I'm putting the finishing touches on the restoration of my '66 Toronado's interior. I am in need of a few miscellaneous trim parts. Could someone recommend a good source for these parts. Are there salvage yards that are known for parting out Toronados? Any member of the Forum parting out a '66?
Specifically, I need to replace the broken plastic trim pieces on either side of the folding armrest in the center of the strato-bench seat. I also need a piece of the metal trim that goes around the mat on the driver's side floor. I need the piece closest to the door that is curved and heads upwards towards the bottom of the dash. As for the plastic armrest pieces, has anyone made repros of these?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Greg McDonnell
'66 and '85 Toronados

 

www.toronado.org . Good place for a Toro guy to hang out, if you're not already there.


Also need to know if you have standard or deluxe (strato-bench) interior as there are differences.

 

Hello Greg
I have a 1966 Toro I plan to part out this spring. I think I have the metal your describing around the floor mat. If you'd like to see photos contact me at jmcneel@mcn.com

 

My car has the Deluxe interior with the strato-bench seat. Sorry, I failed to mention that as I should have in my original post.

 

2blu442: I tried contacting you at the email address you provided but I received a message stating 'access denied'. Please contact me at 66luxuryliner@bellsouth.net. Thanks!

Greg

 

Hi Greg.

Just a few thoughts.

The metal trim around the rubber mat on the drivers floor is a one piece metal frame housing the rubber and secures everything to the floor with several concealed screws. If yours has a "separate piece", then someone has cut it for some reason or another. These things are a pain to install and remove so maybe someone damaged it trying to do either. I know of no one that repops these so finding a used one is going to be the order, but in any event you will be getting the whole thing.

Your woes for plastic door panel sections are not uncommon for Toro cars as folks cant seem to pull on the straps but rather find the cups ahead of the armrests more easy to close the door with. The plastic panels are huge and when removed GM used a lot of reinforcing ribs behind them but not in the right places to prevent damage from being pulled on. Typically, Toro will have the drivers plastic ruined and in a lot of cases the passenger panel in pretty good shape I guess because of the frequency of use. A couple of screws go directly to the metal door frame and some folks assumbe they do not and pry too hard trying to get the panels off as well and lead to damages. Years ago I made an inquiry to Just Dashes in California, and while they claim to be able to restore these, the price was pretty unreal. To date, I have not found anyone who repops these pieces.

I do know of a fellow who just bought two 66 cars. I will send him your address if you give me confimation to do so. Maybe he has something to help you out. John

 

Hi again. Just a tip for your consideration when doing a Toro restoration. Another part that falls victim to damage is the small S strap chrome trim moldings that wrap around the front of the armrest plastic. These are often found damaged along with cracked panels in the same areas.

The S strap moldings are concave on the backs. Prior to installing these trim pieces, if you cut a 1/4 inch wide strip of heavy guage tin, form it to the contour of the piece and then embed the strip and fill the molding back with JB weld, these pieces become incredibly strong. You fill not quite to the top edges of the piece to allow for the bit of recess needed for the piec to fit snuggly to the curvature.

Another thought is to install tin pieces in the areas on the back of the panels where you found the damage on your previous panels and embedd them to the back of the panel with epoxy. This gives a lot of strength to those areas as well and will help mininmize cracking on your restoration.

Along the top of the armrest is another area that is prone to cracking. There is a thin 1/8 gap running along that area when looking at the back of the panel. Forming a piece of wire into this gap and then filling it with expoxy will help strengthen that area as well. A straightened out coat hanger wire works just about right if no other heavy wire is available. Hangers are made from different guages but the lighter ones work well.

All of these are completely hidden and add a lot of strength to the weakest areas of these panels. Once you are fortunate enough to have all these nice pieces, going a bit farther with these steps will greatly help in making sure they stay that way.

 

John,

I am most appreciative for all your comments and helpful suggestions. I will print them and keep them handy when I remove the door panel to have the upper portion recovered in the same NOS vinyl as the seats are getting.

The piece I am speaking of on the floor is metal (mine is black to go with the dash) and curves upward towards the underside of the dash. There is one in place on the right side (towards the center of the dash) but the one nearest the door is missing. I can see how it connects so it must be a separate part. I have photos of it I can email you if you send your address to me. Mine is 66luxuryliner@bellsouth.net.

In my original post, I mentioned the armrest with the cracked plastic pieces on either side of it. I was referring to the folding armrest in the center of the seat. I will go back and edit my post as I did not make that clear when I typed it originally.

Thank you for your interest in helping me and please pass my email address on to your friend who recently bought the two 66s!

Greg

 

There is a guy with a salvage yard in Missouri parting a '66 now on eBay, sorry I don't have a link at the moment. The body is rusty and he already pulled the motor but he may have some things you need, he seamed fairly low on prices. Good luck.

 

Thanks Graniteman! I contacted him and am got back in touch with me. He needed a photo of the parts I need. I sent the photos and am waiting for his reply. I hope he has what I need!

 

You're welcome Greg, if you're not already a member you should consider joining the Toronado Owners Assc.
It's a site strictly for Toronado owners, you can check it out at www. toronado.org
Also let me know if you need any help with your car, I've been into Olds for 35+ years and Toro's for 30 or so. I'm just starting to work on my '66 that I've owned for 8 years. Good luck with yours