[Mkelcy]

There are two issues being mixed up here - the overall ratio in first gear and the ease or difficulty of shifting the transmission.

Many trucks have a very low (high numeric) first gear to get a heavy load going. The 3.28 first gear of the Richmond coupled with a "normal" rear end ratio in the mid-3.XX or higher numerically, would give you a super low first gear - you'd be wound out at 20mph. But if the car is geared for the transmission, this can easily be avoided.

The overall gearing of a Tremec TKO600 with the .67 5th gear and a 3.55 rear from first to 5th is as follows: 10.19 - 6.71 - 4.54 - 3.55 - 2.38

The overall gearing of the Richmond which has a 1.0 5th gear and a 3.08 rear from first to 5th is as follows: 10.10 - 6.56 - 4.84 - 3.82 - 3.08

So the two can be made very comparable until you look at 5th gear. To put it in more understandable terms, the Richmond would have you turning about 2,700 to 2,800 rpm at 70mph, the Tremec would have you turning about 2,100 to 2,200 rpm at 70mph. Also, depending on what rear is in the car, the Richmond may require a change in rear ratio, but if you're planning on redoing the rear end anyway, that may not be a big issue.

The second issue is shift quality. An internal rail shifter (the Tremec) is likely to be smoother than the external shifter (the Richmond) if for no other reason than it's protected from the elements. I drove one Richmond and found it very notchy. My internal rail T56 shifts like butter.

There have been some issues with the 2-3 shift in the Tremec TKO600, but most attribute those problems to operator error. I'd also check out the size of the Richmond shifter. I saw a first gen F-body with either a Richmond 5 or six speed that required a lot of cutting on the trans tunnel to accommodate the Long shifter.

Overall, if it were me, I'd skip the Richmond and go with either a Tremec TKO600, a Magnum T56 six speed or a used T56 six speed.