My grandfather bought two ‘70 Toronados back in the mid 80s, using all the parts to restore one of them. Living in Ohio, he planned to use it for winter driving duty. But once finished with the restoration, he couldn’t bring himself to expose it to the salty roads. That car was a beast.

The 66-70 Toronados have to be hands down the most beautiful auto designs of that decade! Even by the early 80s when I was finishing college. I wanted a used Toronado as my first post-university car. Never got it but even today think it was a beautifully designed and appointed car.

I was ten years old in 1966 when my neighbor bought one. I was totally enthralled with the design. It was the beginning of a lifetime of love for car design.

I was 12 years old in 1966 and crushed on the Toronado so hard from the magazine ads, that I made drawings and laid out my own ads in a notebook. And I can't help but think it played a roll in inspiring my eventual vocation as a commercial advertising photographer.

One of the best looking cars of it's day, reliable, powerful, comfortable, and bold.

I thought when this car was introduced that it was the most beautiful thing on the road. And it still looks good today. What a great machine.

I was 8 years old when the Toronado debuted. It was the most beautiful car I had ever seen. To this day, it and the '67 Eldorado are still my most favorite automotive designs. I still have my copy of the December 1965 Motor Trend, the Car of the Year issue that devoted many pages to the winner ...the 1966 Toronado. Unfortunately the cover has gone missing due to me frequently looking at the stories and pictures ...and dreaming 💓 My heart still races when I look at it today. Something that today's vehicles never do.

In 1966 my father was a salesman at Mossy Motors Oldsmobile in New Orleans. He drove home the first Toronado in New Orleans one night and let my brother and I both drive it. I was thirteen and my brother was twelve. I have never forgotten the experience. My father explained the front wheel drive to us and said it would never catch on. Boy was he wrong. Every time I see a Toronado I think back to that great night driving on Lovers Lane on Lake Ponchatrain. Thanks for the memories. Michael Jacobson

Was hoping you would mention as a sidebar that the Toronado drivetrain was so good it was used in the GMC motorhomes.

The Toronados were some of the most beautiful cars ever built.

I had an 80's Toronado. Loved it. It was made like a tank but very luxurious inside. I was in an accident where someone hit me and their whole front end crumpled. Not a scratch on my baby. It was great in the snow too. My hubby had one too. Loved that car!

The 1966 Toronado looks like a 90s concept car. Way ahead of their time

Love the Toronado. It was like something from the future when it came out and it aged well. The Buick Riviera of the same era was another good looking car built on the same platform.

Sure miss these cars! My parents had a 1966 and a 1970 Toronado. Very nice to drive in snow. Lots of power and quiet. Miss the revolving drum speedometer. When it was at 0 mph you could just see the back of the drum ended at 130 mph. I also later owned a 1986 Toronado with the 5.7L Diesel engine and also was front wheel driven. Got 30 mpg and the fuel sold for about $0.85 per gallon in 1991. Loved that car! Had 4 very bright sealed beam headlights. Went anywhere in snow. Could push other cars with front bumper if stuck in snow. Came with a Bose Quadra sonic sound system. Those were the days!

What a beautiful automobile !

Ahh, the days when General Motors had substance! The early model Toronados will always look good.

There are very few automobiles as beautiful as these. The Cord was also so distinctively beautiful.

The dream child of John Beltz chief engineer of Olds at the time, the father of the 442 RIP

The look of the Toronado and the 1969 Buick Riviera are my favorites.

Also...the Unser brothers were very involved in running the Toronado at Pikes Peak in the 60s. However it was Nick Sanborn who actually won his class with it in 1967. The front wheel drive helped a lot but the weight of the car impacted it's performance, especially as they got closer to the top of the climb and the thinner air.

In 1989, the Trofeo toronado had a touch screen control system(that needed refinement) inflatable 6 pocket bucket seats and many other innovationd. 1995 Aurora was also a piece of art.

I loved these. My flat mate in college in the mid 80s, had one of these his Grandma had given him. It had this cool cylindrical speedometer. Looked great, and was fun to drive. I wonder why these arent spoken of more often by those who love Muscle Car era cars.

I've met people who call it ugly! Personally, I think it's a great looking car.

Such a beautiful, beautiful car. Such a shame that it got discontinued so early. I was hoping they would mention the reason as to why it got discontinued. An all time classic indeed.

This set up and engine was so good, they used it in their GMC Class A motor home of the 70s.

I had a 69 with a 455 V8 and 4 bbl carb. It was a beast. I was only 18. It was the best car I've ever owned. So many good memories in that car. I went from owning a Fiat 850 Spider to this monster !

I'VE REBUILT OVER 10,000 IN MY LIFETIME AND HAVE SEEN QUITE A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT TYPES AND I'VE NEVER HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO REBUILD ONE OF THESE. IN OTHER WORDS THIS WAS A VERY STRONG TRANSMISSION.

