For a front-wheel-drive luxury car with a curb weight of 4,500lbs, the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado was capable of producing some pretty impressive performance figures. It was capable of a 0-60 time of 7.5 seconds and could continue accelerating to a top speed of 135 mph. Even today, those figures stand up very well. You will find this 1966 Toronado listed for sale here on eBay. It is located in Erie, Pennsylvania, and is being sold with a clear title. The owner has set an opening bid of $4,141.41 for the Toronado.
The Toronado appears to be a solid car. The owner reports no issues with rust. There certainly doesn’t appear to be any problems that are visible. The paint is believed to be original, but the owner admits that it is becoming quite tired. The trim and glass look to be in good condition, and the chrome wheels set off nicely on a car of this vintage.
The interior of the Toronado actually doesn’t appear to be too bad. The cover on the front seat is torn, and the armrests on the doors look tired, but what we can see of the rest of the interior looks quite reasonable. As a luxury car, the Toronado comes equipped with a few creature comforts. This one features air conditioning, power windows, power seats, power locks, and cruise control. One clever little design feature on the Toronado is the fitment of duplicate internal door latch handles on the rear edges of the doors. This allowed rear passengers to open the doors to get out of the car with greater ease than if they had to reach the standard handles.
Under the hood is where the Toronado was a ground-breaker. The engine is the Oldsmobile 425ci Super Rocket V8. For the Toronado, the engine power was increased from a standard 365hp up to an impressive 385hp. The engine then drives the fwd TH-425 automatic transmission via a 2″ wide chain system. The chain is manufactured from high-tensile steel and requires no tensioner, as all chains were pre-stretched by Oldsmobile before installation. This Toronado is said to run and drive well. It has been fitted with a complete new dual exhaust, and some work has been performed on the standard power drum brakes. The owner is also including new front wheel bearings and a front disc conversion kit with the car.
The Toronado was the first American front-wheel-drive car produced in nearly 30 years, and it went on to receive numerous awards. This particular car is a clean example that appears to need relatively little work to return it to its former glory. It is a car that could also be driven exactly as it currently sits, with restoration work being performed as and when time and money permit.
I owned one of these. Beautiful, classy, unique. But… it handles like the Nimitz. Including braking. Great car for a casual ride, but if you’re dreaming of taking it on the hiway, put the disc brakes on it first! Brakes from 65 mph would fade completely away by 25 mph. Needed new underwear after that one!
LOL! I’m quite sure it wasn’t funny when it happened,but these are some beautiful brutes since me and this car is the same age.
This looks like the car I sold in Vegas 20 years ago. Who know, maybe iot made its way to Penn.
Slide a Corvette chassis under it, add a twin turbo LS engine and you’ll have what Jay Leno built.
Ditto on the brake conversion. Give it a good detail…fix and enjoy as a preservation.
We had two of these in the neighborhood on my paper route as a kid. One was a white 68 and the other was a maroon 70.
I remember riding in the 70 as it was a friend whose parents would drive us to school in bad weather. The drum speedometer was a cool feature.
I believe Jay’s is a Morrison chasis.
As far as braking, there are material combinations that can relieve som of those.
Had one since 1980, and mine is in rough shape. This seems like a bargain to me. Still 4 days to go. Definitely watching this one.
Great cars, and yes when it’s time to stop, you sure need to plan ahead. Terrible brakes, which is surprising GM didn’t spring for disc brakes on these until 68
My first car at 16 was a ’67 Toronado, it was 6 years old. I still have it on blocks. Absolutely wonderful car! In my research of them, I read an article that stated Oldsmobile had gone over budget in the development of the Toronado, and in cutting corners, short changed the brakes. I had the entire brake system replaced on mine, never had another problem. Oh, I had the muffler replaced and the only one more expensive at the time was for a bathtub Porsche.
My Love! At last I’ve found thee…
Oh no!! Not another POS Toronado!!! Since I’ve already stated my opinion on
these rolling lemons, I won’t do a rehash
of the problems I had with mine. Let’s
just say that this car led us down the
slippery slope to disaster. Congress
should’ve have outlawed them years
ago due to the high repair cost of
owning an FWD. Only the Buick platform
is the only FWD that I can actually
stomach. I like RWD vehicles better.
Too bad they quit making them!
Ken it is I Herbie I am totally on board with you about the Toronado read my comments.
O.K. different cars for different people…..I love my Toronado. Read the dozen or so road tests including across the country in the Winter. These cars were over engineered. Much care, thought and money went into this car. This is one of the few GM cars that money was spent on styling both front and rear view. Plus do’t forget the interior with the barrel speedometer etc. I remember seeing the Toronado on the cover of Popular Mechanics with Jim Dune (sp) and I wanted one since. For many reasons it took me 35 years later to get mine.
