[guilty]

I got a knob from a 2002 Cougar that keeps the reverse lock-out, it looks the same as the 2003+ black rubber knobs except that it's leather with the silver shift pattern.

You can easily remove the whole plastic collar though, you just need to zip-tie the boot to the actually shifter. If you want more details, look for a how-to for installing a short shifter since you have to reattach the boot to the new shifter anyway.