November 1965, Duluth, MinneSNOWta; my buddy and I were standing on Superior Street waiting to go into a movie theater. Across the street at a stop light was a brand spanking new maroon 1966 Toronado, and it was magnificent. But, what really caught us by surprise was that when the light changed, it did a smoking burnout, and billows of smoke poured from those beautiful front fenders. Now that was a sight we'd never seen before, and that memory was seared into my gearhead head for life.
Hell, it might have been accidental. The first time I drove our '68 toronado I found out that it would pour smoke out of those front wheel wells just pushing that massive gas pedal about a third of the way down!
The ‘68 toro was my first car as a teenager, I was disappointed that I couldn’t do doughnut’s in the snow with front wheel drive. So I did what any kid would do, I just threw the car in reverse and did my doughnut backwards😳😝
Yeah I had 67 and the weight of the engine and transmission right on top of those front tires was exactly how you said the smoke instantly bellowed out it was awesome
To me as a European, the first gen Toronado is the one coolest and most beautiful 60's American cars ever. It looks both brutal and beautiful and its front-wheel drive makes it unique.
I has a 66' Toro and lived in upstate NY at the time. I had studded snow tires put on in the Winter. The beast used to plow through two feet of snow! It rode like nothing else. Better than a Cadillac I owned later. 👍
I know, right? My downsized, longitudinal Turbo 325 Eldorado also shrugged off snow at Lake Tahoe. Yet somehow, the transverse FWD Buicks I've driven up there have sucked! Even though they still have a cast iron engine over the drive wheels of a lighter car...
My dad got a '69 Toronado at my urging. One night I drove it 150 miles through a snow storm in Minnesota. There was at least 8 inches on the 2 lane road and zero traffic. I kept the car on the road by aiming the long hood between the ditches. It easily drove 65 and it was smooth as silk. If I it started to slide on a curve, I quickly learned to give it more throttle to pull out of it. That was over 50 years ago but I remember it like it was last night.
@@MrDavidknigge I totally believe you. Above I mentioned my '81 Eldorado that still had the longitudinal-engine FWD, and coming out of CalNeva one night there was 6+ inches of fresh powder. It was an eerily quiet ride out, with just the faintest whoosh of the tires going through the snow, and I could still drive up a very steep approach to the main highway with no slip... 💕
I used to own a 1968 Toronado, black paint, black interior, black vinyl roof. I bought it in 2002 as the third owner, and sold it in 2015. I truly miss it.
My Mom and Dad bought a 1970 Toronado with the 400 (4555CI) V8. It was absolutely a wonderful car. Heavy, yes, but great in the snow, and it could haul. The speedometer was most memorable as it was a line across a "drum" that rolled as you sped up. This video brought back great memories and you did a good job researching the best car that Oldsmobile ever made. I remember the 1971 model year and how much of a disappointment it was. It was Oldsmobile's version of the Cadillac Eldorado that year. Not unique at all from the first-generation Toronado. Tom Murphy and Roger Smith can be blamed for the homogenization of GM cars n the 70s and 80s.
The Riviera shared that speedometer for a couple of years, and they even put a little window next to it to adapt their signature Speed Alert! I've always called the ones in the Lincolns and T-birds the Thermometer Speedometer, and this one the Slot Machine... 🆒
You have much right about this Olds. I was a young gear head when this came out and all us guys were blown away with it. It wasn’t our typical “ hot rod” like say a GTO or Mustang, because it was so radical for the time. And when our school Principal showed up one day driving one, he immediately became cool! The first 2 year models were indeed the bomb.
I still have the '69 Toro my father bought used in June of 1972 when I was 11. In addition to normal driving, we used it to tow our boat, and it was better than the pickup trucks of the time because the FWD gave much better traction on a slippery boat ramp. Plus, it was a lot nicer to ride in and to drive than any truck.
I've been rebuilding automatic transmissions 47 years , the 425 is 'just ' a turbo 400 sawed off and re connected with a big ol chain ,and was a marvelous contribution for front wheel drive
Only way it would all work with all that "Oldsmobile" plus turbo 400's worked so damn good in everything else in the GM line ups then hell, why Nott..?..
Hell, it was strong enough to haul around 12,000 lb of the most innovative motorhome in history, the GMC! 🎉 However, I could never figure out why the Unitized Power Package made the car so thirsty... I read a contemporary review and they only got 11 or 12 MPG on highway. I really thrashed a '68 Toro one night, and got FOUR. Meanwhile, my 430" Wildcat got 18 @ 60-65...
1966 and 1967 had 385 Horsepower, a 4-barrel carburetor, duel snorkel air cleaner housing, large diameter dual exhaust all the way back, a cross mounted muffler, dual resonators, 4 shock absorbers on the rear axle, hidden headlamps, aerodynamic as a Corvette, and a two speed torque converter! No other car was built like a Toronado!
My father was working for Oldsmobile at the Lansing plant in Michigan when the Toronado was introduced I can remember them putting on a big parade in front of the capital building to celebrate🎉
My dad had a black on black ‘67 El Dorado and a white Corvette back then. The El Dorado, Tornado and Riviera are just incredibly good looking cars back when GM was still making fine automobiles.
Brings back memories. My grandfather had a '67 that he loved and drove for more than a decade until he bought his S-class Benz. I remember many rides in that Toronado as a kid, but Grandpa never quite trusted me enough to let me drive it after I got my license. Smart man, Grandpa was. 😜
My old man had a '68 Toronado back in the early to mid '70s. He called it the 'Batmobile'. LOL!! That car went through snow like it had a plow in front!
Back in the early 70"s, my step brother had a 67 Toronado. Car was awesome. Passed everything but a gas station. He sold it when gas went crazy. There was a very large hill near our house, that was a mile long to the top, and it was a highway. Two kids came to look at the car to buy, and took it up the hill. When he started up the hill, and put his foot on the gas, he looked at his friend, and said, yup. He bought the car.
