I’m pretty certain this is one of the few ’66 Toronado reviews we haven’t featured at CC yet. I’ll kill the suspense right now; its assessments don’t differ much from the conclusions others had about the model. Praise is heaped on the car’s innovative drivetrain and styling, but serious questions are raised on several areas that keep the car from being an accomplished machine. In sum, Oldsmobile’s ’66 Toronado was an innovative, yet compromised and somewhat confusing product. And as the market would eventually show, a technological tour de force with nowhere to go. Rather than a revolutionary new dawn, a dead branch on the automotive FWD evolution tree.
One can cut some slack to Oldsmobile’s confusing first entry into the Personal Luxury Car segment. In fairness, all of GM’s divisions had struggled to come up with an answer to Ford’s trendsetting Thunderbird. And by the mid-60s, even Ford knew the original Thunderbird-formula was getting old. Some scrambling was bound to take place before anyone figured out what the future of the PLC segment looked like.
Before I get too many rocks thrown my way (Hey, it happens!), I’ll be the first to raise my hand and admit that I love the looks of the ’66 Toronado. And I could gush over the car’s styling at length… but its main mission, to sell decently, wasn’t accomplished. As known, sales proved lackluster from the get-go, rapidly shrinking in the following years.
Thanks to hindsight, one can see the seeds of GM’s eventual downfall behind the model’s conception (Even if taking into account the flux into which PLCs were at the time). I’ll forgive Oldsmobile’s doubtful application of FWD in a large luxury vehicle. After all, the memory of the upscale FWD Cords from the ’30s was probably at play behind the division’s reasoning, and while FWD was making quick gains in European compacts, it was yet far from standard.
But mainly, the vehicle is the result of GM’s different departments pushing forth their projects, trying to find a way through the corporate maze. On one end, a talented research staff with new technology waiting to reach production. In this case, Olds’ toying with FWD tech since the late ’50s. On the other end, a killer styling department with cool-ass designs hoping to reach showrooms -in the case of the Toronado, a sporty car design meant for a smaller platform. Finally, a management structure that after giving in to pressure from market needs, moves forward with the groundbreaking proposals created by their talented staff. All without quite knowing what to do with them, and often compromising the final result through bewildering cost-cutting decisions.
Despite all the compromises and conflicting visions behind its birth, the resulting Toronado was a success in many areas. And in general, Car Life’s review of the model is quite complimentary, calling the Toronado “a big, bold fastback gran turismo automobile with an exceedingly strong engine…” Finding that the car’s large 385bhp, 425CID V-8 provided effortless and lazy cruising at 80mph.
Also, as the road test attests, the Toronado’s styling caused quite a commotion with bystanders. “Everywhere the car was taken during Car Life’s test period, everyone encountered expressed an opinion -positive or negative- or else asked a question. Everyone had something to say.”
A little girl called the car “Smooth.” While an older lady was confused by the car’s name (Tornado?). Finally, mechanically inclined individuals had more poignant queries, like a jackhammer operator:
“Is this one of those front-wheel-drive rigs?”
With FWD being a novelty, the vehicle’s handling characteristics get a good deal of coverage. “Does the Toronado handle differently? The answer must be a qualified yes and no.” Under normal freeway use, “the Toronado cannot be distinguished from that of a rear-wheel driven car of like weight and size.”
Those mechanically inclined bystanders had further questions, like an Electronics Engineer: “It understeers pretty badly I guess.”
“Yes, the Toronado understeers, but not badly… Hard into the corner, when it seems the Toronado’s massive front end will slew the outward arc of the bend, all that is required is a momentary letup on the accelerator pedal… Therefore, to avoid an untoward shunt into a barbed wire fence, the trick is to make the front wheels do an accurate job of leadership with judicious seesawing of the accelerator pedal. This requires practice.”
Befitting a PLC, the Toronado offered a smooth boulevard ride. For the most part. “At high speeds on straight expressways, the passenger compartment seems to float…” In rural roadways, the car’s front heavy weight resulted in a “suspension system… (that) works hard and somewhat ponderously in the attempt to soften the ride… Altogether, the ride offered by the Toronado is smooth -like Rocky Road ice cream, which has a few lumps here and there.”
Like all other period reviews, the Toronado’s brakes get much ire. “The engineering which resulted in the Toronado’s drive system should have extended to the car’s braking system.” The Toronado’s 4-wheel drum brakes were wholly insufficient for the car’s hefty 5400 lb., and suffered “alarmingly unacceptable fade…” An unintentional panic stop during CL’s road test resulted in a “…driver with trembling hands, icy perspiration, and a total lack of desire to drive the Toronado ever again…”
Further annoyances appear once the tech wonders of the platform are pushed aside. For an FWD vehicle, interior packaging was compromised; the hip room was deemed good, but a 6ft. 3in. CL staffer found the legroom disappointing. An especially unsatisfying trait, considering the car’s overall 211-in. length, and 119-in. wheelbase. The car’s fastback shape also meant limited headroom for rear-seat passengers.
