So I discovered this rod hanging inside the engine compartment - I think it has to do with the trans/steering column linkage. My 72 cutlass appears to be a column to floor shift conversion - I would like the neutral safety and reverse lights to work and I think this rod has something to do with it. So my questions are - what am I missing; is it possible to connect everything up without going messing with trying to add a switch to the floor shifter; what should the linkage look like correctly installed?

 

The 71-72 factory floor shift cars used the same backdrive linkage and NSS as the column shift cars, so just install all the missing linkages, perform the needed adjustments, and everything should work fine.