[mdross1]

When building our car with big block and toploader it was obvious why the shifter was in it's location. It would have been impossible to move it forward the shift rods were already quite short. Moving the shifter forward would have made it next to impossible to make it work not to mention it would then not look like the originals.
When converting over to a Tremec it was a no brainer where the shifter was to reside.