diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 100d56a28..0f38dc7b0 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ Image content
 
 All supported images currently contain:
 
-- CPython 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.13t and PyPy 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10 installed in
+- CPython 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.13t and PyPy 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10 installed in
   ``/opt/python/<python tag>-<abi tag>``. The directories are named
   after the PEP 425 tags for each environment --
   e.g. ``/opt/python/cp37-cp37m`` contains a CPython 3.7 build, and
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 6ceab4c41..4534ab44f 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -105,10 +105,6 @@ RUN export OPENSSL_ROOT=openssl-3.0.15 && \
     manylinux-entrypoint /build_scripts/build-openssl.sh
 
 
-FROM build_cpython_system_ssl AS build_cpython36
-COPY build_scripts/cpython-pubkeys.txt /build_scripts/cpython-pubkeys.txt
-RUN manylinux-entrypoint /build_scripts/build-cpython.sh 3.6.15
-
 FROM build_cpython_system_ssl AS build_cpython37
 COPY build_scripts/cpython-pubkeys.txt /build_scripts/cpython-pubkeys.txt
 RUN manylinux-entrypoint /build_scripts/build-cpython.sh 3.7.17
@@ -147,8 +143,7 @@ FROM runtime_base
 COPY --from=build_git /manylinux-rootfs /
 COPY --from=build_cpython_system_ssl /manylinux-rootfs /
 COPY build_scripts /opt/_internal/build_scripts/
-RUN --mount=type=bind,target=/build_cpython36,from=build_cpython36 \
-    --mount=type=bind,target=/build_cpython37,from=build_cpython37 \
+RUN --mount=type=bind,target=/build_cpython37,from=build_cpython37 \
     --mount=type=bind,target=/build_cpython38,from=build_cpython38 \
     --mount=type=bind,target=/build_cpython39,from=build_cpython39 \
     --mount=type=bind,target=/build_cpython310,from=build_cpython310 \
diff --git a/docker/build_scripts/build-cpython.sh b/docker/build_scripts/build-cpython.sh
index 0eae0e626..312ff680b 100755
--- a/docker/build_scripts/build-cpython.sh
+++ b/docker/build_scripts/build-cpython.sh
@@ -40,11 +40,6 @@ if [ "${2:-}" == "nogil" ]; then
 	CONFIGURE_ARGS="${CONFIGURE_ARGS} --disable-gil"
 fi
 
