[BigAls87Z28]

Out of all the trucks I have seen in my short 23 years on earth, only a few I have ever seen were manuals.
I dont see why you need the manual trans, and what you are loosing by going to an auto? They still make base stripper trucks, only with an automatic trans.
You can still get a manual in a Colorado, which engines are more powerful then the dusty 4.3.
I am sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction with the fact that there is no more manual transmissions for the V8 trucks in half tons.