That reminds me of a buddy of mine who had a T-Bird Supercoupe with a stickshift. like 130,000 miles on it, the tranny was almost junk. It wouldn't go into first gear unless the car was shut off, or you matched the revs as you were slowing down. If you nurse 3rd gear, it should last a while. I have a Ranger with 126,000 on factory everything, and it sees redline 2nd gear shifts daily. It does grind when I slam it into 2nd, but if I drive it normal, it is great.
