My brother's best friend grew up in an extremely wealthy family. For his 16th birthday his parents gave him a brand new 1956 Super 88 converible, black with white interior. Best of all it had a factory 3 speed manual transmission, three on the tree we used to call them.

In the 55 years since then I've never seen another Olds from that era that had a factory stick shift.
Does anyone know how rare that car was?

 

Quite rare for a convertible I would think, but anything is possible with this era Olds. Most all options could be special ordered and standard transmissions are sometimes found on station wagons and on regular 88's. Oldsmobile was proud of it's hydramatic transmission and promoted it strongly through the fifties I have seen a few wild two- tone color combos that were special ordered, made me wonder what someone was thinking of,but if you wanted it Olds would build it...Tedd

 

Lucky bugger!! 56 Super 88 verts aren't all that common anymore far as I know. I'm surprised that a wealthy family wouldn't have bought the full meal deal and gone with auto. I remember those 3 on the tree's. Love them and hate them; I don't recall them being user friendly with synchromesh. (Of course that could also be due to my limited skill working the clutch and gas at the time).

 

My 1960 Olds Super 88 Holiday SceniCoupe had 3-on-the-tree from the factory. Loved it!

 

I know of the same car in Palmer, MA (S-88 convertible 1956 w. 3 spd) - until this thread was the only one I ever heard of

 

Your post is quite old but I'm responding to see if you reply.

I also owned a 1956 Super 88 convertible. It was red over charcoal with red seats. I also never found another stick shift 1956 Olds of any model.

In about 1960, it lost second gear and I couldn't find parts anywhere. I went to a junkyard and found a complete Hydramatic, driveshaft and linkages for $55 to convert it.

It still ran well but was never the same.

It would be good to hear from you or anyone else with a 1950s manual transmission.

 

I have a ‘55 2 door post with a 3 speed on the column. It’s an “88” (not a Super). Car came with an NOS early 1960s FoxCraft floor shift conversion still in the box. May install it someday. Can count on one hand the number of stick shifts from that era that I have seen and I’ve been playing with Oldsmobiles since I was in diapers

 

Thanks for your reply. My car is long gone. I used it all up and was glad to sell it for $25 in 1964 or 5. Perhaps similar restored cars have value because of the rarity of the manual transmission.

 

I have a 1963 brochure, issued by Oldsmobile, that states that more than 99 percent of Oldsmobiles were equipped with Hydramatic.
That means that less than one percent were stick shift.
I would imagine that the figure for 1956 would be similar.
As Tedd stated, Oldsmobile really pushed Hydramatic then.
The dealers were prohibited from stocking standard shift cars on the showroom.

 

That 1% may include F85 and 442 for 1963. Interesting that dealers could not stock manual transmission cars.

 

The 442 didn't start until 1964, but yes, the total included F-85's.
GM owned the cars in dealer stock, for the most part.
GM didn't bill the dealer for the car until it was sold.
The main reason that stick shift was even offered, was to have a lower base price.