(first posted 8/19/2016) 1972 was the year that the Oldsmobile Toronado outsold the Buick Riviera to become the most popular of the GM E-bodies. In part, Oldsmobile’s success could be attributed to the boat-tail styling stumble at Buick. However, another factor in the Toronado triumph was likely its very close styling kinship to the first generation FWD Eldorado. Beyond its pseudo-Cadillac looks, what else did the ’72 Toronado offer high-end personal luxury buyers? To answer, Road Test Magazine offered a full review in June 1972.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So Cadillac should have blushed when designs for the 1971 generation Tornado were approved: in many ways it closely followed the crisp lines that had made the ’67 – ’70 Eldorado such a successful style leader.
It wasn’t a bad strategy for Oldsmobile. While first-year Toronado sales were strong and had come fairly close to the Riviera (40,963 versus 45,348 for 1966), results dropped dramatically from there. Toronado sales plunged by 47% for 1967 while Riviera sales stayed strong, and for the rest of the 1960s Oldsmobile E-body sales remained about half of Buick’s. Meanwhile, the new 1967 Eldorado had come on strong, and was only about 10% behind the Toronado in sales each year through 1970, in spite of having a much higher price tag.
Olds tried various facelifts for the first-generation Toronado, including a more massive front-end for 1968, sharper rear fenders for 1969, and yet another revamped nose along with jutting, blade-like front fenders and new body side sculpting for 1970 (more Eldorado-like, perhaps?). Nothing seemed to help, however, as 1968 through 1970 Toronado sales remained flat, trailing 59,141 units behind Riviera and just 8,678 units ahead of the pricier Eldorado. So a new approach was in order for Oldsmobile as the division’s plans for the 1971 E-body were firmed-up.
For the new-for-1971 E-bodies, General Motors decreed a great amount of commonality with the also-new B-body. Thus the revamped personal luxury cars would be really big. Cadillac played that size for all it was worth, puffing up the Eldorado and layering it with glitzy detailing. The lean, sculpted look of the ’67 to ’70 Eldorado was lost as Seventies-style excess took hold.
Bill Mitchell pushed a radical look over at Buick for the new Riviera. There’s no question the boat-tail theme was unique and striking, but it did not come off quite right on the very large E-body platform. Further, for many of Buick’s relatively conservative clientele, the new Riviera styling was too extreme. Sales stumbled badly, and by 1972 Buick lost its coveted position as the GM market leader in high-end personal luxury coupes.
Thus, the more conventionally styled Toronado was able to assume that E-body leadership position, at least for a few years. But how good was the second generation full-size FWD platform? Beyond style, what else did the Toronado offer to attract discerning buyers?
The irony of the Toronado (and Eldorado) was that some owners did not even realize (or care) that their cars were front-wheel-drive. The drive train was as reliable as a regular rear-wheel-drive system, and for average drivers there was not much difference in driving feel. The anecdote about the Lake Tahoe service station operator trying to install snow tires on the correct drive wheels, only to receive pushback from Toronado owners, pretty much summed up the blissful ignorance.
Road Test noted that the Toronado was more agile than the Eldorado, though it was hardly ready for a gymkhana. The trade-off for the slightly better handling was reduced ride quality. Under hood, Oldsmobile’s 455 V8 was hard to beat, offering plenty of smooth power, seemingly unfazed by the additional performance-sapping emission control equipment required for 1972.
Unlike the first Toronado in 1966, which only offered drum brakes, the 1972 Toro with front disc brakes was a strong stopper, at least for such an enormous, heavy car. Where the Toronado excelled was in creature comforts, as befitting a personal luxury cocoon. Virtually any option to be had on the Eldorado could also be found on the Toronado.
While black-on-black is the de facto color combination for luxury cars today, it was quite unusual in the 1970s. Of course, with 15 exterior colors, 5 vinyl top colors and 6 interior colors to choose from for the Toronado, including a broad array of the then-popular earth tones, all-black would have seemed to be a very dull choice for 1972.