My dad bought a second hand 1970 Toronado on christmas eve. Beautiful bronze with the white vinyl top and white interior. One summer my parents went away on vacation pulling a 17 ft travel trailor, on the way home mom took over driving, after awhile my dad looks over to the dash and says to my mom, Myrt your going 100 mph, Mom said she didn't realise she was going so fast. Smooth car. Loved driving it when I got my license. Another time I was driving with Mom and we stopped a set of lights in our town, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the car behind us with a young guy at the wheel, his Dad beside him and his Mom in the back seat. I could see him talking to his Dad and with his hand indicating to his Dad that the Toro's rear end squats when pulling away from a stop. I told my Mom about this and ask her if I can pull away on the green light and make the car squat, she said to do it and when the light changed we pulled away quickly, the rear end squated and I looked in the mirror and say the driver and his Dad laughing. Those were the gold old days.
I inherited a 1970 tornado and it’s a cool car.. hard to find now. It’s longer than you think and can make around in snow with snow tires and handles better than any classic car! Do like the body style better in the 60s and mine is an ugly silver gold color but the engine is a beast! A BEAST! It’s a very fast car! This car is like a living being to me.. it literally acts and looks happy when it’s paid attention to! Never had any transmission problems! Get disc brakes if you want to live!
In the 60s, My friend Jay's dad had one of the early models in gold like the one showed at 1:06. I loved that car and I always watch the videos when they show up. But I've never seen one that shows or even mentions the the cool swiveling front bucket seats it had that the flat living room sized floor made possible. As I recall, if you opened the doors you could rotate them to face backwards. His dad was a scientific executive and they also had a Saab Sonnet III.
I’m sure others have said something… The corvair was a rear engine economy car aimed to compete with the VW Beatle. The 425 trans was in 3 vehicles, the olds toronado, caddy Eldorado, and it was so bullet proof, it was also used in the huge front wheel drive GMC motorhome.
As a young fella, I loved the 66/67 Olds Tornado. As an old fella now in my 70's, I still love the 66/67 Tornado! Wasn't able to afford one when I was young and no way I can afford one now!!!
I was looking at buying either 66 to 69 toros back in the mid to late ‘80’s, good clean texas cars and in great shape. They were cheap then cause nobody wanted them, most wanted muscle cars. You could find well cared for units for $5000 or less. My goodness how times have changed
@@paulhunter9613 Yeah, I passed on a super clean '67 Cadillac Eldorado, gold in color (kinda fitting, since Eldorado means "the golden one".) for $2,500 about 1980. Passed on a '63 Corvette Split Window Coupe for $250 before that. How times have changed.
A school friend's father had one, and I was impressed by the double door handles inside so you could open the door from the back, the vertical wheel speedometer and the flat floor, which was just like the Citroëns my grandfather's cousin was tinkering with...
I always thought those extra rear door handles for superfluous - until I learned that I could fold the passenger seatback flat, put my feet up from the rear seat and ride in style... 😋
The only downside I could find with the car was that when driving it in the snow and taking a corner a bit too fast, the front had so much traction from the weight in the front and the lighter rear end, that you could lose the rear of the car into a slide and find yourself doing a 180 deg spin😳. Good times, good times😝
There would be more Toronados still around but a lot of guys pulled the engine for lighter cars. Toronados came with the good stuff according to Olds guys. Pull the Toro engine and swap oil pans with a rear drive car and you have something wicked fast.
My folks bought a '68 Toronado and it was my favorite car growing up. Our family of six traveled in that car and even took a few long road trips. Being able to sleep on the flat rear seat floor was a real saving grace for us kids. I rhink the 68 was the best looking because the grill and hidden headlights looked better.
The first year that Toronado came out and I saw an advertisement for it I was blown away! I was just a teenager at the time but the lines on that car,... Oh my God! It look like a freaking spaceship, and I fell in love, or more correctly lust. Unfortunately I've never owned one, but I sure would have liked to, even to this day.
I've had a christmas ornament of one for years that I put on my tree ever since I was a kid. I don't personally really care much for luxury cars but something about the way the Toronado looks always captivated me as well!
Drove my best HS friends parents 66 from Portland to Eugene Or, 105 miles in one hour... Fantastic car. Plus all the kids loved watching it smoke the front tires :)
I remember a quote from a car magazine way back when... "When any European car designer would have bet his slide rule that 2 litres and 2000 lbs were the limit for front-wheel drive, Oldsmobile comes out with 7 litre, 5000 pound macadam-mauler." 😂
It was a rare enough car that sometimes when I would go to the auto parts store and say Toronado, the guy at the counter would sometimes say, "You mean a Torino?" No, I mean an Oldsmobile Toronado.....Better than a Ford Torino.
As someone from the U.K who isn't very familiar with U.S designed cars... I love the early Tornado's.. they have a grace and elegance that a lot of US designed cars lack... Particularly during the 1960's where everything was either 'muscle' or 'coke bottle' or something in-between..
Only halfway through and I've already caught a couple of problems: 1) Corvair is REAR-engined not MID-engined. 2) the 1966 Eldorado was on the C-body platform, it was not Toronado-based. That would come the following year.
we are only humans and make mistakes. But he did say 67 sales dipped 50% largely due to the introduction of Cadillacs el dorado. But the corvair one yeah he missed the boat.
The E-Body was 1963 Buick Riviera, 1966 and later Oldsmobile Toronado and 1967 and later Cadillac Eldorado even though the Buick was rear wheel drive, it is still the E-Body.
When the Tornado, Riviera and Eldo came out they were actual six seater cars when they had a bench in the front. The elimination of the transmission tunnel made the middle seats in front and back very comfortable. My dad had a ‘67 El Dorado and I can remember how mind blowing it was to have that flat floor board.
