Hello to all you Oldsmobile owners. I am the owner of 1956 Olds Super 88 Holiday Sports Coupe. My Wife doesn't like to ride in the car, said it draws to much attention, LOL ! I do have a slight problem with the speedo going to 35 mph, only. I did have it apart refinishing the speed indicating needle and may have messed up putting it back together. Any help will be appreciated.

 

Welcome, we do like pictures. Is your speedo sticking, jumping around, or ??

 

I'm curious about this model name. There is no mention of a model by this name in the '56 Olds brochure. As far as I can tell, Olds didn't use the term "Sports" in any of its model names until 1960 when there were such models as "SportSedan" and "SceniCoupe." The first model with a Holiday Sport Coupe name was on the '62 98.

Are you sure you don't have simply a Super 88 Holiday Coupe?

 

Stand Corrected, fingers did the talking.

 

Cool.

Getting back to your original question, was the speedometer working OK before you took it apart to clean the needle? You say you may have "messed up" putting it back together. It seems to me the first thing to do would be to take it apart again and see if you really did mess it up. If the speedo was working ok before you took it apart, my guess is that you actually did mess something up, and the solution is to take it apart and correct that problem.

 

I am not for sure if the speedo was ever going pass 35 mph before I had taken it apart. The Car had not been driven since 1981.

 

So you never actually saw the speedometer go above 35 before taking it apart? Regardless, I think the answer is still the same. The first thing to do is take it apart again and verify that there isn't something causing the needle to stick. Assuming the speedometer cable is properly connected and turning as it should, it would seem that something physically obstructing the needle from moving would be the culprit.

Does the odometer work? If it does, that suggests the cable is ok as I presume both are driven by the same cable.

 

Odometer works good. I did take the cable out and replaced the cable, also. I will take a second look at the speedometer as much as I dislike taking it back out.

Thanks,

 

Operates normal up to 35 mph and stops.

 

Welcome to the site.

I can't help you, but hope you are the right track to getting it fixed.

We would love to see some pictures of it.

 

Thank you Don71

 

Welcome to CO! Look forward to seeing pics of your car.

 

Was your foot down far enough to make the speedo aware
that it was supposed to read higher than 35 MPH?