'97 Taurus wagon...Stalls, no speedo, shift badly

HELP!!!!

Car drove good....then started missing. a few seconds later it was losing power. Pulled over, turned off ignition and restarted. Ran good for a a couple of hours. Then problems became more frequent. Thought it might be a fuel pump...BUT....problem re-oocured....pulled over, turned off ignition...restarted...no speedometer. Drove into town...same problem...restarted...no spedometer AND did not want to shift into gear. Drive did not engage then when it did, I only had 1st gear. Drove home. Next morning started car...speedometer worked and car drove nicely...then problems all started again ....when speedometer quit working, power steering became tighter. Can't get it over 3,000 RPMS and that's in 1st. What's wrong with this car????

Is it throwing any codes?

Correct, your car has a pretty good diagnostic system on it. Many of the chain auto parts stores will pull codes at no cost, you'll want to be sure though to get the exact code number and not just the salesperson's interpretation of what parts it will take to fix the code. They'll likely only be able to pull Powertrain codes, probably not transmission-specific codes, but the Powertrain codes may tell you enough to start fixing the issue(s). At a minimum you'll probably find a code for a vehicle speed sensor issue.

-Rod