Another beautiful 1966 Toro, fully restored, on eBay

[dcalhoun38581]

Wow. They sure are asking a BIG price for this beauty.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Oldsmobile-Toro ... ars_Trucks

[Doc Hubler]

If it is restored as stated, and it has appeared in the shows as stated, then NO they are not asking a big price. It probably takes a solid $50K or more to completely restore a Toronado of this vintage. Paint and supplies alone will cost you about $3500-4000. THe chrome bill probably about $6-7K. So that's $10.000 for shiny. And you haven't even looked at mechanical issues or at finding the hard to find parts, or the costs of repairing the numerous vacuum components. I would say $35 is likely a fair price, to be confirmed on examination.

[dcalhoun38581]

I absolutely agree, but we all know that restoration costs ALWAYS far exceed the potential selling price afterward. Anyone can spent more money on a restoration than they can ever hope to regain by selling any old car afterward. Sad, but true.

BTW, that is EXACTLY why I sold my 1967' for only $4,000.

[Otto Skorzeny]

Looks like mine, same color. I'll be shocked if he gets $35K for it. I think $20K would be tops. I just don't think people are quite willing to pay that much for these cars yet.

I'll be happy to take that Pierce Arrow off his hands for $35k, though.

[Otto Skorzeny]

Just to clarify - It isn't that I don't think the car is worth $35K, I just don't think most people will agree. Very nice examples, I mean strong number 2 cars, can be had for a lot less.

[MikeB]

Hagerty evaluation shows a #1 show car at $40,000. a #2 car at around #30,000.
Barrett Jackson sold a restored 66 for $32,450. recently.
That is why I haven't followed some peoples advice to drive my car after restoration.
I don't want to be the one to lessen the value by $10,000. Mine looks cleaner and nicer than that one and has 92 thousand less miles.

Mike.

[Otto Skorzeny]

It will be interesting to see if this one sells.

What's the point of owning a car and not driving it? If you intend to sell it for the max that's one thing but doing all that work and just looking at it sitting in the garage makes no sense to me.

It's a car, drive it.

People think I'm nuts driving my '56 Cadillac in downtown Atlanta. It was my only car for 13 years until I bought the Toronado. If I owned a Duesenberg I'd be driving it to work everyday, too.

[MikeB]

Value wise, I'm always looking for cars to compare my car to. When I saw this Ebay one that was runner up at a concours event, I was very interested. I was a little concerned about the pictures of a magazine that were shown. Then I found out that they haven't had that event since 2010, so I wonder which year it was entered. Later they posted more pictures and the dirt, rust and oil on the engine makes me wonder how it was maintained.

I have owned many cars over the years, a very nice Ferrari 328, a couple of Lamborghini Diablo's, even a 1200 hp Viper. Now that I am retired, my daily driver is a v12 twin turbo Mercedes SL600. All my previous cars were driver quality.

My Toronado is my first car I would consider a #1 condition show car. I would like to admire my work for a while before it becomes a #2 car, so it will stay a trailer queen for now.

Doc, what are the plans for yours? I have been following your restoration.

Mike.

[Doc Hubler]

I will drive it, probably sparingly, but I live in a great area for cruising some distance without very much traffic around -- the 425 will get to stretch its legs! It has to be driven a little each month to keep things greased up. And there's a little time at the beginning where it needs a more use to check out and ensure everything is running correctly. I've never owned a trailer queen, so to speak. I've driven some the Hudsons and older Dodge cars on 1500 mile trips before. No problems (except dealing with some of the crazy drivers out there)!

I agree with all your statements on this thread, everyone (except the first to which I responded). These cars have slowly increased in value in the past 20 years, but not at a very high rate. I think the slow rate of economic recovery of the country intervened to some extent there. There are still huge sums of money being spent at auctions on the classic cars of the 30s and 40s that those of us in the older car generation love, but with exception of the same old Mustang, Camaro, and Chevelles of the 60s, the less common cars have just not really captured the interest (and the money) because everyone is drowning in a sea of those cars, and the average person really can't judge value and rarity based on the fact being that is all they see. On the other hand, a Toronado is more expensive, and much more difficult to restore than your average Mustang or Camaro. So even some from the younger generation that buy these cars don't usually have the wherewithal to do the job (heck, I barely have that myself). And car culture is changing with the younger generation of people. So the result is Toros are stuck to those of us in the 40-60 year old generation and the mindset is that they are newer cars, but old, and so they aren't worth much. But the Gen I cars are becoming quite a bit more difficult to find in decent shape not needing basically a total going over. Not surprising that the first 5 years produced on the order of 143,000 cars total.

So the remedy for this is to get our Toros out more to the various car shows, not just Oldsmobile shows! The more knowledge about the cars we impart as members, the greater their value will be. I realize that it takes a while for people to catch on to just how special, unique, and rare, yes rare) for 60s cars the Gen I Toros are. I've seen that happen with people that come around to the shop and periodically look at mine as it's been undergoing restoration. It starts to dawn on them when the see the drivetrain, suspension, and you tell them some of the specs. Just takes a while for it to sink in.

[janeg]

Very well said Doc! We go to shows and cruise nights as time allows and love to answer questions and hear stories about Toros people have had. We drive ours about 800 miles a year and if that is lessening its value - too bad. The fun more than makes up for it.