Bunch of snowflake pansies......

I've driven a few with a "three on the tree". My 74 Dart Sport had one. It's getting a 360-727 now.

My dad had a 72 Chevy pick up with one. Sometimes, it would stick in 1st when crossing the gate to 2nd. He asked the mechanic about it. He got a price on replacing all the linkage, and he was shown how to get it unstuck. Mech asked, "Want to fix it, or just unstick it"? Dad came home and showed me how to "unstick it". lol When it stuck, you had to clutch it, and pull over. Shut it off, and lift the hood and "align the arms" a certain way.

I imagine they disappeared because a floor shift is cheaper.

Someone touched on the drum brake issue. When they get wet, plan ahead! I used to drag the brakes to dry them out.

My 70 Challenger R/T had 11" manual drums all the way around. (C- body stuff, I guess.) It stopped very well.
However, I added metallic shoes. You had to warm them, but it stopped like NOW! A very young child ran out in between 2 cars in front of me. It stopped on a dime, and I'm sure those shoes saved his life. This was back in the late 70's; yeah, wish I still had that one! BTW, the disc brake e-bodies had 10 rear drums.