Hyundai Repair: 1995 Hyundai Scoupe gear shaft, 1995 hyundai scoupe, hyundai scoupe

Question
My grandmother has asked me to try to help her with this issue.  Short story:  She pulled into parking lot (car was driving fine); was going to leave parking lot, put car into gear & gear shift moved freely without locking into any gear; car would not move; called "mechanic" (friend of friend) & he removed a part (grandma lost & can't remember what it looks like) & told her it would work temporarily but she'd need to replace the part asap; mechanic has since moved & same thing has now happened again.  What part do you think was removed and how difficult will it be to repair?  PLEASE HELP!  I'm in OK & she is in CO & I'm trying to do this over the phone b/c all the mechanics she's had look at it take her $ & refuse to listen to her and keep telling her it is most definately the transmission.

Answer
I find it odd that someone *removed* a part that enabled the car to operate normally.  It might be possible that the original mechanic *moved* a the shift lever on top of the transmission and engaged a gear.  If this is the case, there may be a problem with the shift cable.

Realistically, however, I have little idea what may have been done.  The fact that I'm a third or fourth party in the description also makes it difficult to establish what may have happened.  It'd be my recommendation that you contact the original mechanic and ask him what he did so that you have some understanding.  

Although I suspect a shift cable issue, it's possible the mechanics who've looked at the car and determined it's a transmission issue may be correct.