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Beautiful paint job and car. I recently bought a 1977 XS that also needs the rear bumper fillers. Could you tell me where you bought yours and if you are satisfied with them? I too would like to get a build sheet and/or a copy of the original invoice (did they have window stickers then?) if you can help with that too. Thank you!
Jaunty has not posted on here since July of 2021. Most of us are wondering what happened to him. I doubt you are going to get an answer unfortunately. Welcome and good luck with your car. Start a build threat and keep us posted with your progress.
If you do a search on our site you'll see that there are numerous threads on these bumper fillers and suppliers. As I recall, most supplied aftermarket bumper fillers require modification to fit properly.
If you do a search on our site you'll see that there are numerous threads on these bumper fillers and suppliers. As I recall, most supplied aftermarket bumper fillers require modification to fit properly.
They're not the flexible polyurethane or whatever the original material was, but rather a stiff fiberglass, but they did work fine. I had the car painted, and the body shop did the installation and painting of the fender extensions. I don't know what kind of modification the body shop had to do to get them to fit, but he never commented to me about it, so I assume it was straightforward.
I had them installed and painted in July of 2017. I took some photos of them yesterday, and here's what they look like about 5.5 years after installation and painting. Still pretty good, I think. (The chrome there is a bit pitted, but we're not looking at that!!)
I've got a bit of experience with the '77 and '78 Toronados. Let me know what questions you might have, especially if it's about finding parts.
I too would like to get a build sheet and/or a copy of the original invoice (did they have window stickers then?)
To answer these other questions, yes, they had window stickers back then. Do a "1977 Oldsmobile window sticker" search on google images, and you'll see what they looked like. Unless the one for your car is still with the car, there is no source of a copy of the original.
As far as a build sheet, those were often left in the car at the end of the assembly line, and, if it is to be found, it's often taped to the top of the gas tank, tucked in under one of the seats among the springs, inside one of the doors, under the carpet, or in some other equally inaccessible location. People who find one for their car usually do so in the process of doing something else which requires disassembly of the car. Keep in mind, though, that, of the several Oldsmobile assembly plants at the time, the Lansing plant was noted to be meticulous about NOT leaving the build sheet in the car, so it's very rare to find one in a Lansing-built car. Until the 1979 model year, all Toronados were built at Lansing, so the chances of you finding one are about zero.
One thing you might find is something called the "Broadcast Card." I have this for my '78. The previous owner had found it under the rear seat among the springs. It's sort of a very miniature version of a build sheet. It notes the options in some categories, it shows the body number, the upper and lower body paint colors at the upper right (79 and 79 in this case). The 79 paint color is carmine red, a sort of dark maroon, which is the color of my '78.
On the upper left is the month and day of what I assume is the day production of the car started? Or maybe the date the card was printed? Anyway, the date is 08 16, which is August 16, 1977, so this car has a very early build date. That's consistent with the car's VIN, which ends in 700005, which means that, in theory, my '78 Toronado was the fifth one built for the 1978 model year. The dates shown for the dealer invoice of the car are consistent with this, as is the date code shown on the cowl tag under the hood, which shows a built date of 08C, meaning third week (C) of August (08), which would be August 1977.
By contrast, my '77 Toro has a very late build date of late May 1977. So my two Toros, being of '77 and '78 model years, were built only three months apart. I have not found a broadcast card for my '77.
Speaking of the dealer invoice, you CAN get one from the GM Heritage Center. We're fortunate in that dealer invoices are available for Oldsmobiles of 1977 model year and later. They were not kept for 1976 and earlier, much to the chargrin of most of the people who post on this site. Instructions on how to get one are on this page. As it says in the last sentence on the page, all you do is send them an email giving the model and vehicle VIN, and they'll tell you if they have the invoice for your car, which they probably will. They'll then send you a form to fill out, which you return along with payment method, and after a week or so, you'll get an email from them with a pdf of the invoice. The invoices for each of my cars cost $50, and I'm guessing the price is still the same today.
Here's the invoice for my '77. Note that the XS option was pretty darn expensive at $2,550. Only about 10% of Toronados built for '77 and '78 were XS's.
They're really pretty cool. All original options are listed along with their list prices. The lower right has all of the add-on charges, and the lower left has various dates. My car left the factory on May 31, 1977. At the very bottom left is the name of the dealer to which the car was sent. In this case, it was Lloyd Ketcham Oldsmobile in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Ketcham Olds was a long-time Olds dealer in the area, being in business from 1950 to 1993. I even found his obituary. He died in 2008 at the ripe old age of 97. Selling Oldsmobiles must be good for your health!
Lastly, you might consider joining the Oldsmobile Club of America, or at least the Toronado/Aurora chapter. The chapter puts out a bi-monthly newsletter, and the OCA has a great monthly publication called Journey with Olds.
There is also the Toronado Owners Association, which is a separate club and which produces a very nice, glossy, bi-monthly magazine called Front Wheel Driver.
One more comment, now that I'm thinking of it. The '77 and "78 Toronados each featured one-year-only ignition systems that do not feature a typical HEI system as was found on other '77 and "78 Oldsmobiles. Even though the 403 engine was available in other models (Delta 88, 98, Custom Cruiser, some Pontiac models, and maybe others), none of those cars used the Toro's ignition system. On your '77, assuming it still has the original ignition system, you'll find a "pulse generator disk" (toothed wheel) attached to the engine with an adjacent sensor that picks up the pulses and is used to set engine timing. You'll find a seemingly out-of-place cable running from the area of the carburetor fuel inlet going down in front of the engine to the sensor. It looks like something an amateur mechanic rigged up, but it's actually factory. (All of this was done away with for 1978, and a new, one-year-only ignition system was used.)
