid to the right. IDK, if the neutral button had to be pushed before the park was set. The transmission stayed in drive while the engine was in fast idle. The transmission burned up.
IIRC, the push button selector was outlawed by the government, stating all automatic transmission cars had to be uniform to minimize mishaps.

Are you certain it was a Mercury? I was able to find photos of Mopars with a park slider but all the photos of late-50s Mercury controls I've seen show a park lever that resembles a hood release. By the way I'm a little confused by the presence of a "hill control" button in the Mercurys, seems redundant with a park lever. I suppose that could have been what they called the parking brake considering the presence of the "brake release" button.