How to Change Manual Transmission Overdrive Gear Ratio Motor vehicle manual gearbox; stick shift Manual transmission for a four-wheel-drive vehicle- viewed from the engine side Internals of a transmission manual for a front-bicycle-drive vehicle A manual transmission ( MT ), also known equally manual gearbox , standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission organization, where gear changes require the commuter to manually select the gears past operating a gear stick and clutch (which is normally a foot pedal for cars or a hand lever for motorcycles). Early automobiles used sliding-mesh