Reader Rocky P has decided to part ways with his big Oldsmobile Toronado. These land yachts were quite the machines when they were introduced and garnered an enthusiastic following. The second generation cars grew longer, heavier and slower, but were very comfortable to drive. This one is ready to drive and is located in Sacramento, California with an asking price of $3,700. You can message Rocky via the form below.
What Makes It Special? Turbohydramatic transmission the Toronado is historically significant as the first U.S. -produced front-wheel drive automobile since the demise of the Cord in 1937. Truly a beauty in disguise, perfect for the right individual who will invest time into this American Classic, making it a gem anyone will want to appreciate guaranteed to turn heads.
Body Condition: Vehicle has never left the state of California, making it minimal rusting compared to most other older vehicles. All original interior, normal wear and tear – most notably on the driver’s side. Interior would be 7/10. Exterior I would say 7/10 as well, again this would be a great restoration project, an opportunity to restore this beaut and would have to say overall the car is in great condition.
Mechanical Condition: 51,000 miles on the vehicle. In great shape, runs smoothly with NO mechanical issues.
- Asking Price: $3,700
- Location: West Sacramento, California
- Mileage: 51,000
- Title Status: Clean
- VIN: 3Y57W4M708190
This looks like it could be a fun cruiser and it won’t break the bank. If you have any questions for him, be sure to message him via the form below. And if you have a classic that needs to a new home, please consider listing it here on Barn Finds!
If it has the T-Top…I’m in! Love the disco-era “personal luxury coupes”.
As a former owner of a 1974 Olds Toronado I can safely say the only bank breaking taking place most likely will occur frequently at the gas station. Mine that was in top condition could muster 8mpg on the freeway. Gorgeous car it was, white with red accents and a red velour interior. Wife to be said it had to go, no way she wanted anything to do with a car that doors longer than she was tall.
I had one but, I think mine was a blue and white 1977. The one memory I have was that I was loading it onto a trailer to move it to my new home. When I drove up on the trailer ramps, it lifted the rear wheels on my truck up in the air about a foot. That was one heavy beast. Nice car though with it sitting on the ground.
I have always loved the trunk mounted brake lights.
GM was ahead of the times on that.
Maybe somebody at GM saw for future all the way to 1986.
What a beast!
Nice Car!!!
Good price for a nice boat.
Nice car Rocky, but not intetested. Owned a ’66 Toro that was the car from
hell! Gear whine, excessive tire wear up
front, engine overheating–that’s just for
starters. The last straw came when both
CV shafts fell out while towing a small
Johnboat to our favorite fishin’ hole.
That little adventure set me back a little
more than a grand to fix the problem–and
that was back in 1971! After that, I swore
I’d never own another FWD. But now, the
damned things are everywhere just waiting to become a money pit for some
unsuspecting driver who won’t be able
to afford to make repairs on them when
they break something expensive. Bring
back RWD and oulaw these instead. At
least with RWD, you can do your own U-joints and save thousands on the repair
and upkeep costs that come with modern
cars today. Too bad were stuck with ’em.
It really isnt fair to use your experience with a FWD car built 52 years ago to todays FWD cars. Aples and oranges.
Lndsey, I was getting about 12 mpg on California freeways in my 66 which I loved. I was using it as a daily driver when my 62 Cadillac was having its transmission rebuilt. The Gas bills on the Toronado equaled my mortgage payments (just kidding) . I loved the car for its beauty and unconventional driveline and yes, they are really comfortable cars. Somebody bring your sense of humor and buy this. Use it as a sort of second or third car and the fuel costs
won’t give you a coronary.
Many fun times in Toronados. My sister had a fancy ’68 that was a dream to drive. The hood was so long I put an Oldsmobile emblem imprint into the sheetrock in the back wall of the garage the first time I parked it. It also had the coolest barrel speedometer.
A friend of mine had two of them. The second one was like this one except it had the crazy wraparound back glass. Gotta love those high-mount brake lights. Way ahead of their time. Both of his had transmission issues, though, but that wouldn’t keep me from buying this low-mileage one.
Had one and loved it. But…yes, 8 mpg. And 20,000 on the front tires. You couldn’t rotate them fast enough to keep the wear even. But oh so comfortable and powered everything. Light yellow with white top and brown leather seat. Smallest trunk in the world said my wife. Smallest back seat in the world said my 3 children. I could easily top 100 mph without noticing when we would drive up US 395 (desert) to Tahoe. You had to keep your eye on the speedometer!
Interesting observation – the entire dash is >exactly< The same as my 1979 Olds 98 Brougham was- –
FIVE years later!
Those crafty cost cutters at GM!
You are wrong. That dash was used on the 74 through 76 88/98 and 74 through 78 Toronado. Maybe you’re 98 was a 1976?