My parents had a new 1966 Toronado. A few months after they purchased it, I used it to take my driving test as a kid. I passed. LOL Two years later, my father traded in the 1966 Toro for a 1968 Toro. I preferred the 1966. But I didn't get a vote.
Facts! "Introduced in 1966 with a shape vaguely reminiscent of a purportedly female Soviet discus hurler, the Olds Toronado never made much of a sales mark until it's image was changed from muscle to svelte in 1971."
To a comment that someone made about Oldsmobile not having a Big Block is incorrect. I was a Master Tech for a Buick Dealer and we sold GMC motor homes I was the Tech for them and trained by GM to work on them. And yes I'm old enough to know this. The 455 big block Olds V8 was replaced in 1977 with the 403 cu in (6.6 L) small block, which used a 4.351 in (110.5 mm) bore, the largest ever used in a small-block V8, with the Olds small-block standard deck and 3.385 in (86.0 mm) stroke.
y parents had a Revcon Motor Home, front wheel drive, Toronado drivetrain in the mid 79s. They'd spend winters traveling from Michigan to Mazatlan towing a Boston Whaler for fishing. Great RV.
Spotted at 8:57, the L, M and B are missing from the name Oldsmobile on the car's bonnet. Sorry but I seem to notice these things. I still love it, though. Thaks for sharing and take care.
The original Tornado was absolutely gorgeous. The lines were simple and perfectly balanced. Changing it was like putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. The same thing happened to the original Thunderbird which got worser and worser with time.
I had a ´67 Maroon with matching interior and black vinyl top from 2004-2007. Trouble-free silent cruising !. It was completely original and a joy to drive. I only had to replace the rear mufflers and the carb. Got hold of a NOS Rochester exactly as the original. Bolted it on with no adjustments, and it fired up first time. To me the ´67 is the one to have. The ´66 and ´67 are very similar, but the ´67 just looks a tad better with the grill and taillights. - 10 years later I bought a 1979 Chrysler LeBaron with a 318 and electronic ignition. It never gave me anything but trouble !
Excellent video. I really enjoyed the video and the footage and information shared. I own the last Toronado a 1992 model. It has influences from this Toronado. Thank you so much.
Did they fix the torque steer problem? Power steering helped cover it up. When I drove one I could feel the hit though. The guy that owned it absolutely loved it and didn’t care.
I grew up with two of these, both in dark turquoise metallic, a 1967 Toronado AND a 1966 one as well... Totally reliable, well built, only problem them being a gas hog.
I think they did the same to the Buick Riviera. I can't remember which year it was, but there was one version that looked notably better than all others. I saw it at a motor show as a small boy, and it looked gorgeous. No other ones had that same graceful appearance.
I remember walking home from grade school when the son of the fire chief "Joe", rolled up and stopped at the crosswalk is his fathers new Toranado he smiled at me and and smoked the front tires through first and second gears. Needless to say, as a 10 year old I was impressed!
Love it!!!! Speaking of covairs and Toros, There was a kid in Bakersfield whose family ran a junk yard. He had a corvair with a Toro engine and transaxle, and a snorkle coming out the roof!!! Hell YAAAA!!! I only saw it from afar. Much later sombody did about the same thing with a transaxle like that and a Grand National V-6 in a porsche 912.
One of those very rare moments when Form & Function converged to create a iconic vehicle. A truly aesthetically beautiful & unique moment for Oldsmobile/GM ! #Toronado68 #OldsmobileToronado #LuxuryMeetsMuscle
I saw what I believe was a 68 Olds Tornado cruising down the streets of downtown Detroit just the other day. This was possibly Oldsmobile's most classic design and engineering besides the late 60's and early 70's 442.
True, the 66 was a real show stopper, a styling exercise brought to market, much like the Viper or my much loved Ducati MH900e that sits in my den cause it's a bear to ride but my dad had a 1977 Tornado that was really a superb driving luxury coupe...and must say always got compliments back in the day. Thank you for your terrific video.
The Olds Tornado and the Buick Riviera engines were mounted facing the front of the car, not sideways like the front wheel drive cars of the past many years and they did not have a hump going through the passenger area for the transmission and drive shaft.. The Olds Tornado and the Buick Riviera engines were mounted facing the front of the car, not sideways like the front wheel drive cars of the past many years and they did not have a hump going through the passenger area for the transmission and drive shaft. I knew a guy that had a 1966 Olds Tornado back in 1972 or 73' and he still had the last time I saw him in 2008 and it look just like it did in 1972. Beautiful car with a gold color.
That first generation was so cool, especially compared to what came after. The early '70's saw an industry-wide bloating of car bodies just when the engines were being choked down with emissions equipment.
I have also wanted to get a 67 Toronado. They design and curb appeal was way ahead of their time. Great performer too. Love classic cars. Have many. Great vid ! Love that red one @1:59 Would love to see one that nice for sale. Hardly ever see any for sale, well nice ones anyway. Merry Christmas
The curb weight of the Tornado for the 1966-67 model years was 4,311 lbs. It could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 7.5 seconds and it's top speed hovered around the 135-mph mark.
"While the W-34 optioned Toronado was an impressive vehicle both in terms of its capability and its innovative drivetrain, its appeal to gearheads was overshadowed by drivers who were looking for a big, luxurious cruiser."
Appreciate the breakdown of all the front end changes over the years. Never even knew about some of them and I'm reasonably familiar with that car. My pops worked for a large group of dealerships in the 90s and worked on a 67 quite often. The super rich owner's wife had ine in immaculate condition. Nice little old lady, could have driven any car in the world with their money, but she just loved ger Toranado. Been subscribed for while now and your attention to detail and videos get better all the time. Great job, man. Keep it up
Great memories, my parents had '66/'69 Toronados ('66 was exactly like the featured Red one), got my first drivers license in the '69, they went to Eldorado in '70
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As I recall, it wasn't just a chain to convey power from engine to transmission. It was a nylon belt. Olds did a publicity photo showing a car hanging from a crane by one of the belts, to demonstrate its strength. My father was a GM engineer, and I recall driving the first Toronado when I was around 20 years old. The front torque was indeed able to spin stock tires on dry asphalt, although it could happen without you knowing, because the car had such great sound insulation. It was a unique and beautiful beast.
