In 1966, Oldsmobile introduced a personal luxury car that had front-wheel-drive on a U.S. domestic production car for the first time since the Cords of the 1930s. The Toronado would enjoy a lengthy run to 1992 by which time the rest of GM’s cars had already caught up. This 1968 example epitomizes the term “barn find” in that it’s a one-owner car that has been sitting for 42 years in a building that’s falling down all around it. Located in Dumont, New Jersey, the seller just wants it gone. It’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $1,000, but you could probably get it for less. Thanks for the tip, Chris Krygowski.
The original Toronado ran from 1966 to 1970. GM designed a special version of the Turbo-Hydramatic to use with the car called the TH425 in FWD form. The transmission’s torque converter was separated from its planetary gearset, with it driving the gearset through a silent chain drive called Hy-Vo. The chains were made from very strong hardened steel and required no tensioners or idler pulleys because they were pre-stretched on a special machine at the factory. Although the rotational direction of the transmission gears had to be reversed, a large number of components were shared with the conventional TH400.
Toronado sales in the first year reached nearly 41,000 units but fell by nearly half to under 22,000 in 1967. Some of the Toronado’s thunder may have been stolen by the FWD Cadillac Eldorado, added that year. Things improved a bit to 26,500 in 1968, the model year of the seller’s car. We’re told this automobile has less than 50,000 miles. It was parked in a barn in 1981 and has been there ever since. We don’t know why the Olds was left to rot or why it’s taken so long for anyone to do anything about it.
We find it rather sad that a single-owner car would find itself in this situation. It once had gold paint, but who knows what it will look like cleaned up or if there is any New Jersey rust to be dealt with. The interior looks to have been accessed by some furry inhabitants of the barn, so besides wrecking the interior the wiring may have also been chewed on. Would this Toronado have any value now other than as a parts car?
Good Parts car for someone who needs 68 Toro parts, and has HazMat gear. It looks complete, at least.
Need more pictures, or to stand in front of this one….very cool cars, love them.
I would be a player at a sub $1,000 entry fee….
👍🤓
..and another $1000 to dig it up out of there.
I agree Craig, and I know for a fact it would then sit in my garage in Connecticut for the next 20 years at least! 🤣
I’d start at 500 and give up 750. The Strato Bench core and floor brackets welded to the floor are worth that .Wish it was closer I’d definitely buy it try and get it to run off a can of juice . Who knows might even be a pretty solid car hard to tell . If not part her out and scrap the rest.
A true pig in a poke. Shudder…
If the owner does not need the space, I would just leave it where it is, no sense stiring up the mice…..
Not sure what is skeevier, that maroon and white cushion – where’d that come from? – or the vast amount of what appear to be yellow foam versions of popcorn packing peanuts in the footwell. No idea what the underside of this one looks like. Probably worth the $1000 as a parts car, but I am not seeing a lot of restoration potential. But maybe I’m wrong.
Seller “just wants it gone”. He’d have to pay me more than $1000 to haul it away. I might consider 2K.
a haz-mat cleanup fee.
I wince at all the photos because every one shows something wrong with the car. It’s not as bad a BF as the Samba in all the wooden crates, but it’s not far behind.
Wow ! an actual REAL barn find !
For all you out there that wine and complain about cleanliness and pictures..
THIS is what the name ‘Barn Finds’ means and looks like.
Not for rich guys or rich guys kid, not for guys that show up with pretty cloths and egos.
Barn Finds is for the lucky and the few, those willing to get dirty and have the skills and equipment to aquire.
This is a true Barn Find
I thought that’s what the hired help is for? : <)
.. well, ya, in that case :)
just caring, competent help.
The irony there is people complain about the cost of restoration/rebuild but they hire out all the work; then factiring quality of work, time for completion, mistakes..
Its really not for flippers and capitalists,
Its a labor of love, for sentiment, enjoyment,,
if getting in there and vaccuming out the ‘haz mat’ doesnt put a smile on your face, just spend the money on one already done; cheaper in the long run anyway.
‘Capitalists rich guys, rich guy’s kid’ 😂😂😂 Okay komrad, you have your fun little project car. Seriously, that’s a huge project and if you want it “right”, yes, you can do a lot of work yourself, but there are parts of it others HAVE to do. Stripping the body for one I’d think. No way you have the equipment and proper tools to do that job correctly.
Hi Six,
I was a lil confused by your comment. So i looked up the word ‘komrad’ , its a gun. ?
With a diffent spelling it means ally or mate.
So, not sure how laughing about rich kids that have all their bills and dreams paid for and seldom need or choose hard work equates to ‘komrad’ but im glad i helped bring such laughter :) , laughter is good medicine .
Your welcome ‘komrad’ =D
To whom ever buys this car :
Id love to help or be hired to pull from its slumber and vac, clean and strip it out for you;
seriously, let me know.
GEEZ, at least a LITTLE positivity. That said, I wish whoever didn’t leave the freaking door open like that. The battery’s probably dead now…
LOL 😄
good humour, i literally laughed out loud.
Oh yeah, also, that’s Richard Kuklinski territory. Maybe it’s in the neighborhood. Worth a trip to at least view the home of the Ice Man?
My parents had one of these, same color. It was a great car with plenty of style and power for the era. I learned to drive in it and still wish I had been able to buy it from them when the time came. But oh well. I still have the pictures of a 15 year old me standing next to it to look back on. If I had the room and it was closer to California I would definitely make an offer.