One of the biggest faults of the Toronado (and Eldorado) was that they had a number of issues associated with front-wheel-drive, such as heavy front tire wear, while offering virtually none of the packaging efficiencies that were truly the purpose of the FWD layout. 13.5 cubic feet of trunk space is pathetic in a car over 18 feet long, and a “flat floor” for center seating positions is silly in a personal luxury car designed primarily for no more than four passengers. Oh well, at least the Toronado had traction in the snow, assuming the snow tires were mounted on the correct drive wheels…
Price was a key advantage for the Toronado versus the Eldorado. The loaded Olds was out the door for $7,394 ($42,636 adjusted), equating to the base price for the Cadillac. A similarly loaded Eldorado would cost an additional $2,747 ($15,840), which simply bought more snob appeal rather than significant product enhancements.
Between styling, pricing and Oldsmobile’s reputation for quality, there were ample reasons for 48,900 personal luxury buyers to take a Toronado home for 1972. The next year was even better for Toronado sales, which reached an all-time high of 55,921–a milestone the Toronado would never again achieve as the Eldorado took the lead beginning in 1974. But for that brief time in the early 1970s, the Toronado was the king of the E-body fleet.
Additional Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1972 Buick Riviera Boattail – Swan Song Or Big Ugly Duck by Paul Niedermeyer
Curbside Classic: 1972 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Convertible – The End Of An Exceptional Era by Paul Niedermeyer
While I am sure that some owners were blissfully unaware that their Toronados were FWD, I think most probably did know. That is not to say that FWD was an important factor in buying one.
Popular Mechanics surveyed owners of the 1972 Eldorado and Toronado.
If I recall correctly, the front-wheel-drive layout was an important feature for a significant percentage of Toronado owners, but Eldorado owners largely didn’t care.
I remember heading home west on I80 from Lake Tahoe in early 1978. It started to snow, and so we stopped and put the chains on the front wheels of our nearly new Honda Civic. Back on the road, in stop and go traffic, an Eldorado pulls up along side of us (I’ve always had this knack for unknowingly choosing the slowest lane), with the passengers pointing at the front wheels of our car and laughing. You could tell they thought I was just some stupid kid in a pint sized foreign car. No wonder I had the chains on the “wrong” wheels. Of course, the Eldorado had chains on the rear wheels.
Did the people who cared about FWD believe it would benefit them in some way, or just because it was unique?
What an irony, that GM engineered the Toronado driveline successfully, but it was during a period when Europe was doing FWD in the segment where it really mattered, small cars.
As I recall, there was at some point a comparison test on snow to demonstrate the advantage of FWD on slippery roads. The test might have been in something like Popular Mechanics, not sure. Or it may have been years later than the late sixties too.
They specifically mentioned the superior traction provided by front wheel drive in snow and rain.
I remember riding in one of these exactly once. In one of the carpools of my youth, we got picked up one day by one of the moms, but instead of her own Olds 98, she was driving her visiting father’s bright red Toro. I had read enough about fwd by then that I knew that it had somewhat different driving characteristics, but I was disappointed to watch that mom driving it just like any other car. She may have been one of those who had no idea that it was fwd.
I have long wondered just how many of those body panels interchanged with the 67-70 Eldo. Clearly there are some minor revisions in some of the decorative creases, but those roof stampings look identical to my eyes. I am not sure GM ever saw more differentiation in what was theoretically a single platform than with the Riv, Eldo and Toro of the early 70s.
Since the 71 was new, I think the closeness to the 67-70 was not the same stampings, but resembled them. Perhaps like the 1978 Mid sized sedans resembled the 75-79 Seville, Which I also believe shared no stampings.
FWD on snow covered streets is different, particularly if you add enough power to get some wheel spin. On dry pavement what would you expect? The car should go where the driver points it.
Torque steer can be a difference on some cars. I don’t know about the Toronado/Eldorado FWD. The later transaxle GM designs are quite good, but my 83 Skyhawk could be very noticeable,
These FWD E-bodies did not suffer torque steer. They used a longitudinal engine mount, and equal drive shafts. When I finally broke down and bought my first FWD car, I was attracted to the 1993 and up Chrysler LH cars because they used engineering similar to the old E-body cars. Like the E-bodies, Chrysler was able to put relatively powerful engines in those FWD cars, but offering torque steer free handling performance more similar to RWD cars.
It was before I was driving and before fwd became common, and I recall reading that with fwd, the better technique was to slow before a corner, then go into the corner with power and let the car pull you through. We know now that nobody does this, but in 1974 or so, I didn’t know that.
Thats just normal cornering technique all vehicles are more stable under power in a corner it doesnt matter which axles drives or pulls the car braking or lifting off while cornering is a recipe for disaster.
