Odd transmission feature

[mrtexas]

My 89 year old dad claims that if the transmission is in 3rd gear you can lift up the shifter and reposition it anywhere you want and later return it to the original position. Is this true or just the musings of an old codger? He worked in a gas station while in College at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA in the early 1940s fixing all manner of old cars.