Since Dee (Gene's widow) has taken over the reigns after Gene died, the business model GBE subscribes to has been pretty hard to understand. They're out of stock for months, even years at a time of some of their biggest sellers (one eg.- deep sumps), when they do make a manufacturing run they sell out pretty quickly, and then they're out of stock for eons again. I (and a host of others out here in VW land) don't get it.
The 5 speeds are a rather unique situation because as well as their initial investment for having the end cones and intermediate (gear) sections cast and then machined, there's mods to the customers' parts as well, and to be economical they do them in batches (of 10 I believe). I know it's a pain in the @ss, Ted, but hang in there. You have to remember that they're doing something no one else does. It's worth it in the end. Al
ps- Did you start with a donor trans or use parts from the trans in the car? Can you and Anthony cobble something together so you can drive the car while you're waiting? I do understand the frustration, especially if the car is down.