"Only after he got it all together and "driving" did he discover that the car went forward when the transmission was in reverse, and all 3 forward gears propelled him backwards."
As a publicity stunt in 1928 to advertise new Fords - and again in the mid-1960's to draw attention to an upcoming MAFCA Model A convention - a team of two guys drove across the USA
BACKWARDS in roadsters, the first trip in a 1928 Roadster and the second in a 1931 DeLuxe Roadster! Their progress in both instances was documented by local newspapers in the towns they passed through. The more recent trip's progress also appeared on TV news shows. These trips took place before the interstate network was completed, so you can imagine driving almost 3000 miles in reverse on two lane highways and through every Podunk Center town in each state! How'd they do it? The same way many restorers "rebuilt" their Model A rear ends by putting the ring gear and axles in the wrong axle housing. So, they had three speeds in reverse. Only, these guys WANTED the rear end that way.
The stories of both trips appeared in a couple back issues of "The Restorer". I'm too lazy to go through the hundreds of magazines on my bookshelves to find these stories, so you'll just have to take my word for it that these trips did take place - backwards.
Marshall