[decooney]

I have a beefy 4-speed Toploader in my car. Its great, however, there are several times when I'm running on the freeway getting to places next to my other friends with the newer TKO 5speed...

Their engines are mildly crusing along, not spinning too many RPMs, easily going 75/80 at lower RPM, and my motor is over here spinning away even with 3.31 gears and taller tires. For around town and stoplights, the TL is nice. If you drive on the freeway for 1-3+ hours straight any time on periodic trips, it'll make you think some more about it.

... if you are not going to drag race the car, and you don't need to dump the clutch like a dingbat, the newer TKOs do nicely and you get to save your motor a bit in the process... I like the originality of the Nascar Toploader but none of these replicas are original Cobras, so who cares - it really comes down to what you like and need and how you plan to use the car. I may just yank my Toploader, keep it in storage for safe keeping, and go put a TKO 5speed in mine too. Good Luck.