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Just spitballing here, but have you ever looked at a Volvo 240 manual transmission? Okay, it doesn't meet the criteria of being US or Asian, but there are a *lot* of them out there. Shift lever is more or less over the tailcone, as I recall. The two common flavors in gas Volvos are the M46 4-speed with a Laycock electrically-actuated overdrive unit in the tailcone to give a 5th gear, and the M47 5-speed. The M46 is the more robust of the two; you will occasionally see overdrive units that need new clutches, but they rarely actually break unless abused. The M47 tends to burn out 5th gear; rumor has it Volvo put the fill plug too low in the case, starving 5th gear for oil.
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