I owned a 73 Toro for a few years. Mayan gold with a black top and interior. I loved the boats and that car was awesome but OMG did it drink gas. 455 with a Quadrajet, quite a few options but not totally loaded and not a Brougham. It had overheating problems until I discovered that the space between the a/c condenser and the radiator was absolutely packed with leaves and other debris. After I cleaned that out no overheating problems.
The hvac system in that car (Comfortron) was hands down best performing system in any car I’ve owned. It would blow air so cold and at such high volume that it hurt. Seriously. I used to joke that you could hang meat in that car.
I got rid of it because it was simply too expensive to operate. Single digit mileage was the norm and in the early 80s I couldn’t feed it. Not to mention parking it or maneuvering it in traffic Very fond memories though.
I would love to see a lot more pictures as it does not look like a 7/10 in these shots. A nice cleaning of the interior and a nice buff and wax would go a long way to making this car look a lot better.
the ’66 – ’70 is so much nicer to me, that and the Riveria! Imagine seein them on ur sts in Europe when brand new, runnin against the Brit, French, German stuff! Mmmm, mmmm.
Sorry Will, but my experience with FWD
over the years has left me feeling rather
jaded. After the Toro from hell, I bought
my wife an ’86 Escort wagon that spent
more time in the shop than it did my
driveway. 20 years later, the same issues
that dogged my Toro from hell came back
to me in spades with a big side of torque
steer! Factor in the terrible build quality,
and it wasn’t long before I traded it for
an’82 AMC Concord wagon that was
robust, simple to repair, and didn’t piss
me of the way the Escort did. Today, I
own a ’15 Hyundal Santa fe that posesses many of the same traits that
made me hate FWD in the first place.
Oh sure, they may have improved on
the drive system, but that doesn’t take
away the longing I have for a rear drive
vehicle. You can tow trailers with them
or install a wheelchair rack on the rear of
the vehicle without the wandering problems you have with FWD when it comes to safely guiding the car down
the road without the fear of over correcting and maybe flipping the car
because you have something hanging
on the rear of it like the items I mentioned
earlier. Sorry, still gotta say rear drive is
better than FWD.
Not. But if it had the SX package with the wrap-around rear window, then mayyyybe.
Only cuz I’d want to drive around in something with SX on it’s haunches. Or paunches, but not a 200 SX etc.
It’s XS, not SX. XS stood for experimental sunroof. There were also prototypes built of the XSR (experimental sunroof, retractable) but that model never reached production.
I first saw an XS while attending PSU. I was crossing College Avenue on foot and this beautiful light blue metallic Toro with an amazing wraparound rear window floated by. I didn’t know what I was looking at but I knew that I wanted one.
It wasn’t until about 1987 that I stumbled into one in person, a black over red 77 example. Unfortunately my wife and I had just purchased our first home and I was in no position to buy a fuel guzzling battleship. But I did make friends with teh owner and ended up working on the car and fixing quite a few issues it had accumulated. I thought I might buy the car eventually but he was pushing for body work/paint and I didn’t have time of space for that. He got impatient and ended up having some schlock paintjob done which completely ruined the car for me and I lost interest.
I’ll post some pics of that car later tonight.
Hey Pete in LA, I was searching the Toronado brochures for 1977 and 1978; it lists an XSR for 1977; so you say they never produced it? I read the description and can’t figure how the roof glass panels sliding inward would have worked anyway, even though it says they stored over one another. In 1978 they list an XS and show it with a sunroof instead.
1977:
http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Oldsmobile/1977%20Oldsmobile/1977_Oldsmobile_Full_Size_Brochure/1977%20Oldsmobile%20Full%20Size-19.html
1978:
http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Oldsmobile/1978%20Oldsmobile/1978_Oldsmobile_Full_Size_Brochure/1978%20Oldsmobile%20Full%20Size-21.html
Reply to Rick on What form below?
Please make this easier ~
Sorry about that, all fixed. Be sure to refresh the page!
@BillO
Correct. The XSR was planned for production but never made it. The electrically-operated panels slid inward and stacked over each other. What could possible go wrong? Anyway, that version of the Toro never saw daylight.
The XS and the planned XSR both had the wraparound rear window. That was a key feature. The XS added the glass panel sunroof and the XSR had the retractable panels.
When I worked on the black XS I pulled the rear seat cushion. There were curls of sheetmetal from when ASC did the wraparound rear window conversion.
I was doing contract work for Oldsmobile in the early 90s and was able to communicate with the late Helen Early, Oldsmobile historian. I have a bunch of glossy 8x10s of both the XS and the XSR as provided tothe press by Oldsmobile. Also a letter from Ms. Early describing the XS/XSR situation. I’ll have to dig them out and post them.