Those mid 60s Tornado and Buick Rivieras were absolutely beautiful. I watch every RUclips about either of them that land in my queue. Amazing how GM went from a plethora of beautiful cars in the 60s to such ugly crap in the 70s.
But the 1968-69 Rivieras were the worst-looking; the 1970 version was more conventional and it inherited the basic front fascia from the 1968-69 Skylarks.
@@billolsen4360 The 1971-78 Eldorados were the lowest point for styling that awkwardly tried to recreate the original Series 62 Eldorado shape of 1953 with a modernized twist. Ugliest of the Rivieras were those from 1974-76. Of the 1971-78 generation the Toronado looked best in 1971-72. The next 6 years saw changes that were ornamental for the wrong reasons. For 1979 the Toronado got back its lower body from 1966-67 model years between the axles and the front and rear clips from the previous years got trimmed down. The overall shape of 1979 got rounded off for 1988. When the Toronado was phased out for 1993, its original shape from 1966-67 was revised, modernized and it was transferred over to Buick and relaunched in mid-1994 as the Riviera.
When I was 15 in '75, our renter had a nice, gold '66 Toranado for sale for $600. IKR!! I've often wished I had bought it for my 1st car, but I Loved my '69 Caprice Classic I got instead, with 300 hp 350, which I swapped into a '67 Chevy 2, that was Quick! But the bench seats in the boat woulda been nice on dates!!
The difference in engine displacement, 75 cubic inches or 1.2 liters, is as big as some "mainstream" cars today. BTW the '70 Caprice was not bad on a date. I remember her well.
The second genertion Olds Tornado started the 3rd eye brake lamp setup system, which became mandated in all vehicles around 1986.My brother had a 1st gen Toro,he jumped the train tracks with it and broke the t bar.We then put engine in a boat.
As an european, simply can't believe those super-luxurious cars really existed, breathtaking!
November 1965, Duluth, MinneSNOWta; my buddy and I were standing on Superior Street waiting to go into a movie theater. Across the street at a stop light was a brand spanking new maroon 1966 Toronado, and it was magnificent. But, what really caught us by surprise was that when the light changed, it did a smoking burnout, and billows of smoke poured from those beautiful front fenders. Now that was a sight we'd never seen before, and that memory was seared into my gearhead head for life.
My wife had to do those burnouts in our 67 Toro every time she drove it car was awesome on dead stop take off
Hell, it might have been accidental. The first time I drove our '68 toronado I found out that it would pour smoke out of those front wheel wells just pushing that massive gas pedal about a third of the way down!
@@marko7843 -- Nah, he held his foot down for almost a full block. I think I have had many accidents similarly in my long life.
The ‘68 toro was my first car as a teenager, I was disappointed that I couldn’t do doughnut’s in the snow with front wheel drive. So I did what any kid would do, I just threw the car in reverse and did my doughnut backwards😳😝
Yeah I had 67 and the weight of the engine and transmission right on top of those front tires was exactly how you said the smoke instantly bellowed out it was awesome
To me as a European, the first gen Toronado is the one coolest and most beautiful 60's American cars ever. It looks both brutal and beautiful and its front-wheel drive makes it unique.
Подвеска передних колёс на поперечных шлицах.Цепной привод на трансмиссию.😂!!!
It truly was an amazing car! It was my first car as a teenager.It was both sleek & luxurious & VERY fast!
I has a 66' Toro and lived in upstate NY at the time. I had studded snow tires put on in the Winter. The beast used to plow through two feet of snow!
It rode like nothing else. Better than a Cadillac I owned later. 👍
Love hearing this, makes sense that Cadillac had to release their own FWD car shortly after to remain relevant
I know, right? My downsized, longitudinal Turbo 325 Eldorado also shrugged off snow at Lake Tahoe. Yet somehow, the transverse FWD Buicks I've driven up there have sucked! Even though they still have a cast iron engine over the drive wheels of a lighter car...
My dad got a '69 Toronado at my urging. One night I drove it 150 miles through a snow storm in Minnesota. There was at least 8 inches on the 2 lane road and zero traffic. I kept the car on the road by aiming the long hood between the ditches. It easily drove 65 and it was smooth as silk. If I it started to slide on a curve, I quickly learned to give it more throttle to pull out of it. That was over 50 years ago but I remember it like it was last night.
@@MrDavidknigge I totally believe you. Above I mentioned my '81 Eldorado that still had the longitudinal-engine FWD, and coming out of CalNeva one night there was 6+ inches of fresh powder. It was an eerily quiet ride out, with just the faintest whoosh of the tires going through the snow, and I could still drive up a very steep approach to the main highway with no slip... 💕
@@MrDavidknigge Awesome story! It validated my experience too. I wish I had a Toro this Winter!
I used to own a 1968 Toronado, black paint, black interior, black vinyl roof. I bought it in 2002 as the third owner, and sold it in 2015. I truly miss it.
My Mom and Dad bought a 1970 Toronado with the 400 (4555CI) V8. It was absolutely a wonderful car. Heavy, yes, but great in the snow, and it could haul. The speedometer was most memorable as it was a line across a "drum" that rolled as you sped up. This video brought back great memories and you did a good job researching the best car that Oldsmobile ever made. I remember the 1971 model year and how much of a disappointment it was. It was Oldsmobile's version of the Cadillac Eldorado that year. Not unique at all from the first-generation Toronado. Tom Murphy and Roger Smith can be blamed for the homogenization of GM cars n the 70s and 80s.
