I had something like that happen with my dad's new pride and joy, his brand new 1955 Dodge with an automatic transmission. My dad was foolish enough to let me drive myself and my brother to the movie on Edwards AFB. The '55 Dodge had a lever sticking out of the dash, R at the top, then N below that was D and at the bottom was L. No park notch. Anyway we were waiting for the light to turn green in front of Blakely's gas station next to some girls in a Ford. The light went green, I slapped the lever down into low and floored it. We took off with a bit of rubber burn (not a lot) and as the Ford began to catch up I just slapped (literally) the lever up toward drive but it went all the way up into reverse. This was doing about 40mph or thereabouts with that little V8 in my dad's pampered baby pretty well wound up tight. That's when I discovered there was no reverse lockout on that transmission. The thing went into reverse, the car began hopping with its rear axle jumping up and down somewhat sideways across a four lane highway into the desert sand on the side of the road (wrong side) and came to a stop in silence other than the gentle pattering of dirt landing on the roof.
My brother who was about 12 was busy demonstrating how big a human's eyes can dilate and I was in shock thinking of what my father was going to do to me. With great trepidation my shaking fingers turned the ignition key and the engine actually started. Very gingerly I put the thing into expecting loud clashing noises but to my surprise the car began to move with no unusual noises. It's hard to believe but the car ran just like it had before the unfortunate attempt at drag racing. You can't imagine my relieve. I know how a prisoner feels when they blow the fuse on the electric chair during an execution. My future had looked much like that until the car proved it wasn't hurt. We got to the movie, I came out with a lot of paper towels to wipe off the dirt and we drove home with me lecturing my brother about the terrible things that would come his way if he ever, ever spoke of that event on the way to the movie. I must have finally gotten the fear of death into that little blabber mouth because he never did speak of it again. Not even now when my parents both have been gone for over ten years.
If you ever want to put a damn good transmission in a car go find a 1955 Dodge and use its tranny, the thing is bulletproof.