Hi ... I'm back. The "Purdybird" .. '88 5L .. has been idle for about a year and a half, sleeping in the garage. I charged the battery, checked stuff and turned the key. Amazing!! On the second crank, it fired and within half a minute, was running well. But, I couldn't get the shifter to move out of "P". I didn't have time to troubleshoot and will be back at the farm in a week or two to work more on the car. What should I be doing/looking for?
Welcome back. The first place I'd look would be where the selector attaches to the trans. I've seen them seize there.
Id jack up the front of the car and look next to the exhaust downtube on the drivers side and shoot all thos linkages with some penetrant. Try to work out the cobwebs!