The Riviera shared that speedometer for a couple of years, and they even put a little window next to it to adapt their signature Speed Alert! I've always called the ones in the Lincolns and T-birds the Thermometer Speedometer, and this one the Slot Machine... 🆒
This car is GORGEOUS!
You have much right about this Olds. I was a young gear head when this came out and all us guys were blown away with it. It wasn’t our typical “ hot rod” like say a GTO or Mustang, because it was so radical for the time. And when our school Principal showed up one day driving one, he immediately became cool!
The first 2 year models were indeed the bomb.
I still have the '69 Toro my father bought used in June of 1972 when I was 11. In addition to normal driving, we used it to tow our boat, and it was better than the pickup trucks of the time because the FWD gave much better traction on a slippery boat ramp. Plus, it was a lot nicer to ride in and to drive than any truck.
I've been rebuilding automatic transmissions 47 years , the 425 is 'just ' a turbo 400 sawed off and re connected with a big ol chain ,and was a marvelous contribution for front wheel drive
Only way it would all work with all that "Oldsmobile" plus turbo 400's worked so damn good in everything else in the GM line ups then hell, why Nott..?..
@@greasercody01 if I had to rely upon the 425 to make money I wouldn't be in the automatic transmission business 😋
@@greasercody01 yes, I find the 425 fascinating and I'm 59 years old .I've been rebuilding automatic transmissions since I was 13 years old .
Hell, it was strong enough to haul around 12,000 lb of the most innovative motorhome in history, the GMC! 🎉
However, I could never figure out why the Unitized Power Package made the car so thirsty... I read a contemporary review and they only got 11 or 12 MPG on highway. I really thrashed a '68 Toro one night, and got FOUR. Meanwhile, my 430" Wildcat got 18 @ 60-65...
Цепная передача на трансмиссию😂!Журнал За рулём .80-е годы.😂
1966 and 1967 had 385 Horsepower, a 4-barrel carburetor, duel snorkel air cleaner housing, large diameter dual exhaust all the way back, a cross mounted muffler, dual resonators, 4 shock absorbers on the rear axle, hidden headlamps, aerodynamic as a Corvette, and a two speed torque converter! No other car was built like a Toronado!
My father was working for Oldsmobile at the Lansing plant in Michigan when the Toronado was introduced I can remember them putting on a big parade in front of the capital building to celebrate🎉
My dad had a black on black ‘67 El Dorado and a white Corvette back then. The El Dorado, Tornado and Riviera are just incredibly good looking cars back when GM was still making fine automobiles.
Brings back memories. My grandfather had a '67 that he loved and drove for more than a decade until he bought his S-class Benz. I remember many rides in that Toronado as a kid, but Grandpa never quite trusted me enough to let me drive it after I got my license.
Smart man, Grandpa was. 😜
Grandpa knew FWD burnouts were going to happen LOL
I had a 68. Best car I ever had!
My old man had a '68 Toronado back in the early to mid '70s. He called it the 'Batmobile'. LOL!! That car went through snow like it had a plow in front!
Back in the early 70"s, my step brother had a 67 Toronado. Car was awesome. Passed everything but a gas station. He sold it when gas went crazy. There was a very large hill near our house, that was a mile long to the top, and it was a highway. Two kids came to look at the car to buy, and took it up the hill. When he started up the hill, and put his foot on the gas, he looked at his friend, and said, yup. He bought the car.
My dad bought a second hand 1970 Toronado on christmas eve. Beautiful bronze with the white vinyl top and white interior. One summer my parents went away on vacation pulling a 17 ft travel trailor, on the way home mom took over driving, after awhile my dad looks over to the dash and says to my mom, Myrt your going 100 mph, Mom said she didn't realise she was going so fast. Smooth car. Loved driving it when I got my license. Another time I was driving with Mom and we stopped a set of lights in our town, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the car behind us with a young guy at the wheel, his Dad beside him and his Mom in the back seat. I could see him talking to his Dad and with his hand indicating to his Dad that the Toro's rear end squats when pulling away from a stop. I told my Mom about this and ask her if I can pull away on the green light and make the car squat, she said to do it and when the light changed we pulled away quickly, the rear end squated and I looked in the mirror and say the driver and his Dad laughing. Those were the gold old days.
I have a 1969 toro, first car my dad and I really worked on together. Had it 12 years now
I inherited a 1970 tornado and it’s a cool car.. hard to find now. It’s longer than you think and can make around in snow with snow tires and handles better than any classic car! Do like the body style better in the 60s and mine is an ugly silver gold color but the engine is a beast! A BEAST! It’s a very fast car! This car is like a living being to me.. it literally acts and looks happy when it’s paid attention to! Never had any transmission problems! Get disc brakes if you want to live!
In the 60s, My friend Jay's dad had one of the early models in gold like the one showed at 1:06. I loved that car and I always watch the videos when they show up. But I've never seen one that shows or even mentions the the cool swiveling front bucket seats it had that the flat living room sized floor made possible. As I recall, if you opened the doors you could rotate them to face backwards. His dad was a scientific executive and they also had a Saab Sonnet III.
I’m sure others have said something…
The corvair was a rear engine economy car aimed to compete with the VW Beatle.
The 425 trans was in 3 vehicles, the olds toronado, caddy Eldorado, and it was so bullet proof, it was also used in the huge front wheel drive GMC motorhome.
Eldorado used a Cadillac engine, NOT the same as the Toronado or GMC motor home.
@@danielulz1640
I said 425 trans
My mistake, you are correct. Happy Holidays.
@@danielulz1640 you too boss!
@@danielulz1640 Cadillac engine swap is not unheard of in the GMC motorhome cult, of which I am proud to be a member.
As a young fella, I loved the 66/67 Olds Tornado. As an old fella now in my 70's, I still love the 66/67 Tornado! Wasn't able to afford one when I was young and no way I can afford one now!!!
