[The Champ]

The reason they came out with the column shift 3spd manual to replace the floor shifter was so you could put 3 adults in the front seat... Seriously.

I guess I'm showing my age because I grew up with the 3 on the tree being pretty common. My first car was a '60 Bonneville with an automatic, but the first two cars I ever drove were 3 OTT's ('65 Ramble Rebel and a '50 Pontiac). Many of my friends drove 3OTT's - I remember a '49 Chrysler Windsor, a '57 Chev and a '62 Plymouth Valiant (with no heater in northern MN) off the top of my head.

I've owned a '69 Chevy Bel Air with a 3OTT, and as I mentioned earlier, a '69 Opel Rekord with a 4OTT.

While stationed in Germany (1974 - 1977) I did about 50,000 miles in government sedans - mostly in '66 - 67 Rambler Ambassadors with 3OTT's. That got a little confusing going from a 4OTT to a 3OTT... More than once I almost took off from a stop light in reverse, but I caught myself every time.