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Did anyone else see what happened on Mecum yesterday, both cars no reserve and went for IMHO peanuts. Shocking. Lesson here is don't risk alot to save a little or this is what can happen, in these two cases it did. Both were decent cars, but just didn't draw enough interest at the auction.
Last edited by BlueCalais79; November 11th, 2023 at 05:26 AM.
I think finding the next generation Of Toronado owners is going to be tough. Folks who really appreciate the cars and want to maintain them correctly. It’s already difficult enough for the hardcore Toro fans.
I think finding the next generation Of Toronado owners is going to be tough. Folks who really appreciate the cars and want to maintain them correctly. It’s already difficult enough for the hardcore Toro fans.
Exactly. We are all getting older. Toro fans are a minority to begin with.
The '66 actually went for $5500, but I see your point. I looked at the photo of that car, and it has some issues. Bubbles of rust around the wheel wells which suggest possibly significant unseen rust, and there's something off with the paint. The best view of the problem is this one, especially right above the rear wheel where the reflection is. The paint looks grainy with a matte finish. The other end of the car looks better, but this car is likely to need a repaint.
Then there's the front seat. People don't cover the seats with this sort of seat cover unless the seat is in poor shape. So that suggests some front reupholstering is in order.
But overall the car does seem decent. The '66 is the most desirable year of any of them, and someone is getting into the Toro hobby at a reasonable price.
Regarding the '71, all I can say as the owner of two second-generation Toronados, I can understand the low price. For all the Toronado coolness of front-wheel drive, and while the sales of the second-generation Toros were really quite good back in the day, they're just not seen as highly collectible now. Olds turned the Toro from a personal luxury/sporty coupe into a living-room-on-wheels boulevard cruiser that was really a complete change in styling and target audience from the '66 to '70 models. Sales of the '66 models were pretty good, but for '67 the sales were barely more than half of the '66's, and Olds, as the story goes, was close to dropping the Toro after two years. Obviously they didn't do that, but they apparently felt a change was necessary. Sales of the '68 to "70 models were not much more than the '67, but the second gen models sold much better, with the peak year for Toronado production of any model year being 1973 when just under 56,000 were made.
So anyway, the second-gen cars don't get much respect in the collector market, and they usually sell for quite modest prices.
$3000 with a 455 under the hood, sold at Mecum. It's a boat. But for that little, I could have had some fun with that one.
Imagine the seller selling that for three grand and fees. Looks super clean. Looks super ugly. What a great winter car. 455. Front drive. Awesome winter car. Buick colors ugly but three grand? ❄️❄️❄️
The model change of the Toronado from 70 to 71 is worse than the Cutlass from 72 to 73.
For everyone except Oldsmobile. As I noted, sales of the second-generation Toros significantly outpaced the first generation cars. If your goal is to sell cars, that's what you want. I'm thinking, if Olds had not made the change, the Toronado might have been discontinued a few years later rather than lasting all the way to 1992.
Something else that Olds might have done to improve sales of the first-generation style is to offer more body styles. This sentiment was expressed in customer satisfaction surveys back in the day. If you wanted to take advantage of the front-wheel drive traction and handling, your only choice was a two-door coupe with an essentially unusable back seat for anyone but small children. If Olds could have offered perhaps a four-door or even a wagon with front-drive, sales overall might have been much different. But, of course, so would the cost involved to do so. But as long as the only body style was the one offered, it was destined to remain a niche car.
For everyone except Oldsmobile. As I noted, sales of the second-generation Toros significantly outpaced the first generation cars. If your goal is to sell cars, that's what you want. I'm thinking, if Olds had not made the change, the Toronado might have been discontinued a few years later rather than lasting all the way to 1992.
Something else that Olds might have done to improve sales of the first-generation style is to offer more body styles. This sentiment was expressed in customer satisfaction surveys back in the day. If you wanted to take advantage of the front-wheel drive traction and handling, your only choice was a two-door coupe with an essentially unusable back seat for anyone but small children. If Olds could have offered perhaps a four-door or even a wagon with front-drive, sales overall might have been much different. But, of course, so would the cost involved to do so. But as long as the only body style was the one offered, it was destined to remain a niche car.
This is true. There is an inverse relationship to a car popular at the time and its popularity as a classic car 50 years later, it seems.
I've often wondered if an owner would actually bid and win their dramatically underbid no reserve cars back which essentially would involve basically paying the fees.
What I've always thought was interesting about the '71 (and '72 and '73) Toronado was the location of the grille. It's not between the headlights but rather is below them in the bumper on each side.
Olds did this for only three years. In '74, it was back to the conventional grille location between the headlights, although it was definitely a subdued grill.
I think one of the reasons I dislike that generation Toronado is because of the poor location of the grilles. My training, occupation, schooling, and most of my hobbies deal with automotive engineering, so I'm definitely a form follows function person, and that form just chucked function out the window.
November 11th, 2023, 04:07 AM
