Are you an Oldsmobile fan who’s disgruntled that you can’t find anything from your favorite brand on the lot anymore? Are you a personal luxury coupe buyer who hasn’t been able to find a decent American big coupe since the turn of the millennium? Are you a diesel booster who’s still upset about “Dieselgate?” If you replied in the affirmative to any of the above questions, this 1981 Toronado Brougham is for you. Barn Finder T.J. found it here on eBay in Beecher, Illinois, and it’s a 1,800-mile diesel-powered Toronado that’s been recently bought from a large collection, where it has spent the last 45 years in “climate-controlled storage.” To paraphrase Elwood from The Blues Brothers, it looks like the new Oldsmobiles are about 45 years late this year. The asking price is just above what it would have been new: $24,500 or best offer.
It’s not terribly uncommon to find the 105-horsepower Oldsmobile 350 diesel under the hood of an early 1980s GM car; after all, the second fuel crisis was still on people’s minds, and the days were dark for horsepower fanatics. The Oldsmobile diesel has long been a controversial engine; its bad reputation was probably earned, but it’s also true that the engine was continually improved to the point where a lot of people were extremely happy with both its power and fuel mileage. The 1981 model was the last Toronado with the three-speed THM325 automatic, and it was paired with a 2.41:1 final drive, which certainly helped the big diesel sip fuel at highway speeds.
Although there’s no doubt that some buyers would have equated diesel engines with something you’d find at a truck stop, the Toronado Brougham looked every bit the luxury car it was. With power everything, leather upholstery, almost-realistic-looking wood trim on the dashboard and door panels, and even a moonroof (on this car), the personal-luxury Olds did its best to align people’s diesel expectations with a more car-based reality.
The trunk looks new, as one would expect. The dealer tag (Brenkman Oldsmobile-Cadillac in Pekin, Illinois) and a pile of Wall Street Journals are a nice touch.
If you plan to drive your new 45-year-old Toronado, however, you may want to do something about the ancient Uniroyal whitewalls that are currently on the car. It’s possible that they are original, and it scares me to even look at them. How much longer will they hold air once they’re exposed to UV rays, ozone, and the like?
While you’re getting the tires replaced, you can get a closer look at the undercarriage and exhaust system. They both look immaculate.
No, this Silver Metallic beauty is not the collector car that will appeal to everyone, but if you are one of those “ones,” there’s really nothing like it.
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