I've been thinking about how much more fun a big lumbering 60s family sedan is when it has a floor-shifted manual trans; back then, the cheapest base-level model would come with a three-on-the-tree as standard equipment, though almost everybody upgraded to the automatic. Not my dad, though; when his boss decided a company car was needed, he sent my dad to the Ford dealership and let him choose the options "within reason." So naturally the first car I remember from earliest childhood is a '67 Ford Custom with a 4-barrel 289 and a three-on-the-floor trans with overdrive unit. Man, I was just awed by the drama of the incomprehensible levers and pedals, producing scary-but-cool grinding and roaring noises and making mundane family road trips feel like something out of Thunder Road. In fact, I can trace my love of benzene buggies straight back to that car, which probably explains why I still think 3-speed manuals (and Ford small-blocks) are cool. The Custom was Ford's no-frills full-sized car; in '67, you could get one with a 289 for about $2600, which was a few hundred bucks cheaper than the heavier, slower 289 Galaxie.
Ford Custom [Wikipedia]
Related:
The Forgotten Squire: The Ford Country Sedan [internal]