For Sale: 1975 Oldsmobile Toronado Brougham - $8,000 - Sioux City, IA - Not Mine

[58L-Y8]

For Sale: 1975 Oldsmobile Toronado Brougham - $8,000 - Sioux City, IA

1975 Oldsmobile Toronado Brougham for sale by owner - Sioux City, IA - craigslist
Seller's Description:

Selling 1975 Oldsmobile Toronado Brougham.  Front wheel drive, new steel radiator, new exhaust with catalytic converter, new front brakes and new tires. Headliner is immaculate and dash has no cracks. New Battery, temp sensor, heater valve, valve cover gaskets new, oil change, new oil pressure switch.  455 engine automatic transmission. Runs like a champ. Power seat, power antenna, power windows, tilt steering wheel, cruise control. All original no mud and rust is very minimal almost none. See pics for mileage.
Contact: (712) 3-8-nine-7-nine-8-3
Copy and paste in your email: fed61015491e32da8e797a5232a0fb76@sale.craigslist.org

I have no personal interest or stake in the eventual sale of this 1975 Oldsmobile Toronado Brougham.

[alsancle]

That interior is something you would only see in the 70s.

[rocketraider]

It got "more" for 1976. This pattern is called "LaMancha". Look close and you can see the pinwheels and windmills.

 

and 1977 which I can't remember offhand what it's called.

 

🙂

[B Jake Moran]

AC just needs a charge. A $3,000 charge.  

[John_S_in_Penna]

I like those Toronados, and this one appears to be

a very good example.  I also like the color combination,

which is seldom seen on a Toronado.

 

In person, I noticed that the rear legroom is scant--

noticeably less than in an Eldorado or Riviera.

It would not be comfortable to sit there.  This picture

gives a glimpse of that back seat footroom:

 

13 hours ago, 58L-Y8 said:

 

 

 

[suchan]

Clean car, but what's with the misshapen opera windows?

[EmTee]

I recall a friend of mine in high school demonstrated an impressive front-wheel burnout with his mother's very similar Toronado... 

[rocketraider]

Color is called "persimmon". Good color with a lot of metallic that really pops in sunlight. I usually see it combined with a tan or white vinyl top though.

 

A good description of 74-78 Toronado is "overwrought". The 71-72 cars are cleaner with better proportions and jewelry, which made those huge cars look at least a little graceful. 1973 still looked fairly clean but the federal bumpers didn't do a thing for them.

[bryankazmer]

55 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

Color is called "persimmon". Good color with a lot of metallic that really pops in sunlight. I usually see it combined with a tan or white vinyl top though.

 

A good description of 74-78 Toronado is "overwrought". The 71-72 cars are cleaner with better proportions and jewelry, which made those huge cars look at least a little graceful. 1973 still looked fairly clean but the federal bumpers didn't do a thing for them.

And « overweight. ».  The smogged engine turned lots of gas into a modest amount of power. 

[B Jake Moran]

2 hours ago, suchan said:

Clean car, but what's with the misshapen opera windows?

Good catch.  I would be pretty sure to say the stainless trim has been messed with and now can not be pressed back into place. 

 

It does catch one's attention and not in a good way.

[B Jake Moran]

2 hours ago, rocketraider said:

Color is called "persimmon". Good color with a lot of metallic that really pops in sunlight. I usually see it combined with a tan or white vinyl top though.

 

A good description of 74-78 Toronado is "overwrought". The 71-72 cars are cleaner with better proportions and jewelry, which made those huge cars look at least a little graceful. 1973 still looked fairly clean but the federal bumpers didn't do a thing for them.

Glenn, 

As a lover of these big cars, especially the 66 (67) - 78 era Toronados and Eldorados, I can enjoy all years but I certainly understand why GM said enough is enough and downsized for 1979.  

To me, Oldsmobile lost it's way with big cars in the 1970's and focused on the Cutlass, which was one of, if the not the best selling car in America from about 1974 to 1986.   I don't have exact numbers in front of me.   

So Oldsmobile kind of went along for the ride with the largess that became the 75-78 Eldorados.  

As to John's comment that the rear legroom seems limited, I would expect it to be the same as the Eldorado, so perhaps these seats are all the way back to show the dash area.    I am 5'4", so whoever is in back of me in this car would have acres of legroom.  

But, ultimately, this was the era of American excess where, if manufacturers wanted to - they could create several more feet of interior space, which they did 20 years later, as well as tighter engine compartments.  

I like Persimmon, like the interior color too, overall really like this car but I am not a buyer. 

[ramair]

I own all four generations of Toronado’s.  
My opinion of the second generation is the 1978 is my favorite , I have owned a 1972, 1973, 1976 and 2 @1978. The 1977 and 1978 had what Oldsmobile fans would call the 403 engine a small block. They used a simplistic version of computer command that would advance the spark for fuel mileage and it had the ability to retard if detonation was detected. This made the car pretty perky and to me it felt more powerful than my 1976 with the 455. The second generation was a really big car, Oldsmobile went to the B body for this series. The first , third and fourth were E bodies.  The front seat was really a six foot wide sofa.  I could drive these for 800 miles per day and not be tired, of course that was 40 years ago, not sure if I would want to do that anymore.  I still had that 78 when my present wife and I were dating, she named it

“Boatus Maximus” 

[rocketraider]

Fuel economy and weight reduction were ascendant in late 70s. Amazed me the big E cars lasted as long as they did but I guess GM was trying to amortize as much of their cost as possible, since they were fairly low production.

 

A good friend married into a Culpeper VA family who operated Graves Mountain Lodge resort. Bob Graves always had Toronados and when my friend married his daughter in 1977, Bob had a 76. He usually got a new one every two years but he hung onto the 76 an extra year after he heard the 79 car would be smaller. When he bought his new 79 his comment was "about time".

 

They lived on top of Graves Mountain and Bob told me it could get hairy trying to maneuver the 1976 up and down that twisty narrow driveway.

 

That chromed plastic extrusion GM used on fixed quarter windows in 70s wasn't the most durable thing but it was cheaper and lighter than the stainless pieces it replaced and was a little more forgiving when trying to fit it over vinyl roof fabric. As it aged it would shrink, twist, crack and do all kinds of hateful things. 

[John_S_in_Penna]

53 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

That chromed plastic extrusion GM used on fixed quarter windows in 70s wasn't the most durable thing... 

Thankfully, it is being reproduced.  I bought some

for my 1974 Eldorado, where it is used along the rear.

I think it would be the same item for the Toronado.

It's available from the supplier "Caddy Daddy" in

Napa, California:

 

https://www.caddydaddy.com/cadillac-plastic-chrome-trim-reproduction.html

 

[rocketraider]

It's being reproduced for the 74-77 GM Colonnade fastback and formal coupes too (73 used stainless). The killer is to make it work on the 1974 Hurst/Olds, you have to cut 😬😫 your brand new piece of plastic in two spots to make it fit the Hurst's altered quarter window opening.

 

Yah, that's what the conversion shop did when they made the Hurst/Oldsmobiles, but they had racks of the plastic mouldings. Mess one up? toss it and grab another one.

[John_S_in_Penna]

29 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

It's being reproduced for the 74-77 GM Colonnade fastback and formal coupes too (73 used stainless).

That's interesting to know about the stainless.

It should be much more lasting than the plastic version,

but is it available too?

 

I could see someone wanting to use stainless in a

restoration, rather than the similarly appearing plastic-chrome.

[Ed Luddy]

Anyway you look at it that's a lot of car for very little money! I like it.