CL’s Toronado also suffered from many quality woes, not befitting Olds’ tradition for higher workmanship; “Pillar and window moldings fitted well at some points and did not at others. The large, bin-like glovebox was sticky… Door hardware… set up sympathetic vibrations for a distressing buzz… Evidence of shoddy workmanship appeared suddenly when a piece fell off the Toronado onto a test driver’s foot.”
These, among other assembly issues; “… the sum total of these manufacture and production engineering deficiencies indicates that Oldsmobile has made up in the interior, trim and fittings the amounts of money lavished underhood, especially on the drive-train. The effort was apparently to keep the Toronado’s price down.”
We know the Toronado nameplate had a rather star-crossed career, with more misses than hits in its three-decade production run. As usual, GM slowly corrected the production shortcomings of the ’66 Toronado, adding optional discs for ’67, and improving assembly. All while taking the model towards a plusher Broughamier fate to gain on the market. The results – over time- were rather mixed.
Talking about quotes, two final ones appear near the review’s end that pretty much foretell the ’66 Toronado’s fate in the marketplace. First, a physicist who drove a Mercedes Benz 180 and bought a Ford wagon for his wife: “Who’d buy a car like that anyway?”
And finally, a college student: “When do you think Chevrolet will bring out the Mako Shark?”
Related CC reading:
The Great 28, Car#4: 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, The Almost A Riviera
Having owned 3 early series Toros imo they are great and underappreciated cars. The early brakes were insufficient, mine had optional discs which performed well, but it is a heavy car. Steering knuckle design was changed after a year or so from forged to cast and different configuration. The car lost gauges after the earlier models, incongruous in such an engineering-oriented car. It felt massive but was very capable at high speeds and in all weather. It’s rather uncertain identity – big sports car? sporty luxury car? grand tourer?- made for compromises, I preferred the earlier tauter versions. It was not a sales success, the ultimate sin at GM, but imo a ground breaking innovator, from the get go the UPP mechanical package was well conceived and it proved that fwd in a big heavy powerful car could work and work well. I’d like to have seen the smaller car as originally designed though.
Don’t know about 1966, but I found a ’67 options price list for the Toronado. You may have to scroll around, but disc brakes (option J52) were available for $78.99. I’m sure this was worth wild for such a heavy auto.
https://xr793.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/1967-Oldsmobile-SPECS-Booklet.pdf
Yes, but why weren’t they standard? Not doing so was malfeasance. And a GM DS.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/1967-cadillac-eldorado-vs-renault-r-10-an-unfair-comparison-thanks-to-a-gm-deadly-sin/
The optional front disc brakes were not available in 1966.
Mine were ’67 and ’69s. And yes absolutely discs should have been standard from the start, and better yet on all 4 wheels, a rather inexplicable oversight on a car that heavy and expensive. At least they didn’t suffer from GM’s typical bean counter undersized tires: the standard tire was a 8.85/15TFD, a special tire specifically made for the Toro by Firestone, the correct replacement today is P235/75/15. The originals had a very thin white strip farther out on the sidewall than was typical.
Too much money invested in the chain transaxle which left no money to continue the semi-frame up to the rear shackles to support those pathetic carriage rigid axles. Too bad cause the whole front end design and engineering is fascinating.
I had the honor of pulling out and reinstalling the transmission on a Toronado when I worked as a transmission R&R technician in Salinas, CA. It was an interesting contrast to the Turbohydromatics, C6 and C4 I worked on more frequently.
Dad owned one of these for a while, a mid-life crisis car. Gold with white vinyl bench seats, not very sporty. I hated the drum spedo. I dont recall the brakes being that bad, compared to contemporary American land yachts.
How did Riviera sales numbers compare that year? I suspect a lot more sold. The Riv was sleek, but mechanically dated, still sitting on the old cruciform frame that the regular Buick ditched for ’65.
I was 13 , my dad was the general manager at the Oldsmobile dealership in Long Beach California , he was the first at the dealership to have a 66 as a demonstrator. When he brought it home that car was amazing. He had Toronados from 66- about 75 . He got me and my best friend matching one for use at prom. Great memories
PS ; my mom had 442s all those years as a demo.
