New for the 1966 model year, the front-wheel-drive Oldsmobile Toronado was a personal luxury car that lifted some elements from its E-platform cousin, the Buick Riviera. The following year would see another E-platform model join the Toronado and Riviera, the Cadillac Eldorado.
The first American made front-wheel-drive car since the 1937 Cord, the Oldsmobile Toronado featured flat floors (no need for a transmission tunnel in a front-drive car) that allowed for considerably more foot room than traditional rear-wheel-drive cars. The Toronado’s doors had inner door handles for both front and rear-seat passengers, allowing those sitting in back to exit the car without having to trouble those sitting in the front. Its sleek profile made for a slightly lower overall height than a Chevy Corvair’s.
The Oldsmobile Toronado was designed as a personal luxury coupe, and as such it had a long list of standard and available options, including power windows, power seat, headrests, cruise control, remote-control outside mirrors, AM-FM Stereo, power antenna, tilt-telescoping steering column, and air conditioning.
A dash unique to the Oldsmobile Toronado had a centrally located speedometer with a vertically rolling barrel, not unlike the barrel of a slot machine. To the left of the steering column were the climate controls, as were the rocker switch-activated wiper/washer controls. Gauges were arrayed on both sides of the wheel.
Powering the Oldsmobile Toronado was a 425 cubic-inch Super Rocket V8 making 385 horsepower and a considerable 475 pound-feet of torque. All this power was moved to the front wheels by a heavy-duty Turbo Hydramatic three-speed automatic transmission. Special tires were developed by Firestone specifically for the car, and were called Toronado Front Drive, or TFDs. The TFDs had sidewalls that were stiffer than those of other tires, had a unique tread pattern and a thin whitewall. The significant power and specialized tires combined to launch the Toronado from a dead stop to 60 miles per hour in just 7.5 seconds. The Toronado was voted Motor Trend magazine’s Car of the Year for 1966.
Our feature 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado is finished in Silver Mist over a black bench seat interior. The odometer shows just 13,882 miles, but there is no word on if it is the car’s first trip around the odometer, although the car does look to be in quite decent nick. It is powered by the aforementioned 385-horsepower 425 V8, backed by the three-speed Turbo Hydramatic trans. Spent gasses are exhaled through a true dual exhaust. The Toronado is equipped with power steering and brakes, factory air conditioning, and AM radio, clock, and tinted glass.
This sleek silver 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado will cross the Mecum Auctions block at their Kissimmee, Florida event taking place January 4th through the 15th.
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Comments
I have always loved this design. I feel it’s not as appreciated as it should be. My own opinion is that it ranks with the 1961 Lincoln as a watershed, especially if you picture what most cars looked like at the time.
I’ve always thought the Continental was a bit overrated, its clean, but a little plain and slab sided and the tires look too small on the earlier cars.
^^^ yeah, this design was and is still good, see what chinese are doing, the wuling city that you would love more and more this design
My uncle had a 66 Toro great car. way ahead of its time. Going to get big $$$$ at auction. I always liked Old’s they should still be around.
Great car. Powerful but the drum brakes were substandard. Tornado got disc brakes the next year.
The Toronado was a fantastic winner for GM in the latter days of GM’s heyday. The wheel well sculptured flats around the perimeter of the openings originated on the Toro and have become the standard in automotive and truck exterior industrial design. Everybody has adopted this.
“The Toronado’s doors had inner door handles for both front and rear-seat passengers, allowing those sitting in back to exit the car without having to trouble those sitting in the front”.-
This was only on the Tornados with Deluxe trim, this car is a base Toronado and doesn’t have the rear door handles.
Corection first front drive car was cord called L29 made in 1929 to 1931 design taken from the Miller race car
The first sentence of the second paragraph: “The first American made front-wheel-drive car since the 1937 Cord…”
cord built a front drive in 1929-30-31 called the L29 then built the model 810,812 in 1936 and 1937