Yeah, Fiat designed a very nice compact four speed box. Worked well. Then they started exporting it to the US, and we were like "Hey! What about a reverse gear???". This was apparently a foreign concept to the Italians, why would anyone want to go back to where they were? But they did oblige us by tacking a reversing gear stack out the back under the shifter. Then they noted that with some creative packaging and Porsche style spring-ring synchros they could get a 5th gear in there along with reverse.
Wish I had it that easy. Every time I want to change from a four to a five, or five to a six now, I need to cut up the shift linkage and driveshaft. And now I have this seven speed SMG box I'm thinking of fitting.....