I was looking at buying either 66 to 69 toros back in the mid to late ‘80’s, good clean texas cars and in great shape. They were cheap then cause nobody wanted them, most wanted muscle cars. You could find well cared for units for $5000 or less. My goodness how times have changed
@@paulhunter9613 Yeah, I passed on a super clean '67 Cadillac Eldorado, gold in color (kinda fitting, since Eldorado means "the golden one".) for $2,500 about 1980. Passed on a '63 Corvette Split Window Coupe for $250 before that. How times have changed.
A school friend's father had one, and I was impressed by the double door handles inside so you could open the door from the back, the vertical wheel speedometer and the flat floor, which was just like the Citroëns my grandfather's cousin was tinkering with...
I always thought those extra rear door handles for superfluous - until I learned that I could fold the passenger seatback flat, put my feet up from the rear seat and ride in style... 😋
Had a 1974 Olds Tornado. I just plain loved it.
This was an incredible car to drive
So I've heard, I'd imagine this was like riding in a cloud at the time
Agree. I owned a 1968 Toronado from 2002 until I sold it in 2015 and it was a truly incredible car to view, talk about, and drive.
The only downside I could find with the car was that when driving it in the snow and taking a corner a bit too fast, the front had so much traction from the weight in the front and the lighter rear end, that you could lose the rear of the car into a slide and find yourself doing a 180 deg spin😳. Good times, good times😝
It handled so well because it is practically a front mid engine design.
In 1976 I bought a rusted out 1970 GS (gas and tires). It was a Rocket Ship. Fun to drive and was great on snow. Drove it for a couple years.
European and Japanese rusted as well in that era when they were not looked after.
There would be more Toronados still around but a lot of guys pulled the engine for lighter cars. Toronados came with the good stuff according to Olds guys. Pull the Toro engine and swap oil pans with a rear drive car and you have something wicked fast.
In the 1980s guys would swap the 455 and FWD transmission into the bed of mini pick up trucks.
A lot of them ended up at airports, cut in half and used to tow jets.
Didn’t know about towing airplanes, but a lot went into other cars.
My folks bought a '68 Toronado and it was my favorite car growing up. Our family of six traveled in that car and even took a few long road trips. Being able to sleep on the flat rear seat floor was a real saving grace for us kids. I rhink the 68 was the best looking because the grill and hidden headlights looked better.
Another feature left out was it was good in the winter , didn't need snow tires , excellent traction .
That is a good added point that I didn't think of, FWD is better than RWD in lots of bad weather conditions. Thanks for that!
As the owner of a 2011 Maybach 57s, the lines of this Toronado is truly remarkable, even in 2024.
The first year that Toronado came out and I saw an advertisement for it I was blown away! I was just a teenager at the time but the lines on that car,... Oh my God! It look like a freaking spaceship, and I fell in love, or more correctly lust. Unfortunately I've never owned one, but I sure would have liked to, even to this day.
I've had a christmas ornament of one for years that I put on my tree ever since I was a kid. I don't personally really care much for luxury cars but something about the way the Toronado looks always captivated me as well!
Drove my best HS friends parents 66 from Portland to Eugene Or, 105 miles in one hour...
Fantastic car. Plus all the kids loved watching it smoke the front tires :)
I remember a quote from a car magazine way back when...
"When any European car designer would have bet his slide rule that 2 litres and 2000 lbs were the limit for front-wheel drive, Oldsmobile comes out with 7 litre, 5000 pound macadam-mauler."
😂
It was a rare enough car that sometimes when I would go to the auto parts store and say Toronado, the guy at the counter would sometimes say, "You mean a Torino?" No, I mean an Oldsmobile Toronado.....Better than a Ford Torino.
As someone from the U.K who isn't very familiar with U.S designed cars... I love the early Tornado's.. they have a grace and elegance that a lot of US designed cars lack... Particularly during the 1960's where everything was either 'muscle' or 'coke bottle' or something in-between..
Thanks. Great production. I have a red 66 Toronado. The sexiest and most beautiful care ever made, Ever.
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it!
Only halfway through and I've already caught a couple of problems: 1) Corvair is REAR-engined not MID-engined. 2) the 1966 Eldorado was on the C-body platform, it was not Toronado-based. That would come the following year.
we are only humans and make mistakes.
But he did say 67 sales dipped 50% largely due to the introduction of Cadillacs el dorado. But the corvair one yeah he missed the boat.
Ya. I count the mistakes on every one of these videos. Not a good average on this channel.
Yes, and there is no way that the 63-65 Eldorado was on the same chassis as the Riviera.
The E-Body was 1963 Buick Riviera, 1966 and later Oldsmobile Toronado and 1967 and later Cadillac Eldorado even though the Buick was rear wheel drive, it is still the E-Body.
@@blue_lancer_es Its not that hard to look up. NO excuse for his abject stupidity.
Oldsmobile was a nice brand .
When the Tornado, Riviera and Eldo came out they were actual six seater cars when they had a bench in the front. The elimination of the transmission tunnel made the middle seats in front and back very comfortable. My dad had a ‘67 El Dorado and I can remember how mind blowing it was to have that flat floor board.
The '67 Cadillac Eldorado was a beautiful car. I kinda wish he had done some coverage of them as well. Another "Milestone" car as well.
I saw a 1966 on the street about 2 weeks ago, it looked awesome!
Definitely a great
My parents had a new 1966 Toronado. A few months after they purchased it, I used it to take my driving test as a kid. I passed. LOL
Two years later, my father traded in the 1966 Toro for a 1968 Toro. I preferred the 1966. But I didn't get a vote.
Taking a driving test in a brand new toronado had to make you the king of cool, awesome story
The iconic GMC motorhomes used this drivetrain, and it's noted for it's reliability in them. It's way over-engineered which IMHO is a very good thing.
