As an answer to an 18-year old thread and to cure any suspicions of those who have stumbled across this page as I have:

On the data placard under the hood, there will be the model designation towards the top left. In my case, this is 124030. Next to it, there will be two digits. Mine has a 10. The 1 means the vehicle is left-hand drive and the 0 means it has a manual transmission. This is how you verify your car was a factory 5-speed.

12 is most likely the most common one, this means it is left-hand drive and automatic transmission.