I used a reverse pattern valvebody in my 71 Valiant 4-door for the same stealthy reasons. Pulled the column apart without removing the whole unit from car. This way you can mock up the detent as you remove and recheck to sneak up on where to stop in relation to the transmissions detent and gear indicator on the column. There is a detent held in with two philips screws that shifter pawl rides on. I ground the 2nd gear "step" over to make 1st (now 3rd gear)so you pulled back towards you for high gear.
So basically I would slap second down with two fingers and pull back for third while hanging onto the steering wheel with my thumb. Never messed up a shift because, when I modified the column, I used a dremel with a small cutting disc to make the detent have a nice sharp 90 degree edge to the pawl. A regular disc cutter would have put too gently of a radius in it. I think it would have wanted to "walk" to 3rd during race conditions.
Free and failsafe. I have to give Mel Enders credit for telling me how to do it. He went one step further and had his speedometer "mapped" out by MPH "shift points" with two small hash marks, so his 64 Valiant sleeper had no speed gadgets inside...pretty cool car that one was.
The '65 A990 cars came from the factory with a modified column and reverse valve body. The '66 I am building is also setup this way, and I plan on leaving it like that.
