I'm so happy to have found a living olds-forum!
It's so helpful to have people giving advice with problems.

Sorry for my tongue, I'm living in Switzerland and nativly I'm speaking german (well, some kind of).

In the 60-s we hav had a GM-plant here in Switzerland and the assembled a number of GM models there. So I have a genuine "swiss" '68 Olds Toronado with docs back to the first delivery - bought it 8 years ago from a guy living at my street who had it from his father - the first owner.

If interested, pics are here http://www.haeschen.ch/hasler_family...id=9&Itemid=15

Robert

 

Robert,
Welcome to our site. That is a really nice, well preserved car that is as beautiful now as it was forty years ago. I really like the color and the interior. Nice car.

 

Robertoho, Very nice Toro, welcome to the site. You will find there are many Toro owners on this site willing to give you information

 

Thanks for the regards - and the compliments!

This car was indeed a lucky finding - it was so close to me, at the same street in a garage, and I did never see it on the road. I find it by an ad - and then see the address. And it was a very affordable buy! In my eyes the Toros from 66-69 are quite underestimated - especially the 68/69.

So - what must I do next that I am allowed to post a new thread - in the correct forum????

 

Welcome aboard

I believe you need 5 post and or 2 days. It wass done to reduce spam on the site.

What I would give for some raclette, ah the aroma of raclette next to a fire in Switzerland. Would you e-mail me some?

 

Jamesbo is correct. Three more posts for you and you have full registered member freedoms.

 

Funny - at that moment I came back from lunch with collegues and we took a cheese fondue for once. And actually I stink like a pile of swiss cheese...

 

Okay, so let me waffle more about that iceblue toronado.

It's a real survivor. It hast more than 250'000 Km on the counter (more than 150'000 miles) and still has the genuine engine in. In that 40 years one of the owners only did:
- repaired rust at the wheelhouse by replacing about 2" of sheetmetal around the edges
- replaced the transmission chain/belt of AT at rear side of TH400
- replaced several times the carb (don't know why...)

I bought it in 2001 in good condition. All original, just a HiFi system added (but wonderbar still in).

 

Again, you have a real gem there. I really like your car.

 

I made just minor repairs since 2001:
- replaced leaking heater radiator
- sticked 67-Toro fender writings to front-fenders since 68-writings are not available
- replaced one front rim that cracked slowly, beginning from the center, around 120 degrees along the circle-fold and ending at a lug hole. It took me long to find that!!! Just hearing strange noise while driving...
- last autumn replaced all shocks, joint ***** of front suspension and complete exhaust system (it's a quiet car - like original)
- and of cours a lot of small parts an details, cleaning, painting and so on...

-currenlty I wait for another Q-Jet carburetor. The one that was on was assembled from at least three different types and worked but not very well. With cold engine there was smoke and not running proper and it also does not run well with higher rpm. And finally the inlet threading crumbled out.

 

welcome

 

Waffle away

 

I have not heard of the wheel cracking issue before. A little scary, glad you caught it before it went.

 

If you're interested in the wheel-cracking-thing ... here's the picture. I marked the crack with white dots. It's a bit different than I said - it's a while ago. Most of it was under the wheel-cap.

 

don't see that on a car verry often. glad to see you caught that, coulda got messy in a hurry

 

That is wierd. In the 50 years I have been working on cars I have never seen this happen.

 

Must've been a fault in the material. I've no idea how long it took to become that long.
But I remarked it since it started producing a nasty noise while rolling into a turn. I first expected defective wheel bearings - and then found that.

Fortunately there was still the spare wheel in the trunk (with a very, very, very old, stone-hard tire on it :-) that allowed me to replace it (not with THAT tire of course). Later I got another from a part-yard over in USA.

 

Welcome Robert!
(Very cool name BTW...)
Very cool Toro - a nice piece of Swiss Olds history!
Glad you caught the rim failure in the right time!

I was in Switzerland for 4 days 3.5 years ago - I loved it. We took the Bernina Express across the Alps - memorable for sure.
I brought back the usual koo-koo clock and 10 pounds of chocolate.
When we went to a cheese shop and asked for Swiss Cheese, all we got were lots of laughs - they did not know what we were wanting! We ended up getting Gruyere, as were were in the city of Gruyere...
Anyway...
Again, welcome!

 

Gueyere is w-o-n-d-e-r-ful in Gratin Dauphinoise. Ooops, I for got Rob, you've got r-12 in your fridge and don't cook.

 

The Gruyere I brought home was for immediate consumption, and immediately consumed it was!

 

Bernina Express was a perfect choice! It's one of the best trips you could do here in this little country.
And the swiss-cheese-thing is funny! Big, typical missunderstanding - we have hundreds of kinds of chees - and all are "swiss cheese". Gruyere is very well known and typical - no bad choice.

Gruyere is the name of a rural area (the small towns name is "Gruyeres") where all the cows live that make the milk for that cheese.

I was several times in USA - last time in may 08, riding route 66 on a harley. And what one will get in USA put in sandwiches and called "swiss cheese" - orks... that may give you a very odd imagination about swiss cheese.
I prefered to collect impressions about american steaks...

(Oh man, you really bought a koo-koo clock? I can't believe that...it's not even a tasteless swiss souvenir, no, it's a tasteless german souvenir... next time take one out of choclate, then you can eat it at least.)

