My first big job VW has come to grief -- is there hope?

After far too many days of painfully inexperienced labor I've finally
replaced the badly-leaking auto tranny in our '81 vanagon with a purchased
used-believed-good one.  Engine fired up fine, shifted into gear but nothing
at all happened. Not a trace of movement. (The van _was_ on the ground
again, with the wheels unblocked and the brake off.)

It's a huge disappointment: hair-tearing time, planned Xmas jaunt down the
tubes, all that time plus money on tools wasted, elimination of confidence
in being able to own a westie, etc.

I've rechecked the fluid level, TC bolts, gear & throttle linkage, axle
bolts. Everything looks in order.  Anyone got suggestions?

I guess the next step is to buy a rebuilt auto tranny, or maybe rebuild the
one that I took out, have it put in by someone who knows what they're doing,
and move on (tho today I feel like junking the beast, teach it a lesson) but
if there is any hope, anything I might have overlooked, any hidden knobs on
the tranny that might bear twiddling please tell me.

Al
aka Aaarrgghh today :-(