[Mark IV]

Originally Posted by eschaider

The mid-shift shifter position on a TKO or a TKX gives you a naturally positioned shifter, much like the T-10 shifters in the original 289 cars. You lose the long gangly, forward-bent Galaxy shifter geometry that Shelby turned around and used in the original 427 cars.

For your effort, you get a comfortable shifting, naturally positioned, intuitively located shifter pretty much where you expect it to be. You also get a very small improvement in shift quality because the portion of the internal shift rail system used in shifting from the mid-position location uses fewer internal parts, is shorter, and more rigid.

For the period-correct crowd, notably, it is also not period correct. That said, neither is a TKX five-speed OD trans ...

David is getting a MK III (427 style) car. Superformance supplies the Galaxie type shifter which works fine. You learn very quickly that shifts are "up and down" rather than "back and forth" as in a 289. You can of course use the 289-type shifter and will the use the forward or mid mount.