What transmission was standard on a 68 442? One of the guys I work with said that they came with a 3 speed manual standard. I always thought they came wit a 4 speed. Was there a 3 speed trans offered in 68 on the 442??

 

I'm not sure on if it was standard on the A-body. It was available as a heavy duty 3 speed trans and in only came with a floor shift.

Gene

 

The base 442 in 1968 came with a heavy duty 3 speed manual trans with Hurst floor shifter and bucket seats (but without console). The 4 speed and automatic transmissions were extra cost options. By the way, the "heavy duty" 3 speed manual was a "Dearborn" transmission, aka FORD.

In the introductory year of 1964, the base (and only) transmission available on the 442 was a 4 speed, but that changed in later years.

 

In 68 I bought my first Olds a 442. When I when to the dealer, they did not have a 4 SP on the lot for me to test drive, only autos, and one 3 SP. I test drove the 3 SP, that was the standard tran in 68.

 

The base transmission in '65 was the 3-speed column shift manual trans (the only 3-spd manual available at the beginning of the year). In late Feb 1965, Olds introduced the M-14 Heavy Duty manual trans, and it came with a floor shift Hurst shifter. This was also the first Hurst OEM shifters. Yes, the Ford Toploader! In '66, the M-14 with the Ford trans became the standard trans for the 442, and was until 1970 when GM started making their own HD trans.
So few came with the M-14 that it is a common misconception that there were none!

 

I have one of those 3 spd 1969 442 convertibles....and yea, it has FoMoCo in the casting on the trans Actually W Machine was the one who told me about the M-14 being a Ford and that's when I checked....