I’m glad that this 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado doesn’t have faded and sunburnt paint so I don’t have to use the dreaded word patina here. As it is, though, I do have to use the word “iconic” when describing the ’66 Toronado. The seller has this iconic beauty posted here on craigslist in Kenosha, Wisconsin and they’re asking $7,000. Here is the original listing, thanks to the patina-free and iconic Pat L. for sending in this tip!
There is something that is somehow both elegant and handsome yet tough and dangerous about the whole front-end treatment on the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. It’s the Sean Connery of cars. They don’t design vehicles like this anymore, my friends. 1966 was the first model year for the Olds Toronado and they were made for the next two-and-a-half decades, until 1992. Hagerty is at $10,100 for a #4 fair condition car and $22,400 for a #3 good condition car so this could be a good buy.
The photos here aren’t anything to jump on a couch about, Tom Cruise-style, or at least the exterior photos. There is one overall 3/4 shot, the leading photo that I used, and the front end photo is the only other one that shows more than a small portion of the car. I don’t understand that at all but I’m still trying to understand how the Kardashians are still a thing for basically doing nothing but doing nothing in front of cameras. Are we really that starved for entertainment in this country? Back to this front-heavy Toronado as opposed to the rear-heavy Kardashians.
As this particular Toronado goes, however, it does look really nice and solid. The seller mentions that there is “little rust” and it sure looks good in the odd cacophony of close-up exterior photos. The interior photos are plentiful and good and it looks almost like perfection inside. The seats look almost like new and you can see that this is a base model without power windows.
The engine is a beast, it’s Oldsmobile’s 385-horsepower 425 cubic-inch V8 with a unique transmission and drive setup to basically knock down all torque steer which with that much power, you would be flying into the next lane every time you hit the gas pedal if Oldsmobile engineers didn’t overengineer it. This example hasn’t been started in years so it’ll need the usual checklist before you’re driving it again, but it looks like a very worthy project to me. How about you?
Got to wonder what the date codes are on those tires
Those XP 2000s are probably from the late 80s or early 90s! I know because I have some one a car that has been sitting since then :(
I miss the days when you tell what kind of car it was just by a glance. The 60’s had some of the best designs.
66 Toro is my favorite year. Such a ground breaking design for GM. Scotty mentioned over engineered on that special Hydramatic 425 transaxle. He was right the transaxle was so durable it was chosen to power the GMC motor homes of the 70’s. Jay Leno also likes the 66 Toro as well and has one in his collection. Beautiful car but converting it to rear wheel drive would not have been something I would do.
This looks to be a great deal and if it were close to me I would be giving it a hard look.
If my garage was big enough, I would be leaving in five minutes with a roll back to bring this beauty home. Why drive an ugly SUV slobbering with plastic when you can have this. A close friend’s mom had a brand new good 66 like this one. She drove us to 6th grade in it. Memories when our country was basically still normal.
I have a friend whose parents came from Yugoslavia, I believe in the early 70’s. His dad got a good job as a “jeercutter”( gear cutter) he called it, and had some money, and bought a used ’66 Toro, just like this, same color, that was like new in the mid-70’s. He said, his dad thought it was the most advanced car he ever drove, and coming from Yugoslavia, I’d believe it. Sadly, about a year after he got the car, he died, and his mom never had her license, and the car sat in the garage for years. Eventually, get this, it was still a low mile car, his mom died, they sold the house. I asked, whatever happened to dads Toronado? He said, ( short pause), he wasn’t around and his sister had the car hauled away for scrap,,,
They were great cars, a bit thirsty, but wrong timing. My old man wouldn’t look ONCE at a FWD car, and that was a common view, “back wheels for moving, front wheels for steering, dag nabit”,,We never for a second, thought all cars would be FWD someday. Remember the special Firestone tires you had to buy? I wonder if there was any merit to that?
Howard,
When I was in high school, I lived in Garrett Park, Maryland, a town filled with old Victorian homes, and I was amazed how many antique cars were still sitting in the garages, or in some of the larger homes the stables out back, unused for decades. [Yeah, I was one of those nosy kids who had to sneak around & look thru garage windows, if it looked like the garage wasn’t being used!]
One of the cars I lusted after was an all original ultra-low mileage 1932 Packard model 900 coupe, the only Packard model to have the “shovel-nose” grill shell. It was parked during WW2 and never driven again. I would go and talk with the elderly owner who said she couldn’t bear to sell her husband’s car [I think he died in the war]. She promised I could have the car after she died.
One day in spring of 1969, a friend told me the house was for sale. I drove over to check out the Packard, but the garage was empty. The lady had passed away and the entire contents of the house was cleared out, the Packard towed away for scrap.
Soon after that, I had a discussion with my print shop teacher about allowing me to print a bunch of 3″X5″ 80# cards that I could leave in any car I was interested in buying, but wasn’t currently for sale. The card said in bold print; “I LOVE THIS CAR AND WOULD LIKE TO BUY IT WHEN YOU DECIDE TO SELL. I AM NOT A CAR DEALER, I AM A COLLECTOR OF OLD CARS.” Below that headline I put my name, address and phone number. Sometimes I would write a personal note on the back, especially if the owner promised me the car.
I left probably hundreds of these cards in vehicles all over the mid-Atlantic area for decades, updating later versions of my cards with things like my email address and cell phone numbers. And guess what? It worked with multiple cars. A couple of times I was contacted by an attorney about picking up a car to settle the estate. Sometimes the car was sold to another person who found the card and called me, some wanted to sell the car for a lot more money, others called just to let me know they had bought it.
The last time this happened was in 2012 when the heir to his father’s 1959 Auto Union SP1000 two-passenger Bauer coupe* found my card and called me. The card had sat on the front seat of the car for 20+ years.
*The SP1000 Bauer coupes and convertibles resemble a ’57 T-bird.
All about timing, my friend. Many times, there is such an emotional connection, the remaining spouse thinks they will go to Hades if they sell their “Herb’s” car, and maybe they’re right, but usually it’s when the remaining person dies, and since nobody in the family could give a hoot, it becomes somebodys windfall.
I have one of these -GREAT car!Not many in the UK so it creates a lot of interest.
The downside: ~4mpg.
Mine does at least 12!
Luke, Is your 12 MPG based on imperial gallons? LOL
I own a ’66 Toronado. Fun car! You’ll easily spend enough on this one getting it up to speed than you would finding one that is already done!
I think this car could be a very good buy. Could be a few surprises, but I think it would be worth it. These cars do have a lot of fans and I can’t see them falling off much.
Buyer should be sure to put on up-dated boots on the CV joints. Then enjoy driving this great automobile.
Bill
Fuel here is sold by the Litre.I still work in Imperial gallons though!
Luke,
I know, just messin’ with ya! I used to be a regular visitor to the UK, and stayed with car friends in Andover, Hants, when I was a vendor at Beaulieu until 1996.