I miss these days so much! Car's looked so good and different from brand to brand. After the 60's and 70's everything began to look the same.

Such a beautiful car, and so ahead of its time. As a boy I remember seeing them on the road and I was impressed by them.

A brand and a model that will never be forgotten because of its innovating ideas and design way ahead of its time of existence!

Great job! IMO that first year ‘66 is the most distinctive of all the ones that followed. The front end being one of my favorite of any car produced since! A nod to the ‘67 Eldo with the hidden headlights as runner up. They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore!

I was 11 in about '65 when dad came home all excited- hed been in in Olds engineering about 5 years before the Toro was started , and said "We're building a supercar!!!!"- was good times for him going to work- we never were able to get one out of Olds surplus tho, they were in high demand (we got some sweet cars out of surplus, one was a '68 Ramrod, one was a 61 Cutlass with the aluminum V6)-and the 64 2 door midnight blue Cutlass 350 2 on the floor -unbelievable quality back then -

My dad had a 66 and then a 68. One in light blue, one in dark blue. Always liked them. Had no idea those beasts were 4,600 pounds!

In 1966, at age 16, I went with my dad for a test drive of a new Toronado. It was bronze with a black interior. He bought it. It was the car that I drove in 1966 for the test drive to get my first driver's license. A great car. The only problem was that the front was so heavy, it kept blowing out the inadequate bias ply tires. I loved the way it looked, but thought that Oldsmobile ruined the Toronado's appearance with the changes they made in 1968.

Had 1969 W-34. That car was smooth and powerful!

Excellent video with some great facts. This is still my father's top favorite car that he ever owned. He had a black 1967 Toronado Deluxe black on black and still wishes he never sold it! This was and still is a very important car in automotive history that never seems to get the attention it deserves for some odd reason. And it is great how GM and Cadillac continued the same tradition in there modern day FWD V8 cars. My grandfather that was an foreign auto mechanic by trade, loved the new FWD Oldsmobile's and Cadillac's much more than any RWD car during that era. He said no other car with that much power handled any better, with the exception of the Chrysler products of the 50s/60s like his '57 Imperial. The auto makers made some great innovative automobiles back in the day and were far better than they are now!

Those things were WAY cooler than a Cadillac back in those years. Everybody just stopped and stared...

My dad had one ‘68 in the olive metallic! Everyone asked questions....

Thank you so much for the Cord 810/812 comparisons. I always felt the Toronado (especially the 1966) was an homage, and a proper one at that; to the classic Cords. As much as I love the conventional muscle cars, the Toronado is one of my favorite cars of all time; and possibly the best car of the late '60s. Thanks for wonderful content.

I think all Oldsmobile's of that era were wonderful cars. Always smooth and quite with a surprising amount of power. It's a shame Oldsmobile faded away into history.

I am so grateful that I had the chance to drive some of these great American cars in their heyday.

Im happy someone is covering these. They are such an underrated muscle car. The transmission is bulletproof and pretty much lossless to the wheels

My friend's Mom had a 68 Toronado. The interior was huge!! The leg room was amazing!! Dave named the car "The Belchfire 88" when he began occasionally driving it in 1973!! Great car!!!

I realize now just how cool my Dad was. He owned so many of these cutting edge cars when I was a kid-born 1965. Cars featured on this channel. He always seemed to trade cars every year or 1-1/2 years. Even into my teens & older teen years he owned great cars. The last year of the huge Lincoln Town car 1979 in powder puff blue was the car he kept the longest. It was the car I drove with learner’s permit and my driving test. Even had a 944 Porsche after I had my license. I took it much too often when he did not know. Lucky I never crashed it. T-Birds, LTD’s, Mercury Cougar, it helped that he bought my Mother new cars too probably every other year which helped to expose me to more nice cars. Dad had some money. Owned a tool & die factory with some automotive contracts. Me, I’ve never owned anything really cool other than a 66 Plymouth Barracuda

When it first came out I was in awe. Still looks great.

Those early Toronado's are just plain sexy.