Facts!
"Introduced in 1966 with a shape vaguely reminiscent of a purportedly female Soviet discus hurler, the Olds Toronado never made much of a sales mark until it's image was changed from muscle to svelte in 1971."
To a comment that someone made about Oldsmobile not having a Big Block is incorrect. I was a Master Tech for a Buick Dealer and we sold GMC motor homes I was the Tech for them and trained by GM to work on them. And yes I'm old enough to know this. The 455 big block Olds V8 was replaced in 1977 with the 403 cu in (6.6 L) small block, which used a 4.351 in (110.5 mm) bore, the largest ever used in a small-block V8, with the Olds small-block standard deck and 3.385 in (86.0 mm) stroke.
Thank you for that input! The amount I learnt through the comments of these videos from people like yourselves is just great
One of GMs Masterpieces!!!❤
Some my not remember but the 455 and 403 were used in the front drive GMC Motor homes.
The Tornado was a beautiful car..well ahead of its time
my buddy had one in the 80s for a winter beater car,that car never got stuck
My dad owned a 1966 Old Toronado. It was an awesome car in every respect.
Agreed, super cool car and totally underrated!
Born 1960 I remember standing on the front seat whenever Mom or dad was driving, I loved it, AM radio playing Beatles songs cruising around town.
In 66' our family cars was a 62' Oldmobile Ninety Eight 4 door sedan. Oldsmobile was always my fathers car of choice. Its all he bought.
I would love to have a ‘66 or ‘67 Toronado as my daily driver. Such unique cars.
That would be one of the coolest daily drivers around!
As a former owner of a 1968 Toronado that I owned from 2002 to 2015, I can tell you that you will need a lot of resources to keep it running.
The '66 to most is better looking. The slight grill change in '67 ruined it a bit for many.
I have not had that experience.
As long as you have a short commute! 😂
y parents had a Revcon Motor Home, front wheel drive, Toronado drivetrain in the mid 79s. They'd spend winters traveling from Michigan to Mazatlan towing a Boston Whaler for fishing. Great RV.
1966 and 67 Oldsmobile, Toronado, and Buick Riviera, or possibly two of the finest cars to ever roll out of any American car company ever
Spotted at 8:57, the L, M and B are missing from the name Oldsmobile on the car's bonnet. Sorry but I seem to notice these things. I still love it, though. Thaks for sharing and take care.
Good eye I did not catch that lol! Thanks for watching!
The original Tornado was absolutely gorgeous. The lines were simple and perfectly balanced. Changing it was like putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. The same thing happened to the original Thunderbird which got worser and worser with time.
For me , it's the most beautiful car ever made ❤❤❤
It is a beauty!
I have , it's stunning.
Many people think so.
I had a ´67 Maroon with matching interior and black vinyl top from 2004-2007. Trouble-free silent cruising !. It was completely original and a joy to drive. I only had to replace the rear mufflers and the carb. Got hold of a NOS Rochester exactly as the original. Bolted it on with no adjustments, and it fired up first time. To me the ´67 is the one to have. The ´66 and ´67 are very similar, but the ´67 just looks a tad better with the grill and taillights.
- 10 years later I bought a 1979 Chrysler LeBaron with a 318 and electronic ignition. It never gave me anything but trouble !
Excellent video. I really enjoyed the video and the footage and information shared. I own the last Toronado a 1992 model. It has influences from this Toronado. Thank you so much.
Did they fix the torque steer problem? Power steering helped cover it up. When I drove one I could feel the hit though. The guy that owned it absolutely loved it and didn’t care.
I grew up with two of these, both in dark turquoise metallic, a 1967 Toronado AND a 1966 one as well... Totally reliable, well built, only problem them being a gas hog.
What a beautiful car. damn
I think they did the same to the Buick Riviera. I can't remember which year it was, but there was one version that looked notably better than all others. I saw it at a motor show as a small boy, and it looked gorgeous. No other ones had that same graceful appearance.
I've never noticed before, it cannot be unseen now.
The comment about the TransAm-esk tail lights.
Haha i know right I was like these look like something i have seen before
The '66 Toro was absolutely GORGEOUS.
Unfortunately, the "improvements" from '67 on really ruined the design.
But what a design that 1966 car was!
I agree. The mechanics improved with time, but the '66 was the most beautiful. When I saw my first Toronado, I was smitten.
I remember walking home from grade school when the son of the fire chief "Joe", rolled up and stopped at the crosswalk is his fathers new Toranado he smiled at me and and smoked the front tires through first and second gears. Needless to say, as a 10 year old I was impressed!
Wow that is awesome, seeing a V8 smoke the FRONT tires is something few people will ever see
Love it!!!! Speaking of covairs and Toros, There was a kid in Bakersfield whose family ran a junk yard. He had a corvair with a Toro engine and transaxle, and a snorkle coming out the roof!!! Hell YAAAA!!! I only saw it from afar. Much later sombody did about the same thing with a transaxle like that and a Grand National V-6 in a porsche 912.
Great video and Great voiceover and I really appreciate it!
I just turned 18 and decided that instead of buying a new car I bought a 66 Toronado and towed it home. I’m excited for the journey ahead
One of those very rare moments when Form & Function converged to create a iconic vehicle. A truly aesthetically beautiful & unique moment for Oldsmobile/GM ! #Toronado68 #OldsmobileToronado #LuxuryMeetsMuscle
I saw what I believe was a 68 Olds Tornado cruising down the streets of downtown Detroit just the other day. This was possibly Oldsmobile's most classic design and engineering besides the late 60's and early 70's 442.
Time to write a kickass song about it !
That Pike’s Peak video clip was as interesting as it was hilarious!
A great design & forward drive was totaly new fot its time.
