Brand new Olds Toronado owner

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Francois
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:07 am
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Years Owned: 1966

Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Francois » Wed Mar 20, 2019 7:56 am

Bonjour !
My name is François and I'm a happy new owner of a 1966 Toronado. The story begun last december when I decided to have a classic American car... so I started looking for everything online and one day, I saw a Toronado ! What a surprise, never heard of it, never saw one even on a picture :) So I decided to look more and more until I found The One !
Frost green exterior, green interior, quite in a good shape and only 33.000 original miles. Needs care and time but I have both :)
So I drove 5 hours down to North Carolina (I'm in Washington DC) and saw the car, had it for a test drive and bought it !
Begun the trip to take it back to DC, I thought I could drive it back but after an hour or so, loose a part of the exhaust, then came a leak in the radiator... so I decided not to push more and rented a trailer to carry the car back. Since then, I'm cleaning and restoring it as much as I can. I like to do everything myself so it takes time. I'm not a professional, but I'm very curious and fast learner :)
This car as a interesting story, it was bought in 1965 so it's a early model and was sold to a apple orchard in North Carolina. Used as a company car for the manager and was painted and customized to the company color. He drove nearly 28.000 miles until 1980 when it was sold to a collectionner who repainted it in its original color and kept it until 2018.
I have recent pictures about the car and the work I have done to it. My goal here is to put as many information as I can so anyone interested in doing the same could find everything. I hop I'll have enought time for that.
I also have questions and your contribution will be more than helpfull for me :)
My english is not perfect and it is sometimes difficult for me to find all the technical terms so forgive me if I do misktakes !
Next post soon with pictures !

Francois
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:07 am
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Francois » Wed Mar 20, 2019 8:52 am

Some pictures attached :)
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Francois
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:07 am
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Francois » Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:09 am

And my first question : does this interior look original for you ? It's nearly impossible for me to find another Toronado with the same interior... my trim code is 052D and I remember seeing somewhere a red interior with the exact same vinyl but I don't know if it is original.
052D should be a black green interior with cloth and vinyl, so...
I received a sample from smsautofabrics.com and it is a much lighter green.
I guess the carpet is not original as well, is it related to the trim number or was it like an option where you could choose the carpet color you wanted ?
It looks blue en gold on the picture but it's more green and very gold in real. There are two samples I ordered from stockinterior and I'm guessing the one on the right may be the best match but I'm not sure...
Thanks for your help :)
François.
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Willysnut1959
Posts: 107
Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 11:01 am
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Willysnut1959 » Thu Mar 21, 2019 12:13 pm

I can't help on whether the seat upholstery is original, or not. If it were changed, it appears that they did a good job. If it were me, and I liked the interior, and it was presentable, I' d use it as it is and not worry about originality.

On the carpet color, suggest removing the threshold plate and get a best match to carpet that has not been bleached by the sun. I replaced the carpet last year in my '66 and had the similar issue with matching. Concluded that the carpet color was originally a plum color, but a dark maroon color was the best match to the seats and door panels. I went with the dark maroon and plush (not pile) carpet because I thought it looked better.

My philosophy on restoring old cars is to make it the way you want it, and don't worry about 100% originallity. That said, I would not make any drastic changes to a collectable car that could not be changed back to original and I keep the original parts. I also don't deviate from original just to be different, because that will lower the resale value and reduce the number of potential buyers. If you want to change a lot of things on a car, you bought the wrong car.

Hope this helps.

Marty,
St. Louis, MO

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Otto Skorzeny
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Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:41 pm
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Years Owned: 1966 Toronado

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Otto Skorzeny » Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:30 pm

Hi Francois,

That's a good looking car.

As Willys said, the interior looks like a pretty good job. I don't think it's original, however. The fabric pattern resembles some I've seen but the stitching pattern does not. Perhaps it too was customized by the original owner when he had it painted. Don't hold me to that. The basic pattern looks correct except for the lack of pleats.

Virtually every Toro seats I've seen have longitudinal pleats on the seats and seat backs. That goes for the all vinyl seats as well as the vinyl/fabric combinations. I did a quick search of '66 Toronado interiors on line and this is the closest I found to yours. The fabric is similar but the seat pattern is not. https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/ ... DO--202012

Below are pics of my interior. The exterior color is Dubonnet and the interior color is plum.

I've found that SMS is a good source for authentic upholstery . I've never ordered carpet from them but their seat fabrics are perfect. I used them for the interior fabric of my '56 Cadillac. They also made door panels for my mom's '64 Galaxie.
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Last edited by Otto Skorzeny on Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Otto Skorzeny
Posts: 1721
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:41 pm
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966 Toronado

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Otto Skorzeny » Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:39 pm

Here's a zillion pics of '66 Toro interiors and none look like yours.
https://www.google.com/search?q=1966+to ... =1#imgrc=_

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Otto Skorzeny
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Years Owned: 1966 Toronado

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Otto Skorzeny » Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:42 pm

Of the two sample carpets you posted, I like the one on the left best compared to the color of your car. Of course that's on my computer monitor so who knows? Willys is right about looking under the door sill plate or possibly under the seat for the best representation of what the carpet looked like when new.

Francois
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:07 am
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Francois » Fri Mar 22, 2019 9:20 am

Thanks for your answers.
I had already checked under the seatbelt retractor cover and the carpet is completely gold, so I don't know what to think. I'll probably just go for what looks the best to me. I surely do not want to change a lot of things on the car, I just want it to look close to original but not 100%.
I'll soon post more on what I already did :) I'm mostly taking care of the engine right now.

Francois
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:07 am
TOA Membership Number: 0
Years Owned: 1966

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Francois » Mon Apr 29, 2019 5:08 pm

Hi everyone !
Here are some news, I'm progressing quite well with my Toronado so I'm happy :)
Had contacted Sparky who told me that my carburetor was not the correct one so I ordered one from Quadrajet https://quadrajetpower.com/oldsmobile-1966-400-425-quadrajet-7026250/ and now I'm waiting for the 9 weeks they need to send it to me.
I had to change the radiator that was in a very very bad shape and leaking form nearly everywhere... I choose the Spectra CU302 that does not fit completely because it is too large on the right side and as the previous support completely rusted out, I printed new one myself.
It's difficult to see on the picture at the end because everything was painted in black.
I also changed the transmission cooling lines since they were also damaged, bought from Inline Tube https://www.inlinetube.com/products/OTT6601 and had to add adapters since that 3/8 is a bit bigger than the the original one.
Also found a new carburetor fuel line here https://classictube.com/product/oldsmobile-toronado-carburetor-fuel-line-1966-2/ that fit nearly exactly, just had to bend it a bit by hand.
Just to be clear, I'm posting the links in order to help someone else to find parts, I'm not affiliated in any way with any website ;)
Also replaced the water pump, all the hoses and pipes related to the radiator, the vacuum lines, sparks plug, coil, positive cable, belts, air filter, everything that might help the engine running better and smoother for the years to come :)
Now that I'm waiting, I'm thinking about replacing the head gaskets, checking the valves, painting the engine back in its original color and replacing the engine mounts points... adjusting the timing !
More to come soon :)
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Otto Skorzeny
Posts: 1721
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:41 pm
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Years Owned: 1966 Toronado

Re: Brand new Olds Toronado owner

Postby Otto Skorzeny » Mon Apr 29, 2019 6:44 pm

Good looking engine bay. Nice work.


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