Yeah, looks like a nice car. I, too, am curious about "shifts like a modern 5 speed".
Like you, Brian, I know all about that horrible sound on hitting the reverse synchro on the 3-2 downshift. I find it even more difficult to avoid on the 5-4 downshift, where it wants to slot into reverse every time unless an effort is made to avoid it. I very rarely use fifth gear, so avoiding reverse whilst shifting down from 5th is less intuitive and requires careful thought about every move of the stick until I'm confident 4th is engaged. I think it has something to do with the 5th gear detent when I pop it out of 5th.
