New 1966 Toronado owner

[rosscampbell]

I grew up in the back seat of a 1966 Toronado. My parents owned a 1966 Toronado Deluxe that was the family car... I learned to drive in it, and I rebuilt the engine in high school auto shop.

Recently, I found THIS CAR on ebay:
http://barnfinds.com/1966-oldsmobile-to ... nt-driver/
... and won!

So happy. Car's in good original shape, runs great, needs love, but NO RUST!

I wish I knew the vin# of our previous toronado... sadly, it didn't survive. It had a strong engine, but the usual rust problems as well as electrical problems.

My Toronado's VIN# is 396876M522664 . From what I understand, it's an original California car that was sold in Napa, and It was stored for the past 16 years.

just picking her up

toronado1.jpg (86.51 KiB) Viewed 10085 times

Taking dad out for a ride in my 1966 Toronado

toronado2.jpg (91.22 KiB) Viewed 10085 times

[Otto Skorzeny]

Looks pretty nice. I too have a '66.

Is that Autumn Mist, Autumn Rust or whatever they called it? What's that purple square on the side of it in the first photo?

[rosscampbell]

Is that Autumn Mist, Autumn Rust or whatever they called it? What's that purple square on the side of it in the first photo?

It's Autumn Bronze.

The purple square is a reflection of a blue toolbox in the door.

I'm still slowly deciding what to fix and restore and how I want the car to end up. Been a few years since I spent much time in the Toronado engine compartment. I have my matched touch-up paint. I have all the factory manuals. I have patience...

Here are the top things on my current list:

- primer/paint the few spots where there's exposed metal on the body. Looks like something heavy dropped on it in storage a few times.

- Engine runs hot. Seems to overheat if I let it idle for 20 minutes. Radiator is new, but not sure if the engine has been backflushed. I'm going to replace the thermostat, check the fan clutch, shroud, etc...

- headlights don't come up with vacuum. Again, I have the diagrams. Headlights can be pried up and locked in place and otherwise work. I'm hoping replacing the vacuum lines fixes it.

- interior is worn and needs some love. New headliner, carpet, and vinyl repairs. TWO things that I really wonder... (1) how do others restore the door panels where the weak pot metal wrap-around trim always breaks and leaves the panel poorly attached when slamming the huge door? (2) how do you restore the complex plastic pieces that get brittle and chalky? Paint? Cover with fabric? Improvise?

The car is pretty original and 'unmolested' right now, so I think I'll keep it that way. It's just a Sunday driver for me.

I do wish I had a right side-view mirror. My driver's side mirror is the basic non-remote one. The mirror was excessively loose, so I carefully banged near the socket with a chisel and succeeded in tightening it up enough, but I'd love to replace it with a factory-ish remote driver's side one, and get a matching passenger side mirror. Does anyone make a good replica for the 66 Olds remote mirrors? I sure haven't found one...

Also, I miss the tilt-telescope option. I LOVE the feel of the 1966 toronado tilt/telescope steering column.

It's good to have a project car again

[Otto Skorzeny]

Is that Autumn Mist, Autumn Rust or whatever they called it? What's that purple square on the side of it in the first photo?

It's Autumn Bronze.

The purple square is a reflection of a blue toolbox in the door.

I'm still slowly deciding what to fix and restore and how I want the car to end up. Been a few years since I spent much time in the Toronado engine compartment. I have my matched touch-up paint. I have all the factory manuals. I have patience...

Here are the top things on my current list:

- primer/paint the few spots where there's exposed metal on the body. Looks like something heavy dropped on it in storage a few times.

- Engine runs hot. Seems to overheat if I let it idle for 20 minutes. Radiator is new, but not sure if the engine has been backflushed. I'm going to replace the thermostat, check the fan clutch, shroud, etc... What makes you think its over-heating? I ask because many times people overfill the radiator and the car will puke out the excess coolant after a drive making it appear that the radiator is boiling over. When full, the coolant level will be about 2 inches or so below the bottom of the filler neck. More than that and the car will spit it out and eventually find its own level.

If you're going by the dash gauge reading, I'd either hook up a temporary gauge that you know to be accurate or use one of those infrared thermometers to see how hot its actually getting.

Flush the cooling system thoroughly. Sitting around for all those years could cause rust in the water galleries.

- headlights don't come up with vacuum. Again, I have the diagrams. Headlights can be pried up and locked in place and otherwise work. I'm hoping replacing the vacuum lines fixes it. Chances are good that new lines will get them working again. One of mine wouldn't go down when I bought it and during my investigation, I discovered that one of the lines connected to a "T" under the vacuum tank had become disconnected. Hooking it back up solved the problem.

- interior is worn and needs some love. New headliner, carpet, and vinyl repairs. TWO things that I really wonder... (1) how do others restore the door panels where the weak pot metal wrap-around trim always breaks and leaves the panel poorly attached when slamming the huge door? (2) how do you restore the complex plastic pieces that get brittle and chalky? Paint? Cover with fabric? Improvise?

Just Dashes will restore your door panels to new condition. I believe SMS Fabric will do the same. The plastic can be repainted if it's not crumbling. The "s" pieces of Pot metal on the doors are always broken. I know of no one reproducing them. There are methods to weld pot metal. Eastwood sells kits to do so.

The car is pretty original and 'unmolested' right now, so I think I'll keep it that way. It's just a Sunday driver for me.

I do wish I had a right side-view mirror. My driver's side mirror is the basic non-remote one. The mirror was excessively loose, so I carefully banged near the socket with a chisel and succeeded in tightening it up enough, but I'd love to replace it with a factory-ish remote driver's side one, and get a matching passenger side mirror. Does anyone make a good replica for the 66 Olds remote mirrors? I sure haven't found one...

Fusick sells exact repro mirrors.

Also, I miss the tilt-telescope option. I LOVE the feel of the 1966 toronado tilt/telescope steering column.

It's good to have a project car again

I love my car, too. It's the newest car I own and the only front driver I've ever owned. I use mine as daily transportation trading off with a 1956 Cadillac.