1962 Valiant 3 speed manual transmission

What kind of "bad press" are you seeing? There's no synchro on 1st gear, and the steering column shifter tends to get loose(r), vague(r) and sloppy when it gets old, but the transmission itself isn't weak or faulty or anything.

Would you rather have some other kind of transmission? Automatic? 4-on-the-floor?