Ford - Thunderbird :: No Power Getting To Starter - Car Won't Crank, Battery Fine

My wife has a 2002 Thunderbird. Sometimes it won’t start when you turn the key. I don’t mean it doesn’t crank or cranks slowly, nothing happens. You can hear relays clicking but obviously no power is getting to the starter - the lights don’t dim when this happens. We’ve had the starter motor replaced. My mechanic is baffled. Sometimes this happens hourly, sometimes it will go weeks without happening – it’s been doing this for at least a year. To get it started, you just need to sit there and keep turning the key 10 to 40 times. It will eventually start. She just informed me that sometimes she shuts off the car in something other than Park, them moves to Park. Can this mess up the xmission lever position lockout to cause this? How can it just start by turning the key, only, multiple times? Remember, you can hear relays clicking when the key is turned.