Ok, there might be a better place to post this, but it is kinda to do with the automatic trans. I have a 71 buick at my parents house in Tennessee, and i live in California. We have lost the keys, and my father has no desire to do much of anything to the car. I want to get it hauled here, and the column is already broken in that it will steer the car without the key, but the transmission will not let it shift out of park. I know you can reach under the car and manually release it and put it into neutral, but the truck driver will not do this just to get it to me. I also know that you can get the cylinder drilled out and put a new one in, but that will cost me 164 to have a locksmith do it. I can find a cylinder for around 20 and put it in myself if it was here. And that is what i will do if i can get it to me, so im not concerned about breaking the ignition cylinder. So long story, is there an easy way to get the cylinder to turn in order to put the car into neutral and back into park. Like i said, breaking the cylinder is not a problem with me if it can be done fairly easily. Can you jam a screwdriver in there and take some pliers to the thumb grip and turn the cylinder? and if you can, will that turn the whole thing enough to release the shift lever so my dad can pull it down into neutral? Thanks in advance. David
Under the hood, the shift arm is by the steering column. It has a spring clip in it that can be pulled out and the transmission shifted from there. That is the easy way to change the tranny with a locked column.
