I am trying to get my 1950 Deluxe 8 Packard mechanically sound before starting any restoration efforts. I hit a snag when I found the shifter was stuck in 1st(?) and would not allow me to shift into reverse (or 2nd and 3rd as well, apparently). When I disconnected the linkage to the rear lever coming out of the transmission (Low-Reverse?) I was able to move both the rear and front levers manually. Each lever seemed to have three positions and I found each lever had to be in the middle position before I could move the other lever. I had to move the rear lever to the forward position to reconnect the linkage to it and when I did so, locked up the shifter again.

Is anyone familiar with what is going on here and how to straighten it out?