Leather soled shoes without threaded holes used nailed on metal cleats such as TA. Determining cleat placement is important since you can't make adjustments later. The nails seemed to pull out over time so I replaced them all with little screws. The metal cleats are really slippery and can be ruinous on some types of floors. They do look cool though. If you call around to some older bike shops you should be able to find some.
Bolt on nylon cleats are my current choice for all my shoes. The shoes wear out faster than the cleats. I have a pair I wore exclusively for six years that still work fine. I especially like the single bolt cleats because you can change the angle of your cleat by torquing your foot while riding. With cleats you can leave the toe straps much looser for better circulation.
Mildly amusing cleat anecdote: My first "real" bike shoes with TA cleats had been giving yeoman service through five years of abuse. It was a beautiful spring day in Newport, Rhode Island and on the way home from a long ride I passed through the center of the Salve Regina campus; a Catholic women's college. I came to a red light where a few dozen pretty women were waiting to cross. I had on my snazziest biking outfit and no doubt looked pretty good. I lifted up on my right foot to bring cleat off the pedal and pulled back but nothing happened. My foot wouldn't go back. The metal baseplate had broken just aft of the cleat. The cleat was still firmly nailed in front and it was not coming off the pedal. I had already committed to leaning to the right and there was nothing I could do except topple to the ground in slo-mo. There's a moral in that story somewhere.
Michael Kahrl
Columbus, Ohio