Forget Cadillac and Rolls-Royce for a second; one of the most important luxury vehicles ever made is the Oldsmobile Toronado. With its clever interior packaging and engine layout, it represented a huge leap and thrust Oldsmobile to the top of the personal luxury market.
If you’re a classic car collector, there’s literally nothing quite like the Toronado, both for cruising around and in terms of looks. It’s not easy to keep one of these on the road and in perfect working condition, which means collectors go crazy for them.
The first generation is the sweet spot, built between 1966 and 1970. The luxury car saw annual styling upgrades, and not all of them looked great. A 1966 model is the holy grail, but the 1967 Toronado is still generally worth about $30,000.
What makes the first-generation Toronado so special is the powertrain. The “unitized power package” is a lot like how we built modern cars and crossovers. Oldsmobile engineers combined a 425 cubic-inch (7-liter) Rocket V8 with a modified TH400 transmission and a planetary differential. All of them resided under the hood and powered the front wheels. The powertrain was also used in some cool motor homes.
About 380 horsepower from a gigantic V8, powering the front wheels. Sounds pretty strange, right? I’ve heard that Toronados are some of the most reliable vehicles from this era, but they can overheat, and those amazing headlights can develop gremlins.
This 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado has been sitting in a garage for 15 or 20 years. AMMO NYC says he loves fiding that lost gem, covered in an inch of dust and infested by mice. Boy, did he ever get his wish with this one!
The detailing job was so bad that the survivor Olds required help from two more detailing specialists Jason Rose (Rupes USA) and Kevin Brown (Buffdaddy) to be brought back to life. One of them interestingly pointed out that the paint on this thing is single-stage and contains lead, which makes the polishing process a bit more interesting and challenging. Wool pads are used to softly massage the paint back to its original color while also carefully removing microscopic surface rust deposits.
As with most “barn finds”, the personal story is part of the appeal. AMMO was contacted by the son of the car’s owner, who wanted to recapture his dad’s passion for this classic. At the same time, the son was getting married in a few months and this sleep retro mobile could fit right into the even, provided it didn’t smell of rodent droppings.
The mice really did a number on the exterior. Their little mouse paws can be seen all over the windshield, and a “mouse highway” on the front grille results in corrosion from their droppings. The professional detailers went the extra mile with this car, cleaning up the underside and removing rust with the steel wool.
The interior is just as challenging, not only due to the mice, but also mold and the sheer surface area of this car. It’s a lot of work, but this car is worth every hour of work. The owner of the Toronado is so happy how it’s turned out, over the moon with how the chrome was brought back. The car is now worthy of being part of his son’s wedding, and hopefully, that means it’s been secured for future generations.
