Tag: stick shift

There’s something emboldening in the feeling of shifting the gears as you accelerate down the road in full control of the RPMs. Whether you drive for optimal fuel efficiency, maximum acceleration, or anything in-between, a stick shift gives you maximum control of the transfer of power from the engine to the wheels.

Here’s how it works. Depending on the gear you’re in, there’s a different degree of torque being applied to the wheels relative to speed. Whether done manually or automatically, shifting the gears ultimately changes the amount of turning force being applied.

Although the modern driver in America tends to lean toward automatic transmission, drivers at the turn of the 20th century didn’t have a choice as all transmissions were manual. It all started in 1894 when the very first concept of the modern manual transmission emerged in the form of a three-speed model introduced by French innovators Emile Levassor [...]