*In 1966 my father bought a new Lincoln Mark III, which in its very first year, even outsold the elegant and massively popular personal luxury car, the Cadillac of of Cadillac's, the Cadillac Eldorado. When Pop had first seen the new Old's Toronado, in one of their TV ads, he said that he would buy one the very next model year, that is when Oldsmobile, "Got all the kinks out of it." The next model year he did indeed buy a brand spanking new kind of brownish-silverish earth tone 1967 Old's Toronado, with it's too cool rolling speedometer no less. In addition to it's custom ordered L-34 455-CI with it's vicious 400-HP, it had a beautiful leather interior covering it's sporty bucket seats to match the exterior color, and was she ever POWERFUL! Pop use to "kick her in the a**" on Illinois highway 20, blazing right past the Illinois State Police Dept. while cruising at a comfortable 100-115 MPH, she had even more, but he didn't push her, too much anyway. Thankfully, he never got even one ticket. The backseat was perfect for a kid or two to lay down and be lulled to sleep by the low rumble of her powerful Old's Rocket Engine, with Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass playing on her double-mono radio lol. Even mom loved that car and she borrowed it whenever Pop wasn't there to stop her from driving his "Baby". He begrudgingly sold it to me in 1980 when I was 20, buying a barely used, like-new '72 Toronado (it had just over 18,000 miles in 1980) from his best friend, for himself. And, although I took good care of her, by making sure she was serviced more than regularly, keeping her carefully detailed and waxed with with the finest carnauba wax, yes, even the modest, for that era, chrome bumpers, I did push it to its limits. Attaining 100-plus MPH was no problem for the now old Old's, she and her cool speedometer rolled effortlessly over the highway, her elderly bias-ply Michelin tires thumping over expansion joints, and was very comfortable on city roads as well. I never should have sold that awesome ole Oldsmobile.*

In 1966 I was 10. My friend’s neighbour had one. We all marvelled. Was shocked by an artist’s rendering of the soon to be introduced Pontiac Firebird, but this I could see live. Knew all the cars back then, living next to a major highway.

My friend's father had a 1966 Toronado in white. Sharp looking distinctive car. I liked the roller speedometer. Yes, i was told his father did have it up to 130 MPH. The car was FAST! On the other hand I knew a great mechanic in Connecticut. He worked on all makes and models at his shop . He even worked on 18 wheelers. Two cars he would not work on, The Corvair and you guessed it, the Toronado. I think he didn't want to spend the time on them. You know, he had to make money.

Had one back in "the day"!!! ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!

510 ft lbs and no torque steer. Why can’t modern car companies figure this out with less than half that amount of torque?

Oh yeah...The 66 Toronado was jaw dropping when it came out. We bought one used and it was a fantastic car!!

i own the 69 it really makes me smile i had a 65 442 w a bench seat and that 425 it was a great car as well

Early 1970's I stopped at an intersection on Hilltop Drive in Redding California. I had a 68 GTO. Across from me in the opposite direction sat an Olds Toronado CHP . Suddenly the lights came on and smoke from the now boiling front wheels rolled out of the wells as this thing launched. It was an awesome sight and the first time I had recognized the Toronado as a hot car in CHP colors.

One of the most stylish cars of all time.

My Dad had a 70 and he let me take it on a road trip when I was 17 I think. I was very impressed with the power and handling of that car. it was a very memorable driving experience. I remember thinking the car was much better than the glitzy dash jewelry.

Such a cool car with features like no other cars. I especially liked the rolling speedometer.

My friend owned a '79 Toronado. It rode and drove like a dream !

Awesome comparison with the Cord, headlights and fender archers.

When I was a teenager, I hired myself out to local farmers (in PA) as a laborer in the summer primarily baling hay. One of the farmers was a gentleman farmer whose primary job was as a school teacher. He had a green Toronado. He used to pick me up and drop me off in that car. And I remember being impressed with the acceleration because it seemed like a big, heavy, quiet luxury car. It would get up and go though. It had a really long hood and was very comfortable. I liked the car.

Thanks for the video!!. My parents had a 66' Tornado, white, with white bucket seats and black carpet. We were just kids at the time, and we called it our rocket ship!!. Took alot of vacations in that car, never broke down.

A remarkable car! I remember in 1966 when it first came out, I thought I had never seen a more beautiful automobile. And I still think that the original had the cleanest lines, particularly the front grill and back.

As much as I hate fwd, the toronado and riv were such innovative and futuristic cars, they amaze me whenever I run into one.

One of those designs that was 'just right'. Elegant, ageless and way ahead of its time.

You can launch F-4 Phantoms off that hood.

Kaiser-Frazer-Graham-Paige experimented with FWD when developing the Kaiser for 1947, but the complexity and cost of development were beyond even Henry J's resources. The production Kaiser automobile was plug-ordinary in engineering, but along with the redesigned Studebakers, they were among the most advanced style designs of the period.

Maybe my favorite full size GM car of the era. I love both the Olds and Caddy versions. Styling is dead on. What a car .

My parents owned a 1966 Toronado. It was a beautiful car and as A teenager I was amazed by it. My parents though had another impression. It got 8 miles per gallon, and tore up the front bias ply or glass wrapped tires every 5K miles-. It needed the European Michelin radial tires unavailable at that time in that size huge tire..

I was 14 when this came out. I was very impressed and wanted one badly someday. I never got one, but I still love it.

