Column-shifters have gone the way of the manual choke, cigarette lighter, and dinosaur, I guess.

I think Saab still makes one, but US automakers gave up on them in the 80's. When I was a kid, the only "4-on-the-floor" shifters were foreign (VW, Renault), or trucks, or dragsters. Still, we (my friends and I) thought floor-shifters were cooler than column-shifters, and wa-a-a-ay cooler than lazy-man PowerGlides.

On the other hand, being stuck on a California freeway in 102F August heat shifting 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, stop, 1st, 2nd, stop, 1st, stop... for an hour gets pretty tedious pretty fast.