Column shift 727 in my '66 Coronet. Everything was working fine. Over the weekend, stopped at a quick mart, came out, and now the shift lever wont stay in P. It feels like it will just drift into R.

I checked under the hood and underneath, and the shift linkage does not appear to be binding anywhere, and at full travel the tranny lever is all the way back in P.

There is spring tension on the shift lever itself, but it feels like something is pushing it back when I try to engage P. It doesn't make a positive stop in P.

Any idea what I should look for?? Thanks.

COULD BE a plastic bushing dropped-out or shifted OR broke partially.

Where am I looking for this bushing?

Check all your linkage, and be careful, this is what happened when I let it idle in park. It fell into reverse and backed into the house. I'm just glad it was the car that crunched, and not the house.

I just has this problem; so get under the car and look for the linkage that connects the trans shift rod to the shift bar. This bar is attached to the trans and runs under the torsion bar to the frame on the drivers side.

At the frame is a rod that comes from the column shifter and attaches to the bar. This is where the shifter adjustment is.

Loosen the adjustment and disconnect the shifter rod from the bar. Then follow the shift bar linkage to the trans and find the short arm (3") at the trans left rear that actually shifts the trans into park and other gears. Push the arm all the way back until it clicks into Park. Shake it settle it in and just reattache the shifter rod to the bar.

Run through the gears from the front seat to check. This is a simple procedure.