Who completed the assembly on the car? Peter may help look up if they installed the shifter and what type. If it looks like an original style, they routinely used the long shifter to resemble the Toploader.
I had a 427 car with the Richmond and the long shifter. It was not the easiest to operate (compared to a Toploader) and there are a couple threads here on this combo already. Sloppy is the not the word I would choose to describe it though. Perhaps yours is needing adjustment or repair? I'm not sure there is a better option, than what ERA has likely already provided for your car when it was built (assuming it was assembled correctly).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT_ABuizNQk