(first posted 8/18/2013. I’m re-running it as a preview of a rather unusual dual-rear-axle FWD car home-made conversion I found the other day, but rather different from the Toronado).
The other day we saw a trailer with a full set of Oldsmobile Toronado wheels but sadly its suspension didn’t match the rims. This time I suspect the axles match the rims and this find promises an extra large dose of Toronado …
Looks relatively normal from this vantage point doesn’t it? Just a neglected 1970 Oldsmobile Toronado sitting in long term storage.
The interior is looking a little sad as well. The rope makes it look like it was towed in as a non-runner. Nothing too much out of the ordinary besides an aftermarket gauge.
Around back is where the fun starts. I’m not sure why someone would add a second axle and another foot or two of length to a Toronado. This custom has obviously seen better days but the craftsmanship was quite good.
Could it somehow be related to this?
Now THAT is a Vista Cruiser! 🙂
I would like to buy one of these and then show up at the DMV for my driving test in it.
I would pay good money to watch you parallel park. 🙂
Ditto
Best laugh of my day!
Carmine, my Uncle showed up for his driving test in his parents’ 1959 Plymouth Belvedere; this was in small town rural New Zealand in 1961, where 99% of the cars were small British things. My Uncle was small for his age (15), and the testing officer took one look at him and then at the parallel-parked Belvedere and said “If you drove that here and parked it there you don’t need a test, here’s your licence…”. But I agree, it’d be awesome to show up in a gigantic stretched Olds!
Maybe he thought it would tow better this way, It has a hitch.
Looks like a Franco Sbarro creation.
http://www.oto6.fr/6roues/sbarro/58482da7e3.jpg
That’s what I thought of too.
And I always thought it was |the French………………….
This is one ugly Toronado. I am reminded of the obscure Reeves Sextoauto. This is one car that I had forgotten had an Indiana connection. Make this one the SexToronado? Probably not, as the name would probably give some of the less literate the wrong idea. Probably many of the more literate as well.
Thankfully, whoever modified the Toronado drew the line at six wheels.
I saw a 10-wheel Cadillac limousine a couple of years ago, complete with swimming pool…
Seems like a lot of hard work for no reason.I remember Wolfrace Wheels had a 6 wheeled XJS built in the 70s as a showcase for their wheels
Yes, it no doubt was a lot of work. It was probably the result of a couple of guys having a beer out back looking at the Toro. “Hey, wouldn’t it be neat if we…….”
Tow monster!!
Maybe an extra engine, trans, ect. Like the Hurst Hairy Olds.
I thought the same thing, twin engined Toronado?
Certain room for an extra engine back there in that extra long trunk. Unfortunately I didn’t peek under as there as it was quite muddy.
I’d say this Toronado is just *begging* for the “-amino” treatment! Imagine, if you will, a FWD, 455-powered, 6-seat Toromino!
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/770082/1970-oldsmobile-toronado/
Thanks for digging that up. I remember it being for sale around that time frame (May 2012).
I remember seeing a small black and white picture of this Toro in Popular Mechanics, Popular Science or Mechanix Illustrated in the 1972-75 time period.
I had a fascination with six wheeled vehicles at the time. There was a couple running F1, local cement trucks were too, and I also recall drawing an unsolicited ‘proposal’ for a six wheeled ambulance.
Flat floor.
Looks like they got the 6wheeler part right but where do you out the freight.
It appears to be a one off and a 1970
Here is a Cardomain about it
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/770082/1970-oldsmobile-toronado/
Its like a Toronado started to grow into a GMC Motorhome, but it stopped along the way….
How about an opposite extreme, a shorty 2 seat Toronado made by Oldsmobile as a show car?
Is that the same car that they later cut the front off of and put a flat front on made of wood? I saw pictures of a shortened Toronado like that which was used on the proving grounds to push other cars around.
Maybe, there was a really short Toronado that was used as a tug around the proving grounds, with a big rubber padded front to push cars around.
Bizarre! But very glad to read in the links above that it appears to have been saved. Always brightens my day when a sad and neglected classic is brought back to life. 🙂
Pizdec
This might be the car that my Grandfather modified to pull a 5th wheel trailer around. He lived in Moose Jaw Sask at the time and used to travel to Arizona for the winters. Would love to have some more pictures is possible.
Hello Allan,
I am the owner of this 1970 Toronado GT before it was stolen from this storage lot in Calgary NE and brought in for scrap and crushed before anyone knew what happened to it. I did put it on cardomain back then. It did always run and drive, had a Jerry can of gas under the hood, you can see it in upper pictures. never seen this site until today and can’t believe it’s been on here since 2013. I bought it back on January 16, 2005 originally for the W34 400hp 455 engine to put in my 71 cutlass, hence it was parked so long without care, it was a major conversation piece, found it harder to think of parting it out. I still have the air cleaner lid and 8track player from it, all that’s left and the memory.
Found this in popular mechanics 1976
I was thinking 5th wheel hitch in the trunk before reading the comments, makes sense, 4 door pickups were uncommon 40 years ago, not a bad idea.
Needs to upgrade those rear view mirrors, though.
When I did buy this, it did have a steal plate where the fifth wheel attached to, but was missing. alas the car is no longer. shame really..had plans to restore it until it was stolen and sold for scrap and crushed for a mere $225?
That is horrible. Sorry hear that.
PM incorrectly says “1971 model”.
The full page..
Reminds me that I had a “solar fan cube” from the local science museum gift shop, so thanks for posting 🙂
Let’s not forget the customized 1968 Toronado in the awful 1978 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band movie.
While none of the limo’s I drove when driving for a limo company was a stretch Toronado, there were a couple of supper stretch’s I did drive. One was a 28-30 foot version of a ’67 Imperial LeBaron, a second was a 30+ foot version of a late 70’s Lincoln Town Car. Driving had to be very smooth and slow when clients were present, otherwise they would end up on the floor or plastered against the side panels. When Sean, the company owner tested me for smoothness before carrying passengers, we were headed into the San Fernando Valley from L.A., the freeway has gentle curves, I told Sean, “There’s no way I can keep this in one lane.” In fact it occupied two, and sometimes three lanes. Sean told me, “Don’t worry, this is L.A., people are used to limo’s, they’ll move over.” And most did. One night I took clients to a very upscale restaurant and found not enough room in the lot. A block away I found four open parallel spaces and proceeded to park parallel. I felt resistance pulling in and figured the rear tire was against the curb. This was the ’67 Imperial. I thought if I could get the tire over the curb, as I swung the front the rear should “drop into place” in the spaces. Once in the spaces, I did a walk around and found the resistance had been a parking meter the rear bumper was against. The Imperial knocked it out of the concrete with no damage to the bumper, or anything else on the car. It was so far away, I hadn’t heard he meter clang to the pavement.
Of the Toro GT’s, I had a white one with black top and interior I loved it, but one time accelerating onto the freeway (at around 100 mph) the right front had an axle shaft separate and move outward. With a lot of bad noises I got it stopped off the road, then sold the car to my best friend Norm, who fixed it. I loved the twin engined Toronado from the 60’s. In a magazine article the guy running it said they never got the engines synchronized , but who cared, it went like hell anyway…
There was a write up on a front and rear drive truck with Toronado engines and running gear a while back.
This reminds me of something I saw at R. E. Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing this summer. A factory modified ’66 Toronado used to push cars around the parking lot, mainly in deep snow.
Another angle