With a 54 speed manual transmission you'll be shifting all the time. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercury-Oth...tr=true&hash=item4aefe6ad33&item=321852452147
Never seen a red car with a brown interior. My Pinto wagon had the Porno Red interior and bright red paint (the PO kept it garaged and polished/waxed).
We had a '77 Bobcat Villager (dark green w/wood-grain) back in the very late 80s. It was like new. Wish we had it back now. That was the car that the giant wolf spider got on my leg (it had crawled out of an old A/C we were hauling in the back. I remember I about went out the window. LOL.
With a 54 speed manual transmission you'll be shifting all the time. Some of the semis I drove had multi speed trannys. You can skip a few of them. A 27 speed wouldn't be too bad on long trips. Probably get 90 MPG in top gear.
Is the seller praying that someone - anyone! - will buy his car? I don't think it's going to help move this puppy.