The first moment things go wrong and Gilbert is out of there. It is my favorite episode and the boys played their parents perfectly. I still crack up when Gilbert reaches behind and slaps one of their kids in the head.

Yeah, that's a funny scene. The tweens pretending, near the end of childhood. I think the scene is longer that what's shown on MeTV.

Then disaster, and they're in the middle of the street. And of course, an almost immediate traffic jam. By that time Gilbert was on the run, running into Wally. He gives a quick overview, and then is back to running again.

Do you think in reality that some of those men waiting to get around the car would have helped get it back in the driveway instead of waiting so long?

In a real, similar situation, I'd hope the adults would act like adults. You'd think someone would try to help the kid, rather than just yelling and honking. "Calm down, pal. Do you know if there's a key around somewhere?" Or maybe get the loud crowd together, get an adult in the car to steer, and push the car back in the driveway.

And I think the Mayfield cop could have been a little more understanding and helpful.

I never liked Beaver Takes a Drive because it’s so lame how no one helps out. One guy mentions how they can push the car back and the guy with the loudest horn says not with my back. It was just part of the plot, Wally driving the car without a license. That cop only saw Wally driving back into the driveway, didn’t know the whole story and didn’t ask.

The cop must have gotten more of the story that we didn't see/hear, because later Wally says to the judge, something like, he (the cop) says he's for ticketing, and you're for listening.

I do think the "pretend" scene in the car made that episode.

I liked that old steering wheel in Ward’s car that was almost square.

Yeah, IIRC that was a Plymouth from around 1961, which would fit with the episode. Either this model or another around that time had the odd gearshift lever that was on the instrument panel.

Plymouth Fury?

Yeah that's it. It might be the model my dad had, and had to get rid of because it was a lemon.

In the 70’s my uncle had a really old Plymouth Fury and had buttons he would push for drive, reverse etc. it was quite a novelty. The paint job was like Wally’s car. It was blue but the paint was coming off. They referred to it as the tie dye car.

The scene with Gilbert playing the mom is easiest the funniest Gilbert moment for me.

It is annoying that not one of the adults got out to help/find out what was wrong or why a kid was in the middle of the street in the car.