In the next few days I will have one of the cleanest 77 Toronado's that I have seen. The previous owner wanted my Cadillac Sedan DeVille d'Elegance and asked me if I would be willing to trade. After thinking it over I said yes and the deal is done. I thought maybe one of my kids that was next in line for a free car would want it but no (she also turned down the 84 Town Car) Kids these days. It is much cleaner than my 78 XS but alas it's not a XS and if I kept it something else would have to go. It would be kinda cool though to have both at car shows and my wife is already asking when will it be here. I have not shown her pics yet, I want her to experience the real deal. Although I get regular offers weekly to trade for various cars I have, this is my first. She's Beautiful.








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Such a beautiful machine. Let us know when she arrives.

 

Will do, should be here by Monday!

 

That is a very nice car. I really like the color combo. Congrats.

 

Check out that trippy psychedelic couch interior!!😃

 

Gorgeous!!!!

 

Gorgeous car!

I have a '77 XS with the same color scheme, except with a white vinyl top.

The interior is called "Firethorn Red Lancelot Velour."

 

Thanks.

 

Definitely unique

 

LOL, I have some platform shoes, bell bottoms to match.

 

It definitely is unique, if it had a astro sunroof it would seal the deal for me to keep it. Sunroofs matter.

 

That's a really nice car, and has some nice options.

I have the gold version of that interior. I've always referred to it as "Disco Gold Metalic"

I found some OEM fabric for mine. I told my wife I need some pants and a vest from the leftovers after the seats are done.

 

That is a great idea, I would love to find some interior and have some clothes made out of the one for my XS, this one the material is even more funky even though I am not sure I will be keeping her.

 

That interior is officially called "Buckskin Lancelot Velour." Four of the five available interiors on the '77 Toros are "Lancelot Velour" of one color or another. Besides this one and the Firethorn Red, the other two are simply "Blue" and "Black." No idea what the "Lancelot" means. I thought Lancelot was part of the King Arthur story.

 

Thanks for the info, I'm sure not too many survived with good interiors.

 

Actually, my experience has been the opposite. Over the years I've watched craigslist, ebay, etc. for '77 and '78 Toros for sale, and they almost universally have great interiors. The exteriors might be iffy, but the interiors are often well-preserved except for perhaps the upper surface of the dashboard, which might have a crack or two if the car had been sitting out in the sun much of its life. But the seats are generally OK.

For '77, only the cloth interiors were offered. For '78, in addition to the five interiors offered for '77, three leather interiors were added. These interiors might be a little more deteriorated as the leather can dry out and crack. That's the case with my '78, which has a red leather interior. It looks good from 20 feet, but get a little closer, and the cracks can be seen. But I hate to do anything about it because it's original, and it's not that bad.

Olds, of course, had to change the names of all the interiors for 1978.

Black Lancelot Velour became "Black Legend Velour."
Blue Lancelot Velour became "Blue Legend Velour."
Firethorn Red Lancelot Velour became "Carmine Red Legend Velour."
Bucksking Lancelot Velour became "Camel Tan Legend Velour.:

Everything is a "Legend" now instead of "Lancelot.

The White Doeskin Grain Vinyl remained with the same name. How boring.

The three leathers were related to three of the cloth interiors in color and all were called "Sierra."

Black Sierra Grain Leather
Carmine Red Sierra Grain Leather.
Camel Tan Sierra Grain Leather.



Here's what I'm talking about with the leather interior on my '78. The seats look pretty darn good and way too nice to have them reupholstered. The circles show areas where the leather has cracked along creases. Way too minor to bother with. Maybe in another 45 years, when the car is 90 years old, my grandsons will get the seats recovered.

 

Another thing about 1977 Toronados you might want to be aware of is that they used a one-year-only ignition system. By this era, Olds and GM were trying to wring every last mile out of carbureted engines while reducing emissions at the same time, and both '77 and '78 Toronados featured crude (by today's standards) attempts at some computer control. The ’77 Toros did not use a standard HEI distributor. The distributor does not have a vacuum advance, mechanical advance weights, or a pickup coil and pole piece. Engine timing is not set by rotating the distributor. Rather, and without going into too much detail, the system uses a crankshaft sensor with which the timing is set, an engine coolant sensor (not just an idiot light, although there is one), and electrical controller and accompanying wiring harness.