With the Eldorado’s “opera window” approach to the rear side window, compared to the Toronado’s conventional hardtop, my guess is the roof stampings are a little different. I don’t think the Caddy used filler panels.
The conventional roofline on the Toro is certainly appealing, and probably helped its status as the E-body sales leader in ’72. Interestingly, the ’79 downsized E-body borrowed its roof most heavily from the ’71-’73 Toronado, and all three versions were fairly successful. Proof of the appeal of the conventional hardtop.
+1!
2 quick styling observations, This is twice that the early 70’s Oldsmobiles aped older Cadillacs. These aped the first generation Eldo, and the ’71 Ninety-Eight looks like an updated 1960 Cadillac.
Also interesting that GM often had note worthy or controversial a$$ ends, 1959 Cadillac and Chevrolet, 1971-73 Riviera, 1980-84 Seville! Baby’s got back! LOL!
Quibbles on details aside, this is a reasonably handsome car. These early versions of the ’71-’78 run for this body shell are easily the best looking, and likely best driving. The ’71 versions suffered GM’s botched flow-through ventilation along with the B / C cars. This was corrected for ’72, making some argument that the ’72 was the best year for this car.
I had the Pontiac 455 in my ’72 Grandville, and that power train might have been more sapped by the pollution controls than might be credited in the article. It was not a slug by any means, but there was nothing occurring behind the wheel to give the driver anything extra to smile about for the mileage penalty of a big block.
Oldsmobile had a thing for front end styling details that were vulnerable to damage. A friend’s dad had a ’70 Ninety-Eight, and the turn signal / parking lights were simple plastic lenses that wrapped under the bottom edge of the bumper. They were smashed out a couple of times with no damage to the bumper, and no real knowledge of how it happened. My ’73 Cutlass, somewhat like the Toronado, had wrap under grill panels made of plastic below the bumper. Even better, the grill panels were separated by a body color fiberglass separator to maintain the Oldsmobile split grill theme below the bumper. When I bought the car, the body color panel was missing, along with the license bracket. I made several visits to the Olds dealer for parts to get the car up to my standards for appearance.
I agree that the 1972 models of this generation are the best. When GM added the safety bumpers for 1973, it seemed as though the car went from “really large” to “bloated and gross.” The addition of opera window and landau vinyl roof options in later years didn’t help matters.
One advantage that the 1973 and later models did have was greater structural rigidity. Apparently the 1971-72 B-, C- and E-bodies were somewhat deficient in this regard. In order for the cars to carry the hefty safety bumpers, GM had to beef up the basic structure.
Interesting regarding the beefing up of the structure. Combine the ’71 body and drivetrain, the ’72 ventilation and the ’73 structural upgrade – the perfect ’70s Toronado!
My uncle drove one of these. The main thing I remember about the car were how huge & heavy the doors were (I wouldn’t be surprised if they weighed a couple hundred pounds each).
There’s one more thing that made the styling work on this generation Toronado. These black & white photos don’t show how distinctive those high-mounted turn signals looked on the road. We’re used to CHMSLs now, but in 1972 there was nothing else on the road like it. That little extra bit of styling flair made it stand out, even compared to flashy cars like T-Birds and Monte Carlos.
I thought these were a cool detail at the time. I wonder if these were inspired by rumors of CHMSL, or if they helped inspire CHMSL.
CHMSLs weren’t mandated until 1986, so it seems unlikely that GM saw new regs coming.
I’d put money on inspired. No automobile equipment standard comes to pass without the device existing prior. Legislative bodies aren’t inventors. So studies were probably being conducted on vehicle safety at some point with a pool of various cars, which it’s possible the Toro along with the few others were used, and ultimately showed positive results with their novel lights in the field.
This type of brake lamps in the rear windscreen is very common aftermarket kit in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s.
They were in the back window of some US taxis I’m pretty sure before the Toronado came out.
Thunderbird offered high-level turn signal lights as an option in 1969-1970.
That’s just cool. It seems I learn something new every day I visit this site.
Was this a vaporware option or was it actually produced? I’ve never seen one.
It DID exist but i’ve never seen one.
In 1970 it was only available on the 4 doors….
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“Due to slow sales of the High Level Tail Lamp option, Ford didn’t offer it on the 2-Door Models for 1970.
