Alignment specs make a a difference as well. Manual cars usually had different specs to ease steering, those specs however are not optimal for handling.

My 51 Plymouth has always been manual steering, 18.2:1 is the ratio. It has a 17" steering wheel and zero caster, zero camber and zero toe for it's specs. I added as much caster as I could, a hair of toe in and I forget the camber off hand. Running P245/50R17's. I don't really notice the effort, except at a stop. Just about any movement at all will decrease the effort to practically none.