Today Is A Good Day To Remember How Cool Toronados Were

There’s a joint report out now from the American Dental Association, the American Council of Churches, and the American Ornithological Society that is significant for a number of reasons. First, this marks the first time in 75 years that these three organizations have interacted without inciting a brutal riot, and secondly, the report is a welcome reminder that the Oldsmobile Toronado is a car worth taking time to reflect upon for, as the report states, “a general increase in overall wellbeing and spirituo-dental-avian health.” I couldn’t agree more, so with that in mind, we’re going to consider the 1968 Toronado for a bit.

GM was pretty committed to annual and fairly significant facelifts for their cars, so the ’68 Toronado has a bit of a different look than the original ’66 one, even though it’s still essentially the same car, which is a good thing. The ’68 and ’69 were the last years the Toronado had hidden headlights (well, until the downsized 1986 ones), and the front end was interesting, featuring a pair of wide grilles separated by a chrome divider that was part of an overall chrome bezel.

The proportions and profile of the Toronado were still as good as the OG one, as you can see here:

I’ll admit, big American land-barge-type cars aren’t really what I’m normally drawn to, but I have a special place in my heart and other organs for the Toronado, especially these early ones. I mean, look at it! The heavily emphasized wheels with their strong, prominent flared arches, that long hood containing the then-revolutionary FWD drivetrain, featuring a longitudinal V8 – let’s not forget how bonkers this layout was for an American car, after all:

This ’68 brochure has this nice color-coded overhead engine/front suspension shot, too:

The front suspension A-arm and shock and anti-roll bar all combine to make a striking-looking tentacle-like mass there.

Back to the exterior: there’s the lack of a B-pillar, for that hardtop-convertible look, that dramatically-sloping rear – these things are so striking and handsome I just want to spit.

Let’s look at the revised front end and lighting design for these ’68s. The whole front end look changed pretty dramatically from the first two years of the car, being less of a wedge-type design and more blunt. I think it’s less appreciated among purists, but I think it looks kind of great:

The brochure notes the large, wraparound indicator lamps, which I’m a big fan of, too, and those could be what inspired the front-end change, since ’68 was the first year that illuminated or reflector-based side marker lamps were required. The dual headlamps are hidden behind a grille panel that lifts out of the way, and I think it may be one of the only cars that featured a secondary grille design under the outer grille! You can see the interior grille here in this video showing the grille opening to reveal the lights:

In case you can’t see the video for some miserable reason, here’s what I mean:

See that? Under the honeycomb outer grille is this internal grid-like grille! These cars were so refined and classy, no detail was left undone. I love it. Especially when you compare this approach to what the headlight situation was like under the covers of, say, a 1970s Lincoln Continental:

That’s just embarrassing.

But let’s get back to these Toronados. Have you seen what first-gen Toronado dashboards were like?

That steering wheel always looks upside-down to me, and it did feature, optionally, the comically misguided “Rim Blow” type of steering wheel, where you could activate the horn just by squeezing the rim of the wheel, which usually meant a lot of unwanted horn honkings.

But look at the speedometer! It’s a drum-type, set horizontally, rolling around so your speed appears in the window, bisected by that orange line. Drum-style speedometers are just cool, probably in large part because of how uncommon they were.

The Toronados of this era also managed to have these decadently-upholstered and padded seats in the Traditional American Car style, but without sliding into the rolling bordello look of the 1970s. They’re handsome and a bit restrained, and I like how the vertical padding pattern continues onto the door cards and interior side trim panels. Also, everything is the color of delicious meats!

Even the rear of these Toronados were unusual and striking; the overall sort of widened-hexagonal silhouette, that intaglio rear fascia that forms a bit of a little spoiler back there, the wide, simple, elegant taillights inset into the bumper, the script badging – it’s just concentrated class, sprayed right into your face.

I hope this bit of Toronadoism helped!

Top graphic image: GM