Front Wheel Survivor: 1968 Oldsmobile Toronado
The Olds Toronado, historically speaking, is cool because it was the first U.S. mass produced front wheel drive vehicle since 1937. My personal favorite year of the Toronado is the ’68 due to the interesting looking grill. Located in Lakeland, Florida, with only 46,000 miles on it, this near pristine car is up for sale on here on eBay.
This Toronado still has the original, standard, numbers matching 455 motor 375 HP V8 engine with an Automatic Transmission. It supposedly runs and drives great, and look at how clean it is under the hood, I certainly don’t doubt it! I appreciate that the seller included so many pictures, when you’re buying something like this online it’s easy to be fooled with only a few pictures.
The interior looks to be in excellent condition and it appears to be all original. I wish they still made interiors like this today! This car comes with factory air. Definitely nice to have in the summer.
According to Hagerty, the average value of this car is $15,400. With the bidding currently at $3,000, it seems like this one might end up being a good deal. But with 6 days left in the bidding, that could change though. Would you bid on this Toronado?
Comments
Looks like it got the Barn Finds bump. Bidding is up to $13,800. Bidding ends in a little over 8 hours.
What a beautiful car. I used to dream of owning one of these when I was a kid…still do.
Portable fuel tanker, not included (5.8 city/ 9.7 highway) Nice car, tho.
I get a lot better than that with mine and it’s 50 years old …..
Better is relative … about 10 + and low teens in the highway..
Article says 6 days left on auction when it should have said 8 HOURS. How long has this article been sitting in someone’s inbox?
I would like to amend my previous comment to take some of the edge off; it appears to be Rose Greenan’s first article with Barn Finds and it has been seamlessly integrated. Well done!
My guess is that one of the perks of being a BF member is that you get to see/comment on the car postings before they are posted to the public.
The article could have been written almost 6 days ago.
Sorry for the difference in time there. We are adding some new writers and it has taken a while to get everything published.
So where are the headlights on this thing? Does the grill pull back? Seems like the headlights would be kind kind of close together if so.
The headlights are behind the grille, closer together than most cars but not unreasonably so. Makes the car stand out more if anything.
For some reason, the front of the ’68 Toronado always reminded me of a more modern, better visually balanced Tatra 603.
My preference was for the ’66 and ’67 models, but as they said, 50 years ago, “Different strokes for different folks…”
Great cars, no matter your preference.
The grilles over the headlights had a honeycomb pattern. I used to beg my sister to turn the lights on in the garage so I could watch the designs on the garage wall as they went up. I was easily entertained. LOL
I believe it was solid over the lights.
The honeycomb pattern was for the grille area for cooling.
You can see in this video there is a solid piece over the lights themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1fkKf82YWg
where can i get front wheel bearings for a 68 tornado ,,,my car has been out of commission for 4 yrs now ,,,
My family had one of these when I was in Jr High School. My older brother would lock the parking brake (on the rear wheels) and give it the gas, spinning the fronts in clouds of smoke, making the barrel style speedometer spin around to 80 mph! I assure you my Dad never knew.
My father owned one of these. It was silver with a white interior. The power was enormous. It was fun to drive, the mileage was awful, and there was no central hump — an oddity at the time.
I personally like the 1966 style. My “Doubonet” Toronado took me 50 years to get the right one.
My uncle had a ’68. I remember clearly getting into the front passenger side, and noticing right away the lack of transmission hump. More or less a flat floor.
That’s right. The car sleeps 4 comfortably.
Friend of mine had one. It hauled butt. Big time torque. Swatted down, little if any tire spin and left a lot of so-called muscle cars in the dust.
I had a 67, and kept it for over 10 years, It was a wonderful car, and I used to get 21 miles per imperial gallon, (approximately 17 mpg US). Operating the air conditioning cost one mpg.
A very reliable, pleasant car to drive. It was a dream to drive it on the highway.
In 1970, my wife was about to have our first child, and feeling “mature” I decided to trade my 64 Corvette coupe for the Toronado.
After signing the papers, I had about 40 miles to drive home. I was driving on a nice country road with no traffic, and when I looked down at the speedometer, I was horrified to see that it was indicating over 90 mph! I was really pee’d off, and had just about decided to turn the car around and have the speedometer fixed, when I looked at the rate at which the telephone poles were whipping by. I quickly realized that the problem was that I was used to driving my Corvette my the sounds it made, and the Toronado handled so well, that in terms of noise level and handling, driving the Toronado at 100 mph was the equivalent of driving the Corvette at 60.
I got used to the car very quickly and put over 100,000 miles of trouble free driving on the odometer. I would probably still have the car, but I got an offer I couldn’t refuse.
PS. My wife never forgave me for trading off the Corvette. Even after 50 years, she still gives me a difficult time for having sold the Corvette.
Bob
I was over seas in the 😆U.S Army
When these came out. A friend said his parents ( who owned a feed store in upper New York) bought one new. His name was Kenneth Barry, but not the actor. I’ve always liked these cars from looking at them never owning or even riding in one. Gas mileage wasn’t a big concern in 66, as gas was only about .20c per gallon or less at that time. This one looks really nice. I see them come up on Craig’s list fairly often. An Eldo and Toro were offered together on Tyler/East Texas craigslist last year for a grand for both, but neither one was as clean looking as this one.
I loved my ’68 but replacing cv joints was very costly.
Oh, my! I cannot agree with your choice of the 68 grille as your favorite. It is indeed ‘interesting,’ but only in the lipstick on a pig way. Its design is so totally inappropriate to t he rest of the car that it looks like a Soviet committee job! Bulbously rounded in every dimension, it defiles the razor-edged form of the original and the remains of that throughout the unchanged main body. Bleccch.
Ended at 16.6 k and reserve not met
We had a new one in 68. Great stories with the car. I have had a 66 since 1980
Wish i had some time to write more.
There’s a super-clean 1966 with only 102,000 miles for sale on CL in Tustin, CA
https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/d/1966-olds-toronado-one-owner/6627937625.html
Would only buy from this seller if I was able to inspect the car in person. Photos are “enhanced.”
Sold
No, not according to eBay. High bid was $16,600.00, but the “Reserve not Met” issue was still there.
So, the auction should have ended without a sale transaction.
It is interesting how the design changed from ’66/’67 which was aerodynamic, to the flat front end that had to have cost MPG.
I also cannot agree that this is a better looking car than the ’66/’67 style.
Looks like the engine was resprayed??? Something I see too often. Bolts, hoses, wires, brackets are often oversprayed as they take nothing apart to do the job correctly. Here it is not as bad, but what is hiding underneath?
To do this correctly, I would have to take the engine out and apart and do that nicely…expensive (and worth it?).
Nice car (buy a left front blinker too), but maybe too shiny to be honest?
That nice looking car. I have one just like it yellow with a black top I would like sell it to someone that can repair it.