1983 Oldsmobile Toronado Convertible - Help!

[Dan Wilson]

My grandfather recently passed away and owned a car dealership. In his inventory we found a 1983 Oldsmobile Toronado - it is a 2 door convertible. He had a handwritten note that only 50 convertibles were made that year. We are having a very difficult time trying to find the value of this vehicle and were hoping someone from here could help. I'm not on this site often so I was hoping someone could email me to help me find a place to find the value...

my email is dane_wilson73@yahoo.com

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated...

Dane

[Guest DKjellin]

Dane,

I don't know if you are still monitoring this thread, but I, also, have the '83 Toronado convertible. My car's story goes something like: A car dealer in Kansas retired and requested an '83 Olds Toronado convertible. The factory said they weren't being made for 1983. My car has been referred to as a COPA (Custom Order Production Assembly?) car. When I run a simple VIN search, it comes back as "Special" or something like that.

I would really like to get an idea of it's worth, also. Is it a $2,000 fun car to take out when the weather is nice, or is it a $20,000 car that should be saved for only major occasions?

Anyone else want to tell their story?

[Guest Joe_Varley]

Toros were converted to convertibles by Hess & Eisenhardt in Cincinnati, Ohio. I know they made them from '80 to '63, maybe longer. I was a salesman at Fred Stecker Olds in Euclid Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, and Fred usually drove Toro convertibles. He had many while I worked there. The term is COPO, normally used by Chevrolet, meaning a "special" model built at the GM factory in small quantities. Toro converts are not COPO cars. They are standard production cars sent to H&E for conversions. Olds and other GM divisions also sent cars to Hurst for T tops, and to American Sunroof in Detroit for T tops. These were modifications, not COPO cars. Cars like 427 Camaros from '67 to '69 are true COPO cars. I thought the Toro VIN numbers did not change since there was no separate Toro convertible model from the factory. If in very nice condition they are worth maybe 2-3K more than a comparable standard Toro. Several have been offered on ebay the last few years. Nice cars. Hope yours is nice and you enjoy it.

Joe Varley in AZ

[NTX5467]

In addition to the Toro convertibles, there were also similar Buick Riviera and Cadillac Eldorado convertibles (all on the same GM platform). I liked the Olds versions the best, but the Eldo looked pretty nice, too.

As nice and unique as these cars tend to be, their value has been "down and flat" for quite some time, compared to some other vehicles. Many of the Rivs I've seen for sale over the past 10 years have been priced at what you might expect for a nice car, but don't sell for extended period of time. I suspect they end up getting "given away", money-wise, as the then-current owner needs to move the car and get on with things. Hence, some good bargains. Certainly NOT a "buy low, sell high" investment by any means, though!

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467