Bought ours in 93,at that time heard nothing but good.
-Lower than others, not so, ride height is builders choice as is ride quality.You want a cruiser build the suspension soft,you want a corner carver build it to do so and even then the ride quility is where it should be.
-Frame welds, no issues with ours,took it to a fabricator to make clearance for undercar exhaust,and add brackets for upper and lower A-arm front suspension.
-Manual trans,not a problem with our 460 powered car also have a cable controled clutch.The foot box is small but we got used to ours very quickly.
-Major issues,non that I could remember other than when mounting the body shim where the glass does not touch the frame.
The way I see it is this car was built originally to be a race car sacrifices had to be made.