Mine is a Hurst shifter with 3/8 - 24 thread that the shifter knob threads on. I believe this is the factory shifter that came with the car, 65 Barracuda.
Yup, and it's fits perfectly. I had to loosen the set bolts off a bit then Jam the console in but it fits. And they have a few different build options. Mine came from classic consolers but it is the same.
I've owned 3 early Barracudas and have never seen a plastic cover over the rear vents. It's always been body color. I've had a 64 and 2 65 cars in the past and none of them had that plastic cover. Don't know the production date of the 64 so I can't help in that way.
When I did mine I had fitment problem as the car had to thick of motor mounts. The previous owner had installed the wrong motor mounts when he swapped the 340 in the car. He ended up putting the old 273 exhaust manifolds back on. Once I had purchased the car I tried to put the Doug's in (D450)...
That’s what I’m running behind a 360 magnum crate motor with 3:23’s.
I believe the 273 4barrel motors received 8 3/4 diffs under warranty if they blew up the 7 1/4.