Hi all I’m new to the forum and am looking to buy a barn find 78 Toronado XS with 60000 miles on it. The original owners son is selling it. Rear quarters had some rust and someone leaded them and primed them but they look pretty good. Interior unfortunately had a rodent chew on some areas so areas so it will need arm rests etc. Currently not running but it does turn over. Asking price is $600.00.






Anything I should look for that I should look out for or walk away from?

 

My friend had a 78 XS in 1980 - I loved that car - very classy

 

Neat car...
I believe those rear bumper tail light fillers will be impossible to find.

 

You should be able to get those bumper fillers. Be aware that they will require modification to install properly. One of our members, @jaunty75 installed reproductions on his Tornado.

https://ekbumperfillers.com/

 

yeah I believe there are a few options for reproductions out there for around $100 per side

 

Here I am!

Yes, in 2017 I purchased a ‘78 Toronado XS in pretty much the same condition as this car, but I paid considerably more for it, about $2400. But it had a good ownership history that I thought made the extra money worth it.

I purchased mine from the son of the second owner, who had purchased it as a two-year-old used car in 1980. The car was originally sold by an Olds dealer in North Miami, Florida. The second owner drove the car until 2003, when he decided to park it. So it sat under a car cover outdoors in Florida until 2017. The second owner passed away in mid-2016, and, after settling affairs and all, the son had it brought to his residence in Georgia. But then he decided he didn’t want to try to bring the car back to life, so he put it up for sale.

Here's a photo from the seller showing the car being pulled from the Florida muck and loaded on a flatbed to be brought to Georgia shortly before he decided to sell it.





Here's one of the photos from his craigslist ad after he had cleaned it up and listed it for sale. He said that, when the car was parked, it was in excellent condition. But time took its toll on the paint and the fender extensions.






He didn’t try to get the car running or anything, figuring he would leave that to the next owner. Which is where I entered the picture.

I had the car shipped to my home in New Mexico, and I proceeded to spend the next six months or so getting it back into good condition, including having it repainted.

Regarding getting this car started, it’s good that you already know that it turns over. Mine had sat for 14 years, and I didn’t know if it turned over when I bought. I put a big wrench on the end of the crankshaft, and it turned over fine, to my relief.

I then replaced all the quick things that needed to be done to see if it would just start. I changed the oil, replaced the spark plugs and wires (the old wires had rodent teeth marks on them), made sure there was coolant in the radiator, put a little gas in the tank, put in a new battery, crossed my fingers, and turned the key.

The car started pretty easily and ran ok, but I immediately notice a leak of gasoline from in front of the tank, so I quickly turned it off, and I didn’t try to restart it again for couple of months as I went about servicing everything on the car. The fuel leak turned out to be from one of the severely-deteriorated rubber fuel lines coming off the top of the tank. I replaced the tank and sending unit while I was at it. I also redid the brakes all around, had the radiator re-cored, put in a new alternator, changed the transmission fluid, rebuilt the carburetor, and many other little things I’m not remembering.

Regarding the ignition system on these cars, the ‘77 and ‘78 Toronados were the last two years of the second generation Toronados, but they’re a separate thing from the ‘71 to ‘76s. They used the new 403 V8, which replaced the long-serving 455. They also both had unique, one-year-only computer-controlled ignition systems. It is HEI, but the distributor is different with the coil sitting on top of the distributor, and there are “ignition modules” under the distributor cap. The ‘77 module is unique to that year and the ‘78 is unique to that year. In my experience, I have not had to replace either. The module for ‘77 is readily available, but the one for the ‘78 is not available anywhere that I can find. If that ever failed on my car, I think my only hope would be to try to find something on ebay or a parts car, or try one of the ‘77 modules and hope for the best.

Ignition timing on these cars is not set in the usual way. There is no loosening a distributor hold-down bolt and turning it. Rather, you connect the timing-setting device to the computer, which is under the dashboard behind the glovebox, and to a fitting on the engine down where the timing marks would be located. I do not have this device, and I hope I’ll never need it. I’ve never had a reason to try to adjust the timing on either car.

These cars also have a non-standard temperature sensor which is connected to the ignition system as well and is part of what the computer considers as it adjusts timing on the fly. On both of my cars, these sensors, which are one-year-only and are not available as replacement parts, have long since deteriorated and are disconnected. But the cars start and run fine without them, so I let sleeping dogs lie and don’t worry about it.

Regarding the rear fender extensions, mine were deteriorated just like yours. This is very common on these and other cars of this era as GM wanted “give” in the front and rear bumpers to allow them to compress in low speed collisions and then rebound without damage. But they’re made of polyurethane, which crystallizes and hardens over enough decades, and they become brittle and break off.

I replaced mine with left and right extensions from a company called Replica Plastics. They are a stiffer fiberglass, but they do work. I had mine painted and installed by the body shop where I had my car repainted as part of the restoration process. I think they turned out great.

Here's a photo of the car after being repainted and with the replacement fender extensions installed.