A redesign of the interior rear window moldings on the 2-door cars to
accommodate a new roof line prevented the older parts from being carried over. The 4-Door moldings were the same as the previous year, so the High Level lights were offered one last time only on the 4-Door model.)”
Agreed. When these were on the road I was only a few years old, and riding in the middle of the front bench watching the cars go by. These always look cool to me then (especially at night), and only now that I’m in what would then have been the target market for the car do I really appreciate the rest of the car.
Have only ever driven 1 Toronado, a 67, one rainy fall afternoon/evening in upstate Pa. I do remember it felt different from every other car I had ever driven in that the car seemed (?) just a bit more “nailed” to the road…at least in front. I also remember thinking how long and low it was for a 2 door car.
15 years later I would own a J-car, with that same, not quite numb power steering NON-feel to it. You turned the steering wheel and the passing scenery changed direction, but no real feeling through the wheel of what was happening between the tires and the road.
Automotive flying carpets.
“….. changed from muscle to svelte in 1971….” That’s the first,last and only time that was said about the full sized ’71 GM lineup!
This, unlike the pure 1st edition, leaves me cold. Too heavy, too large and worse handling than the original. But obviously that’s what the public wanted.
One thing about ALL those early big GM front drives as a classic car today..
If you live and drive in a place that DOES NOT have glass smooth roads you will not enjoy it AT ALL.
I live in Houston and if i took you for a drive in my area in one of those you’d think the thing was gonna shake itself apart while you got banged around inside.
ROUGH ride and lots of unsettling noises to go with it.
My 66′ Bonneville was MUCH better than an Eldo or Toro in that regard and STILL terrible…
On smooth roads,,,,,,,,,,,,, awesome.
Big Ford products of the same era handle much worse but soak up the bumps 1000% better.
I learned that with my first 67′ Galaxie, missed that precise steering and flat cornering BUT the Ford just bobbles quietly over the same bumps that the Bonneville sounded and felt like a garbage truck going over.
That Bonneville had a GREAT hvac system though,,, troublesome but it kicked ass.
Growing up with one of these – my Mom’s 1972 in Baroque Gold to be exact – I remember it riding like a dream. All this talk of shaking and rough ride – really? It was a 4700 lb. behemoth! It truly was a beautiful car. The only serious problem we ever had with it was in 1976. It was the Bicentennial and we were going to Newport, RI to see the Tall Ships. On the very top of the Jamestown bridge there was a grid type material – your car would swing and sway when you drove over it which was VERY unnerving to say the least. If you looked down, you could see right through it – right to the ocean! Well apparently the Toronado didn’t like that grid surface one bit. The car started shaking violently – I could see the horrified look on Dad’s face as he nursed that car down the bridge to safety. The bridge was a narrow two lane structure, too – and the sheer size of those old cars would make it hard for someone to drive even in the best conditions. We had the car towed to a dealership in Middletown and the problem was a bad CV joint/axle. They had a few other customers with Toronados suffer the same failure on the top of the bridge too – and warned us not to drive over it again in the future!
Overall my memories of that car are great. I can still smell the new car smell it had all the years we had it. And the high mounted brake lights were the coolest thing.
I’ve posted it before but this is the Toro in our driveway with me and my sister in the yard circa 1973. I need to find more pics of it, which I know we have somewhere buried at my Mom’s house.
It’s great to see this picture again! Will look forward to seeing any others that you can find one day at your Mom’s.
From what I remember, Baroque Gold was very popular on the Toronado, as was the Bamboo (I think) on the car that Jason Schafer found and featured in his post today.
There were a few of them in our area in Baroque Gold when we had ours. There was an older gentleman that had one that I used to see all the time, and then one day it was gone.
Thanks GN BTW! I have to search high and low to find more – but I will!
This is that infamous Jamestown bridge which was demolished by implosion several years ago. Driving on the top of it was SCARY to say the least! I can only imagine how close those huge old cars came to each other as they passed.
I will never forgot our harrowing experience in the Toronado on that beautiful summer day!
Those cars are not really big, full size trucks fit in regular traffic lanes and they are up to 2.5M wide or 8ft 2in in the old fashioned measure.
Though I must admit I followed an Eldorado through our Manawatu gorge one evening I was in a Navistar workstar towing a 46ft four axle trailer the max speed there is 80kmh or 50mph the Eldo was using more road than me, cool car though purple with white vinyl top it looked great.
