I’m arriving late to this custom wonder, which has been making its rounds around the web for several years and may be familiar to some CC readers. Still, it may be news to some and for those who are in the know, a short catch-up is worth a couple of minutes ain’t it?
In all, what you see is what you get, a rather outlandish custom job that mixes two road icons; that is, a 1969 Oldsmobile Toronado front and powerplant, with a 1966-1969 Airstream to create this far-out motorhome mashup that mixes RV and GM automotive haute couture into… err, a unique and unexpected whole.
Unsurprisingly, this thing has been an online conversation piece, with comments that go from hearsay to anecdotal, with much speculation on top. They ranged from it being the creation of a disgruntled Oldsmobile engineer, to being the result of redneck skills run amok. And from what I see, it’s often referred to as “The Airnado”. A rather fitting name.
A more recent online entry was, purportedly, done by the son of the crafty man behind the Airnado. As he told it, his dad was a GM toolmaker by the name of Wendell Atkins, who got the remains of a partially burnt 1969 Toronado bolted onto the 1966-1969 Airstream you see here. Naturally, there’s more to it than just welds and bolts, but you get the idea. Power for it was via a FWD V-8 UPP unit, in 7.5L displacement on this occasion, mated to a 3-speed auto.
Not quite sure when it went on sale, but it was certainly after it had gained, let’s say, an online following of sorts. An online commenter mentions it sat unsold for months on US 12 in Union, Michigan, with a rather eye-popping asking price and looking in very rough shape up close.
High cost or not, it did eventually change hands. From a YouTube video dated to 2023, new owner Mav went on a youthfully optimistic, “looking for adventure” drive across the Midwest to bring the vehicle home. The Airnado fulfilled the adventure part well, though it failed to reach its intended destination. Likely, the neglected maintenance rather than faulty “GM toolmaker engineering” was to blame for the botched journey, but well, old-stuff-is-old-stuff, and regardless of setbacks, it looks like Mav had a fun time. Plus, the Airstream accommodations still feel like they were a decent place to travel.
Newer photos show the Airnado in better shape, though that well being seems to be mostly cosmetic. After all, a later video shows the vehicle in the process of being turned into a stationary home rather than a running one. A turn of events about which I’ve conflicted feelings… How about you?
In my worst drunken stupor, I never envisioned such a thing! Hoy….SMH
Come on Will! What’s duh matterwith you! You know know you want GM to start making The Torinado Camper!
Who gee, I forgot, Oldsmobile has not been around since 2004..
As former owner of several ’69 Toros, I have mixed feelings. At least it’s nice that part of it still “lives”…sorta.
I was scrolling calmly down, seeing only the familiar roof of an Airstream, and poof! At the beltline, this improbable mix worthy of an AI-generated image. I close everything and head back to my second coffee.
Not such a far cry from GM’s own motorhome effort — a high end travel trailer mated to a Toronado front drive power package. The significant difference between the two is principally the presence to the passenger car nose rather than the integrated fiberglass shell of the genuine GM Motorhomes. This one doesn’t seem out of proportion or too ungainly, and I didn’t see many rough spots that raised a red flag. So long as the Toronado had front disk brakes, I would think that this would make a fairly usable set up. I certainly didn’t gag or look away when I first saw it, but sometimes I have a high gag-reflex threshold when it comes to odd or unusual vehicles or machines: I’m currently using a 1951 Marmon-Herrington Ford F6 cut down into a log skidder, which most people, at first glance, would think I had made a pile of junk to be recycled, but it looks fine to me and runs well.
I wanna see!
It would cause gawker accidents on the way to the camp site. Awesome piece of art.
I used to fantasize about this exact same mashup decades ago. But make mine a ’66 or ’67. This is what a Toronado was really suited for!
It’s too bad he chose to stick with the silver palette. If he went with red(ish), yellow, and tan this thing would be 90% of the way to looking like the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile.
Reminds me of the Oshkosh mail blasphemy.
I drove by that thing for months going to and from work. It did sit up in Union MI and I stopped and dreamed about owning it. I was kind of sad when it was gone. Freak show on wheels.
Scary looking beast!!
I love this but the #1 thing is to take down and burn that tatty American flag .
I’m insanely jealous of your no emissions boot gas nozzles =8-) .
Here’s hoping it gets touched by a competent Mechanic and returned to the open roads where it belongs .
-Nate
FWIW ;
This sort of thing used to be regular in the 1950’s & 1960’s. remember a nice ’48 Packard so changed and I nearly bought a ’56 Cadillac hearse that had a square 1960’s camper grafted onto it in Arizona .
-Nate
In some ways this anticipated the GMC Motorhome, which used the same Toronado power pack, wrapped in a streamlined fiberglass shell.
Sometimes, Redneck just works.
Yep, that’s right.
Ha haa. . . . . . use what cha got son.