Quote from ajp71 :

I would have thought they'd of listed it as having an overdrive if top gear wasn't where the top speed was. It's a bit unclear I suppose because you wouldn't expect it to be listed as an overdrive if top was greater than 1.00 but still used as a cruising gear. Having said that are overdrive gears now housed in the main gearbox or are they still a seperate overdrive unit?

Housed in the main gearbox. Other than the ratios being less than 1.00, they're the same as the rest of the gears in the transmission. I don't know if any current cars use a seperate overdrive unit any more.

One thing I haven't seen in an automatic tranny lately is a "lock up" clutch. Once a car was cruising, the "lock up" clutch would engage, directly connecting the engine to the driveshaft so a 1.00 ratio. The advtange was better gas milage since no energy was consumed through via the fluid "clutch". The "lock up" clutch would often act as a 4th gear in an otherwise 3 speed tranny, where the 3rd gear ratio would be > 1.00.

I should clarify: You can lift right up, no need to smooth. It's handy.