How can a bridge “implode”? I think you meant demolished.
Never mind Yank Tanks; if you want to take up a full lane, try a 7′ (~2m) wide Humvee. I wonder how well they do in cities with medieval urban plans? The M151, its predecessor, was only a little over 5′ wide, so it could fit it in a CH-53 helo. Pinzgauers are 5’8″ wide.
It was my understanding that they blew up the trusses so that it could become a coral reef. The bridge collapsed on itself.
I forgot to mention that our Toronado, in a day where NO ONE had SUV’s and front wheel drive was in its infancy, would go through the worst snowstorms and bad conditions with ease while everyone else was getting stuck, slipping and sliding away. In fact, in 1978 we had our infamous Blizzard of ’78 which dumped almost 2+ feet of snow on the entire state of Rhode Island. My sister was in college at the time and my Mom let her take the Toronado that day. Well, she made it home safe and sound because of that car while thousands of people were stranded on the roads. I would have to believe FWD was at least mentioned by salespeople when customers were looking at these cars in the showroom. Granted, whether or not someone would buy a car specifically for that feature back then is uncertain, but I know my Mom appreciated that she had FWD and my sister did too!
That last paragraph is pretty foreboding of GM’s later troubles. Even by 1972 there were fewer and fewer reasons to climb the Sloan Ladder.
Roof stampings are so expensive to make that GM had a thing to make sure that they got a full life of them. This was reflected in requiring that the roof of the 69-72 Grand Prix be shared with the 70-72 Monte Carlo and the 70-72 Cutlass Supreme.
I never noticed it before, but the 67-70 roof stamping is shared with the 2nd gen Toro. Probably GM would not let Olds invest in a unique roof for its E and Olds choose the now unused Eldo roof from the late 60s.
I highly doubt the stamping is the same. The original Eldo rear window had a sharp V-shape, this one is more of a gentle curve.
7.2 City MPG & 11.8 Hwy MPG. Oof! I know it’s a big car with a 455, but still – an atrocious reminder of how lousy fuel economy actually was in those days.
Hell, a Lincoln Mark with a 460 would do 10 city and 13.5 hwy but was about a second slower to 60………..
My Granny had a 77′ LOADED LTD with a 460,,,,, it was super slow with a 2.46 or 2.26 rear axle,, i forgot exactly but it was a super brutal hwy gear.
ANYHOW
It got 13 city AND 13 hwy,,,, this was confirmed over many years and many road trips.
It was slow but it was super tight, quiet, comfy, just a great cruiser, and it NEVER broke.
I think the 460 was rated at 212 hp.
My 71 Buick Riviera would get about 13.5 cruising 75 to 80 on long trips. At lower speeds fuel consumption was better, although 15 MPG would require cruising at 60 MPH or so.
My wife’s first car was a 1975 version of the Toro. With the 455, it was a great cruiser. The FWD was still pretty unique in 1981 when we started dating.
It was a smooth riding car, no problems in hilly Northeast Ohio driving. Drive it anywhere. If you could stomach the fuel mileage, it was great.
We traded it for a 1977 Olds Delta 88 Royale, which was a truly great road car (with 403 and FE3 suspension). The Toro was better, but was worn out by 1982.
I think the 70s personal luxury coupes (namely the Eldorado and Toronado as well as the Lincoln Marks and Mercury Cougars) were the very pinnacle of the type. It’s personal luxury-it damn well should be a chrome and vinyl festooned barge with a hood you could use as a helicopter pad.
While I do like the previous generations as well, they have more of the linebacker in a tux look, i.e. fancied up muscle cars. That can be a sharp look, but I prefer pure baroque decadence in a PLC.
The review probably nails why this popular Toronado was never quite as similar to the Eldorado…..it was close enough to have virtually the same car, but for much cheaper. You’d have to think that the Cadillac division voiced some dissent and frustration about another of their divisions having a car too similar for a much more affordable price. At any rate, aside from the 1st gen Toronado, this is probably my favorite…..clean and effectively styled with almost no controversial lines, but also unfortunately at the expense of the uniqueness of the original Toronado’s styling.
We have to remember Ryan that a Cadillac is a Cadillac, and its name alone always had the prestige to go with it, especially back then. The Chevy Caprice copied the Cadillac deVille in many ways back then too, and in that regard it should have been more of a nuisance for Cadillac than Oldsmobile Toronados looking similar to an older style Eldorado.