Here's the place where I bought the fender extensions. I don't have any experience with any of the other vendors of these.

https://replica-plastics.com/product...quarter-panel/

https://replica-plastics.com/product...quarter-panel/


If you do get the car, one thing you might do is spend $50 and have the GM Heritage Center send you a copy of the original dealer invoice for your car. This is available only for 1977 and later Oldsmobiles because Olds didn't keep these records until that year. The invoice will show the original options on the car, original prices, when built, when shipped, dealer shipped to, and more. It's really quite cool, and it establishes exactly what options were on the car when it was built.

Here's the invoice for my '78. I also obtained the invoice for my '77.





And, yes, these cars were darned expensive, even for the time. The XS option alone added $2700 to a car with a base price of just under $8900.

One thing kind of cool to note about my car is the VIN. Note the last six digits, 700005. The last six digits are the production sequence number at the plant where the car was built. Through 1978, all Toronados were built at Lansing, and serial numbers every year started with 700001. So my car was the fifth Toronado off the line for the 1978 model year, which is in keeping with the very early ship date of September 14, 1977. The body cowl tag shows an assembly date code of 08C, meaning third week of August, 1977.


Good luck with the car. At the $600 asking price, you can hardly go wrong. As has been noted, the back glass alone is worth more than the car. I see them for sale on ebay from time to time for around $1000.

 

A couple of other things.

The XS option was, as noted, expensive, and it was ordered on only about 10% of the Toronados made each year in 1977 and 1978.

1977
Brougham Coupe: 31,371
Brougham XS Coupe: 2,713

1978
Brougham Coupe: 22,362
Brougham XS Coupe: 2,453


My totally unscientific observations on these cars as they have come up for sale over the last seven years when I started paying attention shows about a 50/50 split between XS and non-XS 1977 and 1978 Toronados coming up for sale. The XS's are seen as a more preservable, collectible model.


The "bent glass" or "hot wire" technology used to produce the rear glass with the sharp corner was used on several other GM models in the late '70s and early 80s. It was not used on any other Oldsmobiles.

Here's the rear end of a '79 Chevy Impala two-door (the bent glass was never used on a four-door, as far as I know). The rear window on any of these other cars was never as dramatic-looking as on the Toronado, in my opinion.






Another interesting thing about the '77 and '78 Toronados is that they were the first Oldsmobiles, including 98s, ever to be offered with air-conditioning as standard equipment. You'll notice in the invoice above that air-conditioning is shown on the options list, but it's only a $45 upgrade to the "Tempmatic" air-conditioner. The base A/C unit was called "Four-Season." Comfortron was also available as an upgrade..

If you ever take this car to a car show, be prepared to have no one have any idea what it is, to have only a few people to have ever heard the word "Toronado," and for half the people who see it tell you that you have a "nifty Eldorado."

 

All excellent information and I really love the options these cars came with. This one was a one owner car and was purchased new by the seller’s uncle. Has 91000 original kms so about 58000 miles. I did confirm the engine rotates well from the starter and compression is 120 to 130 across both banks. No spark so I’ll have to dig into that. Still green coolant in the rad, engine oil looked really good and trans fluid was nice and red.
I bought her and she’s home now. I’m usually a muscle car kind of guy but this car really excites me!!
it also came with a ton of maintenance records and factory brochures and manuals.

 

Very cool documentation! Good luck with the car!

 

You did well. All that car with all that documentation for six hundred bucks? As jaunty says, how do you go wrong?

 

How does a car survive that long in FL without getting flooded at least once? Regardless, your Toronado looks sweet now. Rarely see these, even in museums.

Looks like the OP got a deal. I remember paying $1000 in '85 to snag my '69 Toro. Less than 100K mi, only minor rust around the rear wheel wells, clean interior, frosty A/C.

 

They are definitely worthy of the Grey Poupon!

 

They're still available from what I see.

 

Looks like a good deal!! Jaunty, I read thru all your info on those Toros. Very interesting, even as I don't own one, loved the read.

 

Here's a couple of pages out of the 1978 Dealer Showroom Album.

Note the very first item listed under "Standard Equipment." I was also wrong about something I said above. Comfortron A/C was not offered on these cars. If I had to guess, I'd say that, after a decade of trying to get the cantakerous Comfortron system to work well on its cars, Olds finally gave up and stopped offering it.

 

Good luck with it. I only owned one, the 68. Loved that thing, If the pavement was wet, you could smoke 'em at a 20 tromp!

 

My rich high school friend for high school graduation 1974 got a brand new 74 Toronado from his dad - it was medium blue in and out - amazingly luxurious and excellent highway cruiser ! (I was amazed to see the lever in the back seat area to open the front door !)
His older brother in 1971 got a new 71 Cuda 440 6 barrel 4 speed for high school graduation. (one of 108 made that year)
My cousin for college graduation in 1978 his dad bought him a new Eldorado.

 

Outstanding, wasn't really aware of them. Got a place now for my 74 H/O if I need fillers, thx for that info!

 

I've confirmed 12v to the distributer on the Bat wire with key in run position and the coil will be tested next. I'm suspecting the ignition module under the cap is faulty. That being the case a switch to an non-MISAR distributer is most likely the way I'm going next.