True, the 66 was a real show stopper, a styling exercise brought to market, much like the Viper or my much loved Ducati MH900e that sits in my den cause it's a bear to ride but my dad had a 1977 Tornado that was really a superb driving luxury coupe...and must say always got compliments back in the day. Thank you for your terrific video.
The Olds Tornado and the Buick Riviera engines were mounted facing the front of the car, not sideways like the front wheel drive cars of the past many years and they did not have a hump going through the passenger area for the transmission and drive shaft..
The Olds Tornado and the Buick Riviera engines were mounted facing the front of the car, not sideways like the front wheel drive cars of the past many years and they did not have a hump going through the passenger area for the transmission and drive shaft. I knew a guy that had a 1966 Olds Tornado back in 1972 or 73' and he still had the last time I saw him in 2008 and it look just like it did in 1972. Beautiful car with a gold color.
Drive train oriented like the Toyota Tercel.
That first generation was so cool, especially compared to what came after. The early '70's saw an industry-wide bloating of car bodies just when the engines were being choked down with emissions equipment.
Has hecho un gran trabajo. Gracias.
I have also wanted to get a 67 Toronado. They design and curb appeal was way ahead of their time. Great performer too. Love classic cars. Have many. Great vid ! Love that red one @1:59 Would love to see one that nice for sale. Hardly ever see any for sale, well nice ones anyway. Merry Christmas
That's why I made sure it was in my 1:18 diecast collection.
The curb weight of the Tornado for the 1966-67 model years was 4,311 lbs. It could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in as little as 7.5 seconds and it's top speed hovered around the 135-mph mark.
Consumer Reports was horrified by that performance.
Wouldn’t it have massive torque-steer?
They don't. I have a 66'. @@mickvonbornemann3824
"While the W-34 optioned Toronado was an impressive vehicle both in terms of its capability and its innovative drivetrain, its appeal to gearheads was overshadowed by drivers who were looking for a big, luxurious cruiser."
@@mickvonbornemann3824Great point. However it has almost none, if any at all.
Appreciate the breakdown of all the front end changes over the years. Never even knew about some of them and I'm reasonably familiar with that car. My pops worked for a large group of dealerships in the 90s and worked on a 67 quite often. The super rich owner's wife had ine in immaculate condition. Nice little old lady, could have driven any car in the world with their money, but she just loved ger Toranado.
Been subscribed for while now and your attention to detail and videos get better all the time. Great job, man. Keep it up
Great stuff! 👍
66 model is P E R F E C T I O N !
A great narrative description of a great American car... a rolling concept car with few compromises.
Great memories, my parents had '66/'69 Toronados ('66 was exactly like the featured Red one), got my first drivers license in the '69, they went to Eldorado in '70
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You never cease to disappoint with the cool and interesting cars!
The 1970 model, it looked like it was competing with the El Derado.
Nice looking car
Informative; thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
As I recall, it wasn't just a chain to convey power from engine to transmission. It was a nylon belt. Olds did a publicity photo showing a car hanging from a crane by one of the belts, to demonstrate its strength. My father was a GM engineer, and I recall driving the first Toronado when I was around 20 years old. The front torque was indeed able to spin stock tires on dry asphalt, although it could happen without you knowing, because the car had such great sound insulation. It was a unique and beautiful beast.
A beautiful car.
My boss had one of these right before he passed. What a thing to drive.
wow, the early models were fantastic looking, way before their time style wise.
Agreed, very lovely design on these and still a looker today!
Those mid 60s Tornado and Buick Rivieras were absolutely beautiful. I watch every RUclips about either of them that land in my queue. Amazing how GM went from a plethora of beautiful cars in the 60s to such ugly crap in the 70s.
The got ugly in the late 70s because the US govt. forced them to downsize to meet Govt mandates from the fake gas crisis in the early 70s.
But the 1968-69 Rivieras were the worst-looking; the 1970 version was more conventional and it inherited the basic front fascia from the 1968-69 Skylarks.
As are the Eldorados
Ford too. The Maverick, Grenada, and Taurus were butt-ugly compared to Fords 60s models.
@@billolsen4360 The 1971-78 Eldorados were the lowest point for styling that awkwardly tried to recreate the original Series 62 Eldorado shape of 1953 with a modernized twist. Ugliest of the Rivieras were those from 1974-76. Of the 1971-78 generation the Toronado looked best in 1971-72. The next 6 years saw changes that were ornamental for the wrong reasons. For 1979 the Toronado got back its lower body from 1966-67 model years between the axles and the front and rear clips from the previous years got trimmed down. The overall shape of 1979 got rounded off for 1988. When the Toronado was phased out for 1993, its original shape from 1966-67 was revised, modernized and it was transferred over to Buick and relaunched in mid-1994 as the Riviera.
Has anyone else pointed out the little mistake in the start of the video? The Corvair wasn't mid engine. It was rear engine, like the VW Beatle.
You are correct I did misspeak, which is funny cause i did a Yenko Corvair video before so I definitely know that lol
When I was 15 in '75, our renter had a nice, gold '66 Toranado for sale for $600. IKR!!
I've often wished I had bought it for my 1st car, but I Loved my '69 Caprice Classic I got instead, with 300 hp 350, which I swapped into a '67 Chevy 2, that was Quick!
But the bench seats in the boat woulda been nice on dates!!
The difference in engine displacement, 75 cubic inches or 1.2 liters, is as big as some "mainstream" cars today. BTW the '70 Caprice was not bad on a date. I remember her well.
Best Toronados: 1968, 69, 70 with the 400 HP W-34 455.
My brothers first wife drove a ‘66. That was such a beautiful car.
66 tornado was always my dream car.
It is a great looking car - that first year Toronado is heavenly
The second genertion Olds Tornado started the 3rd eye brake lamp setup system, which became mandated in all vehicles around 1986.My brother had a 1st gen Toro,he jumped the train tracks with it and broke the t bar.We then put engine in a boat.