Had a 1966 and 1968.Great stuff !! Had 4 in our driveway at one time.

Thanks, OCM. One of my fondest childhood memories was building that AMT model. I wish I kept all those models from the 60's. Creative juices were flowing in those days.

Technically innovative cars like this are why I so sincerely miss Oldsmobile... in addition to the really nice baby blue 1976 Oldsmobile Delta 88 that my grandmother had when I was a kid...

WOW, what an overlooked GEM of an automobile !

I saw one of these for the first time in the early 80’s when I was kid. It boggled my mind. My Dad was a car guy so he loved telling me about cars that fascinated me. Good video 👍🏻

My parents bought a 1967 Toronado new when I was 11 years old , I remember thinking about how cool of a car it was.

I was raised in Oldsmobiles. My parents drove a 1970 Cutlass Supreme when I was born. Loved hearing the Olds specific timing sound when those cars would go by.

I'm surprised that this drivetrain wasn't more popular. I figured that Ford would want to get on board. Getting the tunnel out of the interior seems like a huge selling point for these luxury cars.

My Grandpa bought a '69 about 1980, and was the first car to really get me interested in automotive at age 9. What a gorgeous machine! I still have photos of it; sadly after he t-boned a full sized Ford van. 😢 Interesting photos though for anyone interested. Would post them here if possible. Thanks for the fine review! Love your channel!

The basic design survived almost 20 years. I believe the later models even had an overdrive transmission. You forgot to mention that the engine/transaxle design was so strong and durable that GMC truck adapted air suspension and based their futuristic motorhome chassis on it.

I so remember our family having one of these around 1968 when I was 4-Gorgeous Car!

I really enjoy the look of the 1966-1967 Toranado as it is extremely masculine, future-oriented, sporty, and luxurious from the outside and yet still manages to produce serious performance and exciting drivability simultaneously. I wonder just how reliable they turned out to be?

I forgot how beautiful of a car the Toronado was

Fun Fact: Firestone designed an 8.85" x 15" tire especially for the Toronado called the TFD (Toronado-Front-Drive) tire. It had a stiffer sidewall than normal, and the tread and stylishly thin white pin-stripe were also unique - wiki

I had a 70 with a rolling speedometer and a 72 both light green. I loved those cars. In a big snowstorm, I was leading the snow plow.

Great video man. Love what you're doing here. No one is covering car history like you are. I really wish some cable company or Netflix would pick up your work. These are amazing

Love the Tornados. Such unique styling. My dad was a big Ford and Oldsmobile fan.

When I was in high school a friend of mine, who was in a wheel chair, had a Toronado that was fitted with hand controls. He drove that thing like he was Mario Andretti. It was a fast and beautiful car.

I’d never seen this model before. Absolutely beautiful. 👍👌

Wow! What an amazing vehicle...GM engineering at its finest! This car and the early 60s Buick Rivera are among my favorite classic car rides! You can keep the Camaros and Firebirds.

I like the 66 body style

My buddy had one in the early 90s, the speedo was really cool. Basically a 55gal drum on its side that spun to show you whatever speed you were at. There’s a brief picture of it in this video

There were some nice cars made in those days.

My grandfather was a part of GM and was friends with Olds himself. He wrote a small book called pioneer days and autographed it to my grandfather. My grandfather also was the VP of the Alfred P Sloan foundation

I was at Desert Valley Auto junkyard a couple yrs ago. They had 13 complete cars, 66-70. I was in awe. Prices were pretty high, but the owner was willing to make package/parts cars deals at that time. 3 were running/driving cars. If you want 1, or need parts for yours, bring your wallet, and start there!

As always, I have thoroughly enjoyed your video. You always have exceptional content and explain the car subject in a way that no one else does. Thank You!

Bought a new W-34 Toronado in late summer 1969, used it on our honeymoon in 1977. Toured the entire USA in 3 weeks. The perfect car for that trip.

Great video, as always. Thanks for posting!

Great styling, smooth ride and boy these beauties moved out with speed in a quick fast hurry when you hit that skinny pedal on the right!!! A friend had some of these classics,and man i was so stoked as a kid in the 70s to cruise and be seen up in the front seat while out tooling around! My aunt always had a new Eldorado every year since they were first introduced too,she really knew stylish quality for sure!!! Thanks again!!!

I must thank you as well. Your videos are very informative and entertaining. I was about 5 or 6 when the Toronado came out. I remember reading (or at least looking at the pictures) a car magazine while my Dad was driving his 1964 Lincoln Continental and seeing a picture of it. Even at six years old I thought it was a nice looking car. Alas, Pops did not buy one.

i remember as a kid in the late sixties our neighbor had a W34 version..in the summer he would smoke the front tires and in the winter he was always the first out of the driveway after it snowed..sigh..i miss those days :/