This is an interesting review in that they were honest about a lot of the deficiencies, other magazines would completely gloss over most of the problems. Back in 1969 I was in the eighth grade, and I spent my allowance to buy the latest copy of Road Test magazine. This was a great issue jam packed with three road tests: The Mercedes Benz 6.3 sedan, the Olds Toronado, and the Buick Riviera. It was a convenient way to compare the two platform mates. The testers found that the FWD set up provided for superior traction in slippery conditions, like the unusual rainstorm during their test. They also climbed a steep mud and leaf covered driveway to somebody’s house in the hills. The handling was reported to be good, once you got used to it, and compensated for the understeer. By then the Toro had gotten the front discs that it always needed. Overall they felt that it was like almost any other large American coupe, except for the improved wet weather traction. Styling-wise it had jumped the shark, at least in my eyes. The original bold looks had been watered down and I found it less attractive than the Riviera. The Riviera on the other hand, was a totally conventional PLC. It did have Buick AccuDrive, which was a specific suspension geometry that provided for more stability under some conditions. It was quiet, smooth, handsome, and a good way for a relatively affluent buyer to put down miles.
Of course both of these cars had their behinds handed to them by their corporate sibling the El Dorado! I don’t think FWD played into the equation. The styling and the mystique of this Cadillac made it one of the most desirable cars in America.
I read the review of the Mercedes last. It was just a dull four door sedan after all. It didn’t even have air conditioning! Then why did it have an OHC V8 that out powered the Detroit cars? Why did it have IRS which gave it superior handling and a good ride? Why did it have four wheel disc brakes? Why was that dull “more door” faster than the Buick and the Olds? Why was hot rodder Dean Moon so excited by the car? What had happened to my American heroes?
What I had read was the requiem of American automobile superiority as blind faith. Yes, the 6.3 was the UberBenz, (which I didn’t know at that time) but I looked at the rarely seen Mercedes models with a lot more respect, after that, unless they were a diesel of course!
Ya very true but that Benz cost, what, nearly 3 x the price of the Riv and Toro? Most buyers would not have cross-shopped those 2 with the 6.3 which were very exclusive and limited in supply. They would have been shocked (!) by maintaining that finicky air suspension.
I couldn’t resist, after seeing that very rare rear view of the ’66 in the test. This drawing by Henry Cure (anybody …?) which I flopped for comparison is found on the last page of Dan Post’s “The Classic Cord” (1952).
It nicely illustrates the accompanying quote: ‘A new owner was being followed by a friend who was seeing the [Cord] for the first time. Later he told the owner, “It didn’t look like an automobile. Somehow it looked like a beautiful thing that was born and just grew up on the highway.” ‘
That year’s Starfire had only 10 horsepower less and was lighter, despite having the full frame of which the Toronado didn’t.
Had any of the contemporary car magazines at that time drag raced both Toronado and Starfire stripdowns side by side, except for adding the Starfire test vehicle’s optional positraction, that should have debased the Toronado somewhat
Check out YouTube channel ‘Rare Classic Cars & Automotive History’ for his take on this historic automobile. He owns a ’66 and discusses this and interesting aspects of other model years in several videos found at the link below. He seems to be an avid and well informed collector of all makes and models from the 60’s and 70’s. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/@RareClassicCars/search?query=toronado
That guy Adam has one heck of a ’60s & ’70s full-size US car collection, many of them Malaise-mobiles. Evidently he used to work in finance for GM and is now CFO of Advance Auto or Auto Zone (?) or some such.
Most all the ones , of this era, I recall were blue. I do remember a white/black top, one I used to see in the “late 80’s.”.
I think it was a “68 model”. Side marker lights, no locking steering column.
Was in good shape for “twenty”.
I owned a Tropic Turquoise 1966 Tornado Deluxe. I’m no automotive engineer, but I loved this car. It was sleek, handled very well, and negotiated Michigan winters effortlessly. Driving home at 2am one Sunday morning from Lansing on I96, I decided to see what it could really do. I rotated the drum speedo completely around. All of a sudden, everything started to shake. Turns out it was me, not the Toro. A few miles later as I was slowing down, a Michigan State Policeman pulled me over for a “chat”. Wish I still had it.
My parents had a ’67 Toronado. I was 10, so never got to drive it. I remember it being very fast, compared to the ’64 Cutlas convertible we had before. My brother and I loved the flat floor in the back, I could sleep on the floor during road trips. I do remember how bad the brakes were, my mother complained about them a lot. It had an odd vibration at about 70, so they mostly drove it 80 on the interstate. Had our first set of radial tires, and people were always stopping us saying we had low tires. Ours had many of the options, but oddly, no power windows. I’ve always wanted to drive one, but have never had the opportunity.
Good review, but as was stated in one of the comments above, GM did a good job of making this big front driver feel not so very different from the big rear drive coupes and sedans of the day, so these days, if you want an old barber from the era, you are probably picking on style, and the Tornado had that in spades.
Surprised to hear they didn’t sell that well, I certainly remember seeing them around growing up. I mean not like a VW bug or Mustang that you saw everywhere, but certainly saw them around, maybe partly it was just that you noticed them more because the styling stood out. Although it was a pre-cursor to the more rounded shapes of the early 70s, which I didn’t care for much, the Tornado pulled it off well and was a very handsome car.