Genderson: I told you not to take the turnpike.
KRAMER: I thought we would blend in.
Genderson: If we took the Palisades, this never would've happened.
KRAMER: Then we would've had all that bridge traffic.
Genderson: Ah, just drive.
I don't like took in the conditional sentence. Instead of took it should be had taken. What is it: a different grammar structure or just a colloquialism?
Answer
It's as StoneyB and relaxing said in their comments. Michael Swan's Practical English Usage also mentions this "past simple instead of a past perfect". Here is the relevant section.
262 if (7): other structures found in spoken English
4 mixed tenses
Sometimes a simple past tense is used with if where a past perfect would be normal. This is more common in American English.
If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake.
If I had the money with me I would have bought you one.
If I didn't have my walking boots on I think I would have really hurt my foot.
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