Looking appropriately Barn Find’y and dusty, you won’t believe how nice this 1978 Oldsmobile Toronado XS looks once it was found, cleaned up, and put back on the road again by the seller. Yes, this special edition luxury car was found in a barn. The seller has it posted here on Facebook Marketplace in beautiful Spokane, Washington and they’re asking $9,800. Here is the original listing.
Talk about a transformation! This car is gorgeous, it’s nice to know that there are still barns and other places where vehicles like this are hiding, just waiting for someone to rescue them and bring them back to life. The seller says that it was literally in a barn for three decades and was just pulled out this past March. This car is a little over 18 feet in length so check your garage before making an offer.
Here’s another barn dust photo, but it’s the only one showing the back of the car, not to mention its most famous feature, the unique one-piece bent glass, known as “hot wire bent glass”, rear window. The bumper filler material looks suss, as the kids say, but I’m assuming it was changed when the seller did all of the other work on this big beauty. I love the design of the second-generation Toronado, which was made from 1970 for the 1971 model year until the end of 1978, just before GM downsized the Toronado, along with the Eldorado and Riviera.
The seller says that the “barn” where this Toronado was discovered, had over 100 other vehicles in it, I would love to tour that barn. The classic pillow-top seats from this era look like they’re in excellent condition and there’s hardly a better color for an interior, at least in my opinion. Oldsmobile supposedly made somewhere around 2,000 XS models with the unique rear window and they’re somewhat rare to come across today, although we’ve seen a couple of other really nice ones here on Barn Finds over the years.
Unfortunately, there is no engine photo but it should be a 403-cu.in. OHV V8 with 185 horsepower and 325 lb-ft of torque. The seller has gone over it, including pulling the plugs and pouring “Marvel Mystery Oil” down the cylinders while the gas tank was drained and other work was performed. It’s said to run great and has new tires and a new battery and no leaks. If this car checks out in person, this seems like a good price. Any thoughts on this Toronado XS?
“Beautiful Spokane,Washington”? –
Not what comes to mind when I hear it.
In the early 80’s, I worked at a waterbed store with a lady that had one just like this. Never knew how nice they were until I rode in it. Also never knew how nice she was until I rode in it with her. Thanks Big Sur.
😉
Rawk & Roll! 🤣
You probably unintentionally put together a Groucho Marx line with your second & third sentences, buddy! Good one!
Well Scotty, the “Marvel Mystery Oil” reference caused me to go down what turned out to be a fairly short rabbit hole. It has been around forever, but just what is it? Their web site doesn’t help much, but there is a Wikipedia article which does provide some information. My dad used it on oilfield equipment, mainly if I recall as a penetrating oil.
Back to the car…. that back window is cool and unique. This Toronado, another big-time cruiser.
Simply a petroleum based lubricant that can mix with oil and free frozen parts. I’m a seafoam guy myself. If you have stuck valves, lifter noise etc. you’re gonna need more than a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil.
Back in 1995, I bought a 77 Coupe Deville in beautiful shape from an elderly lady who’d stopped driving. The car was always garaged and waxed. However, she mostly drove locally, and didn’t change the oil very often. It had 56k miles on it. Once I got it and changed the oil, a few lifters started ticking. I changed the oil again, putting 4 qts of oil and one qt of marvel mystery oil. I did this each time I changed the oil, every 1000-2000 miles. It took several changes, but eventually, the lifters cleaned out enough to work quietly. I had that car for 18 years.
Wonderful stuff, MMO, excellent when mixed with a little 2-stroke oil, for fogging motors for storage, and the smoke cloud actually smells pretty good. Have used gallons of it over the years for that purpose.
Is the XS a play on the word excess? I would love this car but would hate to have to buy a new back window sometime.
No, it was just an oddball name created by the marketing department of Oldsmobile.
GM was famous for each division creating numerous nomenclatures for similar cars that varied only slightly in trim.
The original concept was to combine the hot wire bent rear window with ASC T-tops that stowed electrically in the “T”. It was even featured in the 1977 brochure. It was called the “XSR,” and sources differ on how many were built. The project was doomed by problems with leakage and drainage. One prototype is known to exist, and a few of the T-tops were installed on Eldorados in 1978.
No leaks, but found in a barn? What farmers say; hogwash! Thanks to marvel mystery oil (I’m a seafoam guy myself) it will repair any engine in seconds or at least that’s the advertising. The first thing I would notice are the barn smell and little mouse nests everywhere. The moisture of sitting, that velour is probably not velour anymore. Another false opinion of vintage car collecting is that a Barn find can increase the value of the jalopy. Its really quite the opposite as a car sitting for decades probably has developed catastrophic problems. After a severe digression, I love that back patio window.
john v – smash palace
Check.out the seller’s Facebook page. I wouldn’t trust this guy for a minute to buy a car off of him.
Toronados were such road cars. Smooth and quiet with effortless acceleration. Power was down significantly by then but that window was so cool. Eliminated the blind spot that was so long part of cars like this.
I had a 74 455 mill. As others have said a great road car. Seats were incredibly comfortable. Could cruise all day. Downside was terrible gas mileage. I got 7 to 8 in town. According to the EPA it was the worst gas mileage car of 1974.
