The defining aspect of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Toronado is the wrap-around rear window, a feature limited to the seemingly rare XS package. Let’s decide if this literal barn find can find a new owner at its asking price.
With its short-bed, standard cab layout, and added-oomph Magnum V8, yesterday’s 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 Indy 500 Official Truck offered about as much performance as Mopar could put in a truck at the time. That, and a clean presentation, offered compelling justification for the seller’s $10,000 asking price. Unfortunately for them, the combo just missed the mark, falling in a narrow 55 percent No Dice loss.
Whoever first said, “Go big or go home,” most certainly drove a car like today’s 1978 Oldsmobile Toronado XS. Olds cheekily called out the car’s size in this model’s badging, denoting the special roof edition as “XS” or excessive.
Olds introduced the second-generation Toro for the 1971 model year. This was a time when American cars got larger with every ensuing new edition, and the Toronado was no different in its second rodeo. The increase in wheelbase, weight, and overall size was apparently the smart move on Olds’ part since sales jumped by over 13 percent over the outgoing model. Considering the substantial size, it’s not surprising that GM was able to pack a lot of innovative features into the Toro redux over the course of its run.
The Toronado is probably best known for its unique FWD drivetrain, which packs a big block V8 next to a bosom buddy THM425 three-speed automatic transaxle connected via a post-torque converter chain drive. Other innovations tried on the model over the course of its seven-year run included redundant, high-mounted tail lamps, torsion bar front suspension, and the availability of early versions of airbag safety restraints and rear antilock brakes.
As denoted by that XS badge, this Toro has one additional innovative and exceedingly cool feature: a panoramic rear window that wraps all the way around from B-pillar to B-pillar and offers unobstructed sight lines for the driver. The glass was created using a hot-wire folding technique that GM was keeping on at the time. It was also used on the Chevy Caprice coupe of the era, only, in that case, to less dramatic effect.
As cool as all that may be, it apparently wasn’t compelling enough to keep this Toro from being packed away for years like a no-longer fashionable disco-era wardrobe. The ad calls this car a literal barn find as it was pulled from storage along with 100 other cars (!) in March of last year after 30 years of inactivity. The ad shows the car in its immediate post-barn condition — covered in dust and bird poop — and then after having been cleaned up. To say the transformation is phenomenal is an understatement.
The interior, in red with cloth pillow-topped upholstery, is also in amazing condition. The vinyl roof, urethane bumper snoods, and all the chrome also look to have survived the barn stay admirably.
According to the seller, the rejuvenation process involved draining and cleaning the fuel system, dripping Marvel Mystery Oil down each cylinder, and then firing the car up with new plugs, tires, and a battery. Now it’s claimed to start and run “very nice.”
That nicely running engine is a 185-horsepower Olds 403 CID V8. This was the last year of the big body style, as well as that engine. The next year, the Toronado adopted a new, smaller size, which also meant a smaller 350 CID engine. The new model would prove much more fuel efficient than this last-of-the-dinosaurs edition, which only gets about 11 mpg out of those dead dinos.
Unfortunately for us, the seller of this Toro chose FaceBook Marketplace to offer the car. As such, they omit certain important information, such as mileage and title status. Perhaps it doesn’t matter on a car that’s been out of the system for so long and isn’t going to be used for any significant driving duty. For a collector, though, someone like Adam in Michigan, this might be an intriguing opportunity. That is, if its $9,800 asking price is reflective of the car’s actual value and not just on a dollar-per-pound basis.
What’s your take on this long-dormant Toronado and that $9,800 asking? Does that seem like a deal, considering its uniqueness? Or would paying that much be a big mistake?
You decide!
Facebook Marketplace out of Spokane, Washington, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Joe S. for the hookup!
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