My understanding is that Cadillac was not happy that GM allowed Buick to have the Limited before World War Two because it was a Fleetwood 75 at Buick prices.
Yes, the Pre war Limited was “encroaching” on Cadillac, and at the top end. THAT couldn’t stand. Every once in a while it happened at Cadillac’s lower end, (The 1958 Limited being a couple bucks more than a Series 62…) But never again was it allowed at the high end.
I only recently realized the center nose styling of this generation of Toronado (and the next gen) were probably meant to resemble the “coffin nose” of the Cord 810/812, their American FWD forebear.
The early Toro wheels resembled those of the Cord as well.
I have an issue of Road Test magazine that contained a test of a ’69 Toronado and a ’69 Riviera. In the test of the Toronado, which occurred during an unusual episode of heavy rain in So Cal, the tester mentioned how the car was extremely stable in slippery conditions. They also mentioned that the car could climb a long, steep, leaf strewn driveway without incident. Other cars would end up spinning their rear wheels.
The writer said that he thought the car’s new styling was an improvement over the previous fuselage styling. To each their own, my preference is for either the ’66 or ’67.
In comparison, the Riviera was a conventional car in every respect, smooth, quiet, and easy to handle. One of my classmates’ parents had a ’69 Riv which I got to ride in quite a bit. We rode three across in the back seat in relative comfort. Another classmate’s folks had a ’68 Mustang coupe. It was a bit tighter back there, but not too bad. Of course we were young teens at the time.
I never drove a Toronado, but my ’66 Riv felt like a larger muscle car. While my ’71 Riv felt like a slightly smaller Coupe de Ville.
For a long time all my cars were FWD, between minivans and Hondas, then I switched to all RWD. I have one FWD cross over and the rest are RWD, I can feel the difference in driving and prefer the RWD vehicles, but the FWD Flex is fine driven at legal speeds.
The chain thing has changed in 50 years. I have seen chains on the front of rental Mustangs more than once, and just this winter saw a Tesla Model Y with chains in front only. Yes, I know sometimes chains on the front (or all corners) of an AWD car makes sense for some situations but I don’t think that was the case here, and Tesla is very clear that chains should be installed on the rear only.
I can’t believe that more than 5% of the U.S. population would know how to install a tire chain today, even if it was on the wrong wheel.
I’ve long wondered why the ’71 Eldorado looks so much larger and bloated than the Toro and Riv. There’s 4″ more length and little difference in height, but the Cadillac looks like it has taller fenders. The higher trunk is a major culprit on the Eldo, but it doesn’t hurt the Riv. Did people complain about the ’67-70’s small trunkspace?
By 1974 the Toro didn’t just offer FWD, high-mount brake lamps and anti-lock brakes, but also driver and front passenger airbags. This was serious safety tech for that era; too bad GM and Oldsmobile barely promoted any of it.
The chart in the magazine states 3290 Oldsmobile dealers in the US. That like 65 per state. I would imagine the Northeast and California had the bulk of the dealers; and probably 65 Olds dealers in southern California alone.
Now I understand why GM was in a rush to dump Saturn, Pontiac, and Saab during bankruptcy. It could walk away from franchise agreements with impunity. Recently, it push Cadillac dealers out of the picture with EV capital expenditures requirements.
My 1972 Riviera “Silver Arrow IV”. Real car, but on this photo I lowered the roof, as Bill Michell had intended it to be. A few years ago I removed the aftermarket fender skirts, and changed the vinyl top from blue to white. All original car including paint – except for my custom fabricated and removeable front and rear panels and roof reflectors, mimicking the Silver Arrow III. In my opinion, these sort of minor changes, change the character of the car completely. Being the best looking of the Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac personal luxury cars of 1971-72.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
1966 Toronado came first, then the 1967 FWD Eldo, so Caddy copied.
And, the ’71-’78 Toro was planned with same era Eldo. Not “imitated”. And Caddy is a GM brand, on top of the ladder. So what? The 1950’s Caddys looked a lot like Chevys, but they are GM cars, big deal.
That flat floor was actually a real boon for long trips on the Interstates as the driver could shift leg position when cruise control was on, we had several 1st Gen Toros and that was a very nice feature to have on a long drive.