I love mine too! Had many, not a lemon in the bunch.
Love these old toros. Made them up to mid 80s with same style of design front wheel drive trans. Dont know what other guy was talking about, but these were engineering marvels. Ps won pikes peak climb in its class I think 2 years in a row.
It’s really too bad Oldsmobile designed that with a transaxle as opposed to being a rear wheel drive car there’d be a lot larger following for those early tornados beautiful body lines transaxle design back then just was not up to par definitely the weak Link in the Driveline like I say had they made that a rear wheel drive car like the Buick Riviera there be a lot larger of a crowd following. The world’s full of early tornados with blown transaxles.
Mine has about 190,000 miles on it. Trans and transaxles have never been apart. The set up is so bullit proof, they used them for full size class A motor homes. So, if you see the world full of early abandoned Toronado’s let me know where they are. I could use a new a.c. compressor, and a few other trinkets.
Braktrcr, The Pacific Northwest is full of these abandoned Toros,. I stand by my convictions back tracker it was a poor design. How many years did it take after that car was conceived for front-wheel drive to be standard equipment just about everything on the road a long long long time. I hardly ever see any of these in the high-end car shows. yeah they look pretty when they’re painted up and all that but it’s a poor design beautiful body lines should have made it into a rear wheel drive car like the Riviera. I guess Jay Leno and I think a lot alike because he took his and converted it to a rear wheel drive car
The front wheel drive is what makes this car special, the following came after every car maker finally realized this…
Herbee, too back back then they couldn’t make these in an AWD.
I read barn finds everyday. I am unable to buy anything but I sure appreciate looking at some of these beautiful cars. Back in 1984 or something like that I knew a guy that entered one of these in a demolition Derby and he took everything out with that car he and copilot ended getting arrested For disorderly conduct with a motor vehicle right in the middle of the demolition Derby. I have never seen that before or ever seen it since
Well I’ll just State the obvious gentleman if the transaxle and Axle shafts are so Stout why are these cars never spotted at the drag strip. Now if they were a rear wheel drive car you would see them at the drag strip. The only way you could race this car is you would have to roll into the throttle. Yes I know there was one that campaign back in the 60s with dual engines and dual transaxles and it was a nightmare it was always all over the track everywhere except where it was supposed to be. And if I recall it did not campaign very many seasons because of the trans axle shaft problems.
Herbee, how many Riviera’s do you see at the dragstrip?
Google Toronado and Pikes Peak, you might find it interesting…
Tom I used to see Buick Riviera’s the early ones at Portland International Raceway every Wednesday and Friday night there in the drag season. Yes I am knowledgeable of pikes peak. Granted the Riviera’s and I saw at Portland International they were racing in the lower Street class. Were their cars all Buick powered , I don’t know
Tom I have not seen an abundance of the early Riviera’s at the drag strip and whether they were racing with Buick powered cars I could not answer that but I can say this with absolute certainty if the 66 Toronado was a real rear wheel drive car I would have a very nice Street machine to say the least much nicer styling than a Cutlass style car in my opinion
Herbee, I will agree, a rear wheel drive Toro would be interesting…
Pretty sure Bill Mitchell, and the rest of GM had no desire to make a Toronado a drag race car. It’s a luxury car that happens to haul a$$. It’s a silly argument Herbee.
My suspicion is that a non-transverse-mounted engine on a front wheel drive setup has efficiency issues getting the power turned around and sent to the wheels. Supposedly my Dodge Intrepid, which also doesn’t have a transverse engine, suffers in the performance department because of that layout. On the other hand it does provide freedom from torque steer.
Everything is a tradeoff.
I had three of these cars { 67, 68 & 74 } and loved every one of them. They didn’t stop very well but they were the best bad weather car on the road. I live downstate Illinois, so I enjoyed the high speeds these cars could provide on rural highways. You could smoke the 15 inch L 78 front tires with no torque-steer. The 67 was faster 0-135 than my 69 corvette. Wish I had that one now.
Hello Joe Ingersoll, I am wondering if your a retired trucker that went by Scrappy on the c.b. radio.
Just brought this all original 60k one owner 1966 home two months ago. It needs a gas tank and I can’t find one any where……any advice out there?
John Dorcey (toroguy@msn.com) has a yard with about 60 parts Toro’s in it. He’s in Las Vegas and many of us on the Toro sites buy parts from him. I tried finding anyone who made new tanks with no luck. Took mine and had it boiled, sealed inside with special sealer, painted outside with POR 15. That works, still wish there were new ones.
Here’s my 1978 XS that my dad bought in 1980. Last digits in the VIN are: 00005. 5th one made! Lipstick red leather interior. Sold it last year to a passionate buyer in New Mexico who (thankfully) brought it back to it’s original glory……..I’m so thankful to him.
Just thought you’d enjoy this……..