Here's a photo showing the disk and the sensor. No, you are not imagining things if you see these.
If you plan keep the car for any length of time, I strongly suggest you get both a '77 Olds Factory Chassis Service Manual and a '77 Fisher Body Manual as they will have the information you need to service the car. You'll want both because some things, like many of the electrical components (power windows, power door locks, power seats, etc.) are covered in the body manual, not the chassis service manual. These are usually pretty readily available on ebay, and make sure to get original, paper copies, even if they're a bit dog-eared and have greasy handprints on them. Copies on CD are just scans of original paper documents and are never as good.
Enjoy your car! They're cool as hell, and the XS option is a real standout. The "hot wire, bent glass" technology used to get the sharp corners was also used in '77 through '79 Chevrolet Caprice and Impala two-door models, If you have the car out in public, be prepared for people nowadays to have never seen a '77 Toronado and probably have never heard of Toronado at all, and many will think it's a Cadillac Eldorado.
Last edited by jaunty75; October 30th, 2022 at 07:41 AM.
Here's a '79 Chevy Caprice with a bent-glass rear window.
It wasn't as dramatic a thing on the Chevys as it was on the Toronados, where it actually bent around and basically formed a side window.
On the Chevy, the glass extends only about as far forward as the front edge of the package shelf. On the Toronado, it extends about 8 inches or so forward of the rear seat back. Sitting in the back seat of the Toro (assuming you could fold yourself into it!), you could actually turn your head and look out the rear/side window. That's not possible on the Chevy, which still had a wide C-pillar and had more of a half-size side window for the rear passengers to look through.
Last edited by jaunty75; October 30th, 2022 at 08:04 AM.
Thanks for posting all the info Jaunty. That Chevy reminds me of the later Chevy Monte Carlo Aerocoupes. They had rear glass reminiscent of the XS Toronado.
That Chevy reminds me of the later Chevy Monte Carlo Aerocoupes. They had rear glass reminiscent of the XS Toronado.
I hadn't hear of this model. Very cool. Here's a pic of an '87 Aero Coupe (I found that it's actually two words). I don't know if it's the same technology, but it does look very similar.
I am happy to hear you are alive and well and now have two! Thank you for the pictures and f/u and as I get further into the Toronado groove I am sure I will have more questions for you. BTW, we use to live in Albuquerque so it is a small world!
Wow - thank you for the time and expertise. I already bought the 1977 Oldsmobile Service Manual, all series. Hopefully that has a lot of the information you mentioned. I will keep you guys posted. All the help is very appreciated.
No argument from me. My '77 is white, and it has blackwalls. It's an altogether not unattractive look, and I've received compliments on the car, but I will put whitewalls on it the next time it needs tires.
Jaunty, I like the look of your Toronado with black walls but agree that the white walls are more appropriate. I wonder what white walls Dennis has on his Toronado? I put Ironmans on my 96 98 and they look pretty good. Not a super thick white wall like the 50s cars, but not a tiny pin stripe either.
Olds64 The tires I have on there now are old and came with the car when I bought it, I am doing the brakes now and will be going with Suretracs (1.5") when I change out which are the same ones I have for my Eldorado. Unfortunately the 225-75-15's are out of stock now and have been for months. For my 94 Olds 98 I will be going with a thinner whitewall like on my 94 Cad Deville which I believe is 1".
Beautiful paint job and car. I recently bought a 1977 XS that also needs the rear bumper fillers. Could you tell me where you bought yours and if you are satisfied with them? I too would like to get a build sheet and/or a copy of the original invoice (did they have window stickers then?) if you can help with that too. Thank you!
My '77 did not need the rear fender extensions. My '78 did, and I did buy the ones from Replica Plastics at the link you show. I think they turned out great. They are the stiffer fiberglass, but no one would know without touching them, and they sure beat nothing at all.
Regarding the '77, I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing the extensions are replacements. They guy I bought the car from in March 2021 had owned it for less than a year, and I don't know the history before that.
One way to possibly tell is to note where the pinstriping along the top of the rear fender ends. It should extend all the way onto the extensions to the very rear of the car. But I've seen situations, such as on your car, where the pinstriping ends just before the fender extensions, which suggests the pinstripes were re-applied after the car was painted, and whoever put the pinstripes on either didn't know better or didn't want them extended onto the extensions.
Here's the back end of your car. Pinstripes do not extend onto the fender extensions.
Back end of my '77. Note where the pinstripe ends.
Here's the back end of my '78. I had it repainted, and I had the shop run the pinstripes all the way to the end. But he didn't bring them to a point like they are on the '77.
Hi Jaunty! I bought them from Replica Plastics too. Thank you for the info and pics. They are motivational since the car looks so much better when they are installed. Interesting that the plastic on the rear of the actual bumpers was also different colors - white on the white cars and black on the burgundy one. There are a few more urgent projects on my list, but with some luck I will get them installed soon!
October 24th, 2022, 03:27 PM
Pretty cool for a car that's not an Oldsmobile.
