The incredible story of the Oldsmobile Toronado

When you think of a muscle car, surely one of those American coupes with gigantic engines burning the tires of the rear wheels comes to mind. But not all were like that. The Oldsmobile Toronado was an exception and this is its incredible story.

In 1966, the Rolling Stones triumphed with the song ‘Paint it Black’, while the Beatles released their album ‘Revoler’ and made their third and last tour in the United States.

That same year, the Oldsmobile brand, one of the pioneers in technological innovations in the automobile industry, presented a completely different car from what American society was used to: it was the Oldsmobile Toronado.

The incredible story of the Oldsmobile Toronado

It was different, because it was a muscle car, the typical American coupé equipped with powerful mechanics, but in this case, it used front and not rear wheel drive, as usual.

Front-wheel drive appeared in the United States in the 1930s, with the Cord 810 and 812, but that brand disappeared in 1937, among other reasons, due to the Great Depression. We had to wait until the 1960s to find this system, which was popular in Europe.

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The front-wheel drive offered an important advantage, with respect to the propulsion cars: lacking a central tunnel to house the propeller shaft and the differential, the floor was completely flat. In addition, it provided better traction on uneven surfaces.

During the development stage, Oldsmobile manufactured 38 prototypes that were subjected to more than two million kilometers of tests to ensure the reliability of all the new technologies that it equipped.

A gigantic coupe

Entering the aesthetic field, the peculiar design of the Toronado was the work of Bill Mitchell, of the General Motors department. The front reminded the rear of some vehicles of the 50s and the retractable headlights stood out.

It was a gigantic coupé, as was usual at the time in the United States: its dimensions were 5.36 meters long, 2.0 meters wide and 1.37 meters high, with a wheelbase of more than three meters. With these measurements, his high weight, 2,118 kilos, was not surprising.

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To move this mass, it was fitted with a massive 7.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 engine positioned longitudinally forward, water-cooled, distributed via an overhead camshaft, two valves per cylinder and fed by a Rochester carburetor. It produced 390 hp at 4,800 rpm and 644 Nm of maximum torque.

The engine was combined with a three-speed automatic gearbox that sent all that power to the front axle. A car with a V8 engine and front-wheel drive, something that could only be ‘made in the USA’.

The benefits were not bad, even in today’s eyes: it could go from 0 to 100 km/h in 8 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 209 km/h. However, it had a noticeable drawback: the braking system was made up of four 279 mm diameter drums, very scarce for a car of this power and weight.

As for the equipment, it was abundant: it had power steering, electric windows, servo-assisted brakes and retractable headlights.

Later renewals

The first generation of the Oldsmobile Toronado was maintained until 1971, with a great reception by the public and the specialized press. In fact, in 1966, it won Motor Trend magazine’s ‘Car of the Year’ award and took third place in the ‘European Car of the Year’ awards, behind the Renault 16 and the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.

In its first year on the market, the Toronado reached almost 41,000 units sold. In the following years, the company introduced some aesthetic changes, such as the replacement of the retractable headlights with conventional ones or the redesign of the front.

Over the years, successive generations appeared, until it ceased production in 1992. The brand ended up disappearing in 2004, but it left us as a legacy the most powerful front-wheel drive car in the world.