My ERA has a Hurst shifter so I’m not too sure just how the original Ford shifter was configured but the vintage photos I studied of original cars appeared to show the shifter coming out of the tunnel pretty much at center. And the original tunnel was a little narrower than most replica tunnels that are oversize to allow a variety of newer transmissions to fit. I’m not exactly sure how Ford managed that since as you noted the Ford linkage is on the side of the Toploader. I assume they had some sort of offset to the right at the top of the shifter body unit. Anyway I tried to mimic that as close as I could with the Hurst unit and got it fairly close to center (or at least the trim ring). I think the ERA tunnel may be a little higher than original for the same reasons and with a Toploader that means the stick is moving further back and forth distance at the trim ring level which makes getting the shift ring located so it doesn’t interfere, somewhat critical. All part of the fun of building a replica.
If yours is in neutral in the photo it’s probably a little more upright than mine came out but I’m not sure how close the Hurst adaptor levers are as compares to the originals.
https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/g...cobra1434878_/