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Old timer to a number of forums, Fiero, C5 Corvette most noteably. 1956 Olds Super 88, Holiday 2 Dr Hardtop. Bone stock except an aftermarket vintage style air cleaner with paper element and Pertonix solid state ignition. Plan on letting the local rod shop install a 455 Olds, TH400, disk brakes in front. Other items to freshen up an older restoration.
455 will be a nice upgrade. Is the motor numbers matching? Keep stored if it is. There are guys on here with 455 blocks if you don't have one yet. Keep us posted with pictures. There are motor builders on here too if you need one or just advise. Enjoy the project.
Welcome. Beautiful car. There are a good many of us on here with mid 50's cars. If you are going to do an engine swap, one thing you might consider is one of the overdrive transmissions. You will turn a lot less RPM's on the highway. Of course the 400 is a great transmission. You will have to offset the engine very slightly to the right side in order to clear the steering. Glad you are using an Olds engine and not a Chevy.
There is no such thing as a numbers-matching '56 Olds. Olds didn't start stamping a VIN derivative on the engine and transmission until the 1968 model year. The best that can be done for '67 and earlier is to determine if the engine is date-correct for the car, meaning the engine was built shortly before the car was assembled. But there is zero way to determine if a particular engine is original to a particular car for a pre-1968 Oldsmobile.
It's just a very nice looking driver, frame off restoration some time ago, and in and out of storage in 3 or 4 states. 72K actual miles I'm told, the dash looks it and it has been off the frame, too clean under there.
Some of the scraps of paperwork for the title transfer (Oregon is a bit picky with out of state titles) made me believe it crossed the blocks at Barrett Jackson mid '90's. That's meaningless, the cars you see on TV are the cream, there's hundreds of so-so cars there. The 324 has a slight main bearing knock when the weather is very hot. It'll never be a 100 point car, even then not worth as much as a tri5 chevy. Everybody and their brother has a '56 Chevy, I got me an Oldsmobile lol. I have one more local show, then it's in the shop for the winter. I quit working on my own, it's not as much fun anymore, besides, my retirement allows me to afford to pay to have it done. I'll be 70 next month, let the youngin's bang their knuckles.
I just want a nice cruiser with enough grunt to move 4000+ pounds. And enough brakes to not rear end a Prius, not that that hasn't crossed my mind. LOL
Noob to the Olds world
