1967 Oldsmobile Toronado
(1967 production 21,062)

Conceived as Oldsmobile's full-size personal luxury car and competing directly with the Ford Thunderbird, the Tornado is historically significant as the first front-wheel drive automobile produced in the United States since the demise of the Cord in 1937. The original Toronado began as a design painting by Oldsmobile stylist David North in 1962. The re-introduction of front wheel drive earned the new Toronado Motor Trend "Car of the Year" honors in 1966. First generation cars were made from 1966-1970, Sales for the 1967 model, which was most notably distinguished by a slight facelift, the addition of optional disc brakes, and a slightly softer ride, were 22,062.

DRIVE TRAIN

• 425 cu in Super Rocket (specially modified for the Toronado) V8 rated at 385 hp and 475 ft·lb torque. The intake manifold was unique to Toronado and was depressed down to allow for engine hood clearance. Special  Old's designed Spherical shaped exhaust-manifold flange gaskets aided performance. Additionally this big block is equipped with Edelbrock's Performer Aluminum cylinder heads with 2.072 Intake and 1.68 Exhaust valve diameters, Roller rocker arms and a GM HEI distributor.
• Heavy-duty Turbo-Hydramatic 425 3-speed automatic transmission which is based on the TH400. The transmission's torque converter was separated from its planetary gearset, with the torque converter driving the gearset through a 2" wide silent chain-drive called Hy-Vo, The chains were made from a very strong hardened steel and required no pensioners or idler pulleys because they were pre-stretched on a special machine at the factory. Although the rotation direction of the transmission's gearing had to be reversed, a large number of components were shared with the conventional TH400.
• Final Drive Unit  (Toro speak for differential and you can see the complete power train in the gallery below) and the F.D.U. has a final axel ratio of 3.21:1.
• Edlebrock Performer 700cfm carburetor has replaced the original Rochester Quadrajet..

BODY - SUSPENSION

• Front torsion bars suspension (the first GM passenger car application of torsion bars), with conventional, unequal-length double wishbones.
• Rear suspension was a simple beam axle on single leaf springs, with dual shock absorbers, one vertical, one horizontal, the horizontal shock act as a radius rod to control wheel movement.
• Power (11 inch diameter drums) Brakes. 
• Wheelbase: 119.0"
• Overall length: 211"
• Overall width: 78.5"
• Track, front/rear: 63.5" / 63.0"
• Weight, shipping/curb: 4311 / 4,496 lb.
• Weight distribution, front/rear (%): 60.3 / 39.7
   

INTERIOR

• AM-FM Delco Wonder Bar radio with power antenna.
• Power Steering
• Power Windows
• Power Seats 6-way
• Air Conditioning
• Tilt and Telescoping steering wheel.
• Draft-Free (as described in GM literature not sure I buy it!)  ventilation system, which reduced wind noise considerably by eliminating the conventional front-door vent windows.

PICTURES

The images below are of the car from the day I first saw it listed for sale, its delivery to Chicago. If you see a picture that is interesting, you can click the image to display a larger view.