Hooniverse Asks- What's the Coolest Manual Transmission Shift Mechanism

Look, I’m just going to come right out and say it; a lot of us have a love/hate relationship with the manual transmission. Oh sure, we puff up our chests with the pride of having mastered the mechanism, and really we appreciate the fact that a lot of car thieves will look elsewhere, as they can’t share that sense of accomplishment. On the other hand however, we curse it in traffic and on those impossibly steep hills and the ramps that sadistic underground parking lot engineers design. Oh, and for you Subaru and Studebaker owners – Hill Holder is for amateurs. Whether you like it or not, when it comes to actually doing the deed, there are a whole lot of different ways to do it. From three-on-the-tree to four-on-the-floor and umbrella handles that seem to sprout magically from the dash, shift mechanisms have run the gamut of placements and styles. But which one is the coolest way to slip from one cog to the next? Do you fancy the column shifters from days of yore, and lament their seeming extinction? Or are you a fan of gated shifters, which much like gated communities seem to only be available to the elite? What do you think, what is the coolest manual transmission shift mechanism? Image: Wikipedia