 

Robert,
It seems that in the US we have labeled the pale almost tasteless white cheese with holes in it as "Swiss". Don't know why but it has happened. A co-worker was born and grew up in the state of Vermont and they are known (among other things like maple syrup) for cheese and dairy products. He tells us about things like certain cheeses gain their taste and popularity for the cows of that region. Interesting.
I own a Koo-Koo clock that my father bought in 1962 when we were in Germany on his first tour of duty with the US Air Force. It is really pretty nice except for it's age and state of dis-repair. It no longer keeps time and the bellows are worn so the koo-koo sounds more like a foo-foo. One of the antlers are broken too so the deer on the top looks lop-sided.

 

Hey Robertoho, Welcome to the cheesiest Olds forum around.

Cheez-Wiz is a fine gastronomic delight in America. What type Nachos should you use with that Gruyere stuff?

I just scrapped a perfect original steel wheel that was leaking at the weld.
I've broken down and changed hundreds of tires and have never seen one cracked like that, but I haven't seen a lot of things. Probably just a bad piece of steel to begin with like you said.

Isn't it Cuckoo Clock?

 

Cheez-Whiz - had to consult wikipedia - HELL: that's a saucified cheese! I'm really shocked!

That's like hamburger-icecream or beer with raspbery taste! May be you can glue things together with that...

Gruyere is stored about a year in caves at high humidity - and is quite hard at the end. And you wouldn't eat it with nachos but may be with freshly boiled potatos, just with a bit butter and salt on them.

That's a very traditional meal here - and it includes not just gruyere, but 4-6 different types of cheese that one can choose in every super-market where they have a selection of at least 50-100 types.

Cheese is a bit like wine. There are numberless small producers everywhere in the villages and they all make their own cheese as speciality which is a very little different from the others - beside they also make "normal" cheese with more common names - like "emmenthaler" or "tilsiter". And that's not just a swiss thing, that works that way in all teh countries around here, in italy, in france, in germany, in austria. So there are so many kinds of cheese as are many kinds of wine.

But not one of them is in a glass as a sauce....

(PLEASE - don't tell me now, that you HAVE beer with raspberry taste over there!!!)

 

Cheese Whiz isn't even cheese.

Several months ago, I was in a fancy dancy store. I was looking for the Stilton at the cheese counter when in walks this lady who looks like Irene Dunne and looks as mean as a gut shot Grizzly. She start picking up cheeses and pitching them aside and says, "
Were's the caved aged Ementhaler.................I bet they're out of it again. Damnit, I just got my rye bread and my Black Forest Ham and I wanted a Ham and cheese sandwich wtih Cave aged Ementhaler." I mean this lady is hot under the collar over her desire for cheese.

So naturally I have the seize the opportunity to be a wise a$$ and say, "Does it come in a spray can?"

Sorry, I can repeat what she said to me. But it wasn't very lady like.

Robertoho, This is the junk I was refering to and it isn't cheese either.

 

My ladyfriend enjoyed some cherry beer over in Belgium when we did that long tour of Europe! Tasted like a wine cooler, not beer. My favorite beer was in Germany; not sure what is was.

Our Gruyere was a little softer than Parmesan. It went well with almost anything. We bought it at a little cheese shop in a small town surrounded by fortress-type walls. Over the walls, the cows were happily grazing fresh green grass. I miss Switzerland...

I always thought cheeze-whiz in a spray can was a test tube invention made for convenience. Hmm... Put crackers in mouth, chew for 5 seconds, spray with cheeze-whiz, chew for 5 more seconds, swallow, repeat... No spreading utensiles required!

Aren't the koo-koo clocks (TX spelling) in Switzerland the colorful ones with the dancing figurines and all the cute moving parts? I got mine soon after we got down from Mt Stanserhorn. I thought the ones with just the bird are German ones. Geez, we must have been ripped off...
The airport checkpoint security guys got a kick out of that clock in my carryon bag...

 

It is not cheese but the convenient can shape fits in right amongst my cans of R-12!
I think there is a whipped cream spray can in there that is as old as the R-12...

 

Welcome Nice Toro

 

I won't ask what the whipped cream spray is used for

 

I noticed the photos were on the 'Family Hasler" website. Are you related to Karel Hasler, the Czech film Director and World War Two hero?

 

Wow very nice, the car looks absolutely gorgeous

 

No, don't think so. "Hasler" is a common name here and typical swiss - lot of people have it.

 

I always wondered, who ever would buy those clocks...

They are toys. Souvenirs. Nobody has one here since there are many other, TASTEFUL clocks available (except in the childrens room cause they like the bird coming out and laugh every time )

Could there be a demand for koo-koo clocks with little 442's in rose and bright blue coming out and horn for the number of hours?

 

Goofy American tourists...
I bought a hand carved German clock with just the bird, but I thought the other ones were neat (yet childish I admit)...

If they came in other colors also, YES!
I have a Harley Davidson clock and lamp that has really cool sounds on the hour and the lights light up... The model bike on it is quite detailed, too.
I would love to have an Olds koo-koo clock though... Make Chevy versions also and they would sell like hotcakes here...
There's you a new business opportunity!

 

All of this just proves that we are all still a bunch of kids playing with our toys. PS can a 57 olds with a connie kit fit in the Koo-Koo clock?

 

Lambic Framboise, is a Raspberry flavored beer. And... it's awesome Doesn't taste like beer, it tastes like jam. fantastic desert beer with icecream!

 

Welcome! I'm newbie too... In Switzerland where? I ave a uncle in Geneve, ad a friends in Zurich.

 

Welcome from the Missouri Ozarks Susan & Larry vintageozarks.com