What about mpg for the heavier much larger 455 full size monster ’74 Olds station wagons? lol
The Cadillac twin was good for 9-12 city and 11-15 on the road. But they were smooth and silent to the passengers. Cornering was akin to an aircraft carrier. Parallel parking was done from a galaxy far, far, away. Wonderful cars in their day.
If this car was parked 30+ years ago it would have the green letter license plates with that much dirt on it I can only imagine how big the rats nests were in the engine bay. From their description it sounds like they have some knowledge about how to bring it back from a long sleep.
Dig it. Bring back pillow velour interiors! I’ve seen satin striped velour in some Olds interiors. Nice find!
I miss comfortable, pillow-top seats in cars, too!!! They’re from when luxury car meant it was comfortable as well as stylish. Today, even the most expensive cars come with the same hard seats as the much lesser brands.
Appears to be a nice car but that’s about all one can say. The 455 was gone by then and with it the hope of performance. What’s left is of marginable value. Not exactly a collector car, not exactly fuel efficient. Nice to park and look at.
Sorry. “marginal”.
At first, I thought it was stored covered in oleomargarine…
I worked at a very busy Olds dealer from 1977 to 1981. The bosses wife had a white XS. She was a very good looking middle aged blonde. She had me wash her car weekly. It was white with the same pillow seat interior like this one. I can tell you the red stripes down the side of this barn find are not factory. Ugly if you ask me. That back glass is impossible to find. But it was easy to clean.
Many of you young thumb suckers are way too young to remember the 1950-1951 Studebaker Starlight coupe with the wrap around rear window. I used poke fun at my dad aka “old man” wearing stringless slip on loafers. Then I got old and a belly.It’s amazing how things come around full circle.
I remember those Studebakers well. Their atypical styling–particularly the curved rear window–prompted jokes about not our being able to tell whether they were coming or going.
I saw one of these on-line at a dealer in Texas. 58,000 miles, about the same color, but with red leather and more pics. I’ll take the one I saw over this and good luck if the rear glass gets broken.
I had one – just like this one except in white, a 1978 “regular back window “. FANTASTIC road cars, if you can stay away from the gas station. Mine, with a little tweaking, got around 15-16 mpg – hey I’ll take it. They are over 4,500 lbs. When I had mine, in 1992, it wasn’t a collector car and I got it for $1,600.00 AND – gas was $1.05 gallon! VELOUR,PILLOW- TUFTED – HEAVEN! SO comfortable that once you get in – you don’t want to get out. Price wise on this one doesn’t seem too out of line as long as nothing is wrong with it. I SAY – buy it. Not too many left – Good luck to the new owner! AND – a fantastic article too.
Oh – NOTE TO THE NEW OWNER – make sure that the “radiator/cooling system “ is fully flushed and NO CORROSION ! These 403ci Oldsmobile engines tend to run HOT! But you should be alright. Good luck.
Im a marine engineer and to me SeaFoam is snake oil…. it doesnt even smell like mineral spirits. At least the red stuff smells like petro…
My 1968 Crown Coupe sat from about 1973 until I got it in 1994. It sat in a parking garage and I put more than 50,000 with minor maintenace….maybe I got lucky twice – it had only about 25,000 on the speedo when I got it…results might vary….
Read educated, non-biased reviews of Sea Foam. Highly overrated, runs a poor second to almost any competing product, priced way beyond any true value. ie: save your money. Buy something else.
I believe the engine would be a 455 Rocket 4BBl … Dont think its a 403 cu
I looked it up. 403 is the motor in ’77-’78 Toronados. The only one that was offered.
Kool thanks JON
I first spotted a Toro XS when I was attending PSU in State College. I didn’t know exactly what I had seen but I knew that I loved it. Seven or eight years later I spotted a 78 identical to this one in a dentist office parking lot. I went in and asked the people in the waiting room who owns the Toronado? An older gentleman said that it was his. He was a stock broker from Philadelphia and asked if I was interested in buying it.
As luck would have it my wife and I had just purchased our first home so money was tight. I was more than handy as a mechanic and offered to work on the car for him until I scraped together the money.
The mechanicals were pretty rough and I whipped that car into shape but the body had quite a bit of rot. I wanted to source rust free replacement doors and fenders from AZ/NM/UT etc. but the owner wasn’t interested.
He had a cheapo Bondo/paint job down and a lot of the trim was damaged. I immediately lost interest and don’t know what happened to that car. It definitely had a 403 V8 fitted with the MISAR ignition system.
I still have pics of the car and some press photos of XS and XSR models I got from Helen Early at Oldsmobile Historical.
My 74 journeyed to Shamokin in 1980 for a wedding. We took the over hill shortcut to Shamokin. Part way there the temperature gauge lit up occasionally. By the time we got there it was solid on. I could hear the coolant boiling. Popped the radiator cap at a gas station. Coolant flew over the gas station in a spectacular spray. Radiator shop there cleaned it and took out the top 3 rows of the radiator. Quite the experience. When I got home my girlfriend dumped me.
Lucky you
Example X-11 Citation by Chevy.