That manual transmission is the NP435, where NP is New Process -- the
manufacturer.

It is perhaps the most bullet proof transmission to ever come off the
production line. The T5 is very similar, except it has five gears.

I have the NP435 in my '81 Jeep CJ5, and I only use 1st gear when I need to
go very slow over rocks, or to pull stuff -- such as drag my house off of
its foundation. 1st is geared at 6.69:1, 4th is 1:1, 2nd and 3rd pretty much
divide the range equally.

To answer your question, yes it is normal, and no trucks of that era are not
geared like cars.

I have been looking at some mid to late 80's F150's and F250's. The ones
that had manual transmissions were all 4 speeds where first gear is a
"granny gear". Is this normal? I would think that most of the transmission
would be geared more like a car and not have the granny gear.

Thanks
Ted