Not to take anything away from Paul's auction, it looks like it is doing just fine, but I guess I am in the minority camp in just sticking with the original 4-speed. That is a lot of money (and time) to spend on something that in all actuality rarely gets used to its potential. Meaning, when I lived in SoCal for 12 years, I just assumed I'd be lucky to hit occasional stints at 80+mph due to traffic congestion, up and down the coast. Fast freeway driving is not my thing anyways. And when you do get the chance, the motors on these cars, whether they be 2800's, 3.0L's, 3.3L's or 3.5L on up, don't seem to mind the revs. They actually seem to like it.
But where the true enjoyment for me came in was mountainous driving or very twisty backroads, I'll take the speeding tickets there. And I feel the 4-speed is more then well equipped for the ups and downs of the twisties. 3rd gear especially, going up and down the mountains. Anyhow, just my opinion and I'm sticking to it...LOL. Driven in plenty of 5-speeds and pumped up motors LSD's etc. and still love the 4-speed tranny. 5-speeds typically not that good off the line either from dead stop. Plus I picked up a couple backups for cheap if the 4-speed ever needed rebuilding, there are two sitting in my garage ready to go. But as they say, "whatever blows your hair back!"