The crankshaft sensor is located down low on the front of the engine and senses the crankshaft position by means of a toothed disk (called a “pulse generator disk”) that rotates with the engine. Timing is adjusted by moving this sensor following detailed instructions in the service manual. The wire going to this sensor is, to my mind, a very kludgy arrangement where it just comes out of the wiring harness in the vicinity of the carburetor fuel inlet and simply goes down next to the power steering pump and to the side of the water pump. This area is subject to heat, and this cable on my ’77 had seen much of its insulation either hardened or completely cracked and missing, and the wire was covered in grime. But the engine still ran. In my work on the car, I removed this cable and completely recovered it in insulation wrapped by electrical tape.


The yellow arrow is pointing at this cable that runs down the front of the engine. Unless the ignition system on your car was converted to a more conventional HEI system, which some people have done probably because parts for this system are not available today, you should find this wire on your car.





Here are the 1977 Toro-only devices you'll find down low on the front of the engine.




I have never had any issues with this system on my '77. The car starts and runs fine, and I've have done only one thing to the ignition system besides changing the spark plugs.


Here's the same photo as the first one above, but this time the arrow is pointing at the temperature sensor. It's not a typical temperature sensor with a single-pole connector that merely lights up a light on the dash. It's a 2-pole device that apparently measures resistance as an indication of temperature and sends that info to the computer, which Olds called the "controller." This sensor, of course, is not available now.

In my efforts to improve the running of the engine, I found that it runs much better if this sensor is disconnected. So that's how I leave it. I haven't found anywhere any instructions on how to test the sensor, and it looks fine visually, but I don't know for sure that it actually works. The service manual just says to install a new one if a problem is suspected. That's fine advice if it's 1977 but not so much if it's 2023. So I leave it there but disconnected. (It keeps coolant from coming out!)





Here's the diagram from the 1977 Olds service manual. "EST" stands for "Electronic Spark Timing."

 

Wow, very strange indeed. Too bad the temperature sensor cannot be bought any more. I wonder if that could be rebuilt or repaired?

 

Thanks for your insight. my 78 has a red velour interior. The one I like the most is the one you like the least. While I have only seen pictures, I love that white leather. It looked great in the pictures. I had twin 78 Biarritz's that were triple white and loved that white interior. Chances of me finding one are slim to non, besides I am not looking. I wasn't looking for the 77, it just dropped in my lap.

I spoke with the shipper yesterday and he said Sunday night or Monday morning to expect him.

 

So you bought the 77 to flip it?

 

Yes, no, maybe? I was proposed a trade for one that I have for sale and I accepted since it was much nicer than mine. I am getting down to 8 cars all are different, if I keep it one of the others has to go which would be a 77 Eldorado which is also very clean. The only way to know what I will do with it will see how much I like it when it gets here. It would be cool to have two with one being a XS.

 

Doorbell rang this morning just before 9am and woke us up, I'm thinking who is this ringing my doorbell and looked out the window and the shipper was here, I wasn't expecting him, car arrived safely except one trim piece behind the door. It was a good trade for both of us even though this is much nicer than my Caddy but he wanted it so we both are happy. Now the next couple of days I will decide to sell or keep, since it's not a XS and don't have a sun roof I am more inclined to sell.

 

Wow. A cornucopia of Toronados!

I'd keep the one with the LOVE sticker on the trunk lid.

 

I bought it because it is a XS, she's not going anywhere, just put a new fuel tank, sending unit, fuel pump, new hoses, carb rebuild in in the past 2 weeks. she's getting a new paint job just before spring. ,

 

The "LOVE YACHT" 👍👌

 

That is a great vehicle and clean as a whistle! If it runs as well as it looks, that's a wonderful acquisition. Congrats on a Toro beauty.

 

Unique collection there. Very nice!

 

It run as good as it looks, wish my XS was as nice but oh well, it's pretty nice too. Craig the previous owner has won multiple awards at car shows in New York. Definitely a good trade up on my part but alas it's not a XS so I won't be keeping her. If I didn't have a XS then I would definitely keep.

 

Thanks.