-if [ "${CPYTHON_VERSION}" == "3.6.15" ]; then
-	# https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/89863
-	# gcc-12+ uses these 2 flags in -O2 but they were only enabled in -O3 with gcc-11
-	CFLAGS_EXTRA="${CFLAGS_EXTRA} -fno-tree-loop-vectorize -fno-tree-slp-vectorize"
-fi
 if [ "${AUDITWHEEL_POLICY}" == "manylinux2014" ] ; then
 	# Python 3.11+
 	export TCLTK_LIBS="-ltk8.6 -ltcl8.6"
diff --git a/docker/build_scripts/requirements3.6.txt b/docker/build_scripts/requirements3.6.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 50ab3de1e..000000000
--- a/docker/build_scripts/requirements3.6.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,60 +0,0 @@
-#
-# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with python 3.6
-# To update, run:
-#
-#    nox -s update_python_dependencies-3.6
-#
-build==0.9.0 \
-    --hash=sha256:1a07724e891cbd898923145eb7752ee7653674c511378eb9c7691aab1612bc3c \
-    --hash=sha256:38a7a2b7a0bdc61a42a0a67509d88c71ecfc37b393baba770fae34e20929ff69
-    # via -r requirements.in
-importlib-metadata==4.8.3 \
-    --hash=sha256:65a9576a5b2d58ca44d133c42a241905cc45e34d2c06fd5ba2bafa221e5d7b5e \
-    --hash=sha256:766abffff765960fcc18003801f7044eb6755ffae4521c8e8ce8e83b9c9b0668
-    # via
-    #   build
-    #   pep517
-packaging==21.3 \
-    --hash=sha256:dd47c42927d89ab911e606518907cc2d3a1f38bbd026385970643f9c5b8ecfeb \
-    --hash=sha256:ef103e05f519cdc783ae24ea4e2e0f508a9c99b2d4969652eed6a2e1ea5bd522
-    # via
-    #   -r requirements.in
-    #   build
-pep517==0.13.1 \
-    --hash=sha256:1b2fa2ffd3938bb4beffe5d6146cbcb2bda996a5a4da9f31abffd8b24e07b317 \
-    --hash=sha256:31b206f67165b3536dd577c5c3f1518e8fbaf38cbc57efff8369a392feff1721
-    # via build
-pyparsing==3.1.2 \
-    --hash=sha256:a1bac0ce561155ecc3ed78ca94d3c9378656ad4c94c1270de543f621420f94ad \
-    --hash=sha256:f9db75911801ed778fe61bb643079ff86601aca99fcae6345aa67292038fb742
-    # via packaging
-tomli==1.2.3 \
-    --hash=sha256:05b6166bff487dc068d322585c7ea4ef78deed501cc124060e0f238e89a9231f \
-    --hash=sha256:e3069e4be3ead9668e21cb9b074cd948f7b3113fd9c8bba083f48247aab8b11c
-    # via
-    #   build
-    #   pep517
-typing-extensions==4.1.1 \
-    --hash=sha256:1a9462dcc3347a79b1f1c0271fbe79e844580bb598bafa1ed208b94da3cdcd42 \
-    --hash=sha256:21c85e0fe4b9a155d0799430b0ad741cdce7e359660ccbd8b530613e8df88ce2
-    # via importlib-metadata
-wheel==0.37.1 \
-    --hash=sha256:4bdcd7d840138086126cd09254dc6195fb4fc6f01c050a1d7236f2630db1d22a \
-    --hash=sha256:e9a504e793efbca1b8e0e9cb979a249cf4a0a7b5b8c9e8b65a5e39d49529c1c4
-    # via -r requirements.in
-zipp==3.6.0 \
-    --hash=sha256:71c644c5369f4a6e07636f0aa966270449561fcea2e3d6747b8d23efaa9d7832 \
-    --hash=sha256:9fe5ea21568a0a70e50f273397638d39b03353731e6cbbb3fd8502a33fec40bc
-    # via
-    #   importlib-metadata
-    #   pep517
-
-# The following packages are considered to be unsafe in a requirements file:
-pip==21.3.1 \
-    --hash=sha256:deaf32dcd9ab821e359cd8330786bcd077604b5c5730c0b096eda46f95c24a2d \
-    --hash=sha256:fd11ba3d0fdb4c07fbc5ecbba0b1b719809420f25038f8ee3cd913d3faa3033a
-    # via -r requirements.in
-setuptools==59.6.0 \
-    --hash=sha256:22c7348c6d2976a52632c67f7ab0cdf40147db7789f9aed18734643fe9cf3373 \
-    --hash=sha256:4ce92f1e1f8f01233ee9952c04f6b81d1e02939d6e1b488428154974a4d0783e
-    # via -r requirements.in
diff --git a/tests/forty-two/setup.py b/tests/forty-two/setup.py
index 1458b2979..9756f968a 100644
--- a/tests/forty-two/setup.py
+++ b/tests/forty-two/setup.py
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
 setup(
     name="forty_two",
     version="0.1.0",
-    python_requires=">=3.6",
+    python_requires=">=3.7",
     ext_modules=[Extension("forty_two", sources=["forty-two.c"])],
 )
diff --git a/tests/run_tests.sh b/tests/run_tests.sh
index e27bd7abf..8c491ea20 100755
--- a/tests/run_tests.sh
+++ b/tests/run_tests.sh
@@ -18,18 +18,18 @@ else
 fi
 
 if [ "${AUDITWHEEL_POLICY:0:10}" == "musllinux_" ]; then
-	EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT=9
-	EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT_ALL=9
+	EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT=8
+	EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT_ALL=8
 else
 	if [ "${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" == "x86_64" ] || [ "${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" == "aarch64" ]; then
-		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT=10
-		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT_ALL=14
-	elif [ "${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" == "i686" ]; then
-		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT=10
+		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT=9
 		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT_ALL=13
-	else
+	elif [ "${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" == "i686" ]; then
 		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT=9
-		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT_ALL=9
+		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT_ALL=12
+	else
+		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT=8
+		EXPECTED_PYTHON_COUNT_ALL=8
 	fi
 fi
 PYTHON_COUNT=$(manylinux-interpreters list --installed | wc -l)
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ for PYTHON in /opt/python/*/bin/python; do
 		echo "invalid answer, expecting 42"
 		exit 1
 	fi
-	if [ "${PYVERS}" != "3.6" ] && [ "${PYVERS}" != "3.7" ] && [ "${IMPLEMENTATION}" != "graalpy" ] && [ "${AUDITWHEEL_POLICY:0:9}_${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" != "musllinux_s390x" ] && [ "${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" != "ppc64le" ] && [ "${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" != "armv7l" ]; then
+	if [ "${PYVERS}" != "3.7" ] && [ "${IMPLEMENTATION}" != "graalpy" ] && [ "${AUDITWHEEL_POLICY:0:9}_${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" != "musllinux_s390x" ] && [ "${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" != "ppc64le" ] && [ "${AUDITWHEEL_ARCH}" != "armv7l" ]; then
 		# no uv on musllinux s390x
 		# FIXME,  armv7l test fails on Travis CI but works with qemu (maybe armv8l vs armv7l ?)
 		# FIXME, ppc64le test fails on Travis CI but works with qemu