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I was lucky enough to buy a 77 Toronado from a friend whose father was the original owner. It has only 45k miles, has always been garaged and is untouched. I haven't touched it yet either, but do want to replace the only defect I've found. The plastic-like components immediately forward of each tail light were brittle and have been removed. I think these are extenders. I found replacements from Replica Plastics. Have any of you had experience buying or replacing these parts?
I believe that Jaunty used them when restoring his 78 Toronado XS. I recall he was very happy with them. Perhaps he will chime in with his experience. You can see his results on his thread in this forum
On the other hand on my 77 Toronado, one of my rear bumper fillers had a hole in it. The cure was to have the body shop fibreglass cloth it and sand it smooth. You can also see the results in my thread here.
I would not be too quick to give up on your existing fillers until you have had a body shop check to see if they can salvage them.
Thanks for the note Byron, I'll look forward to hearing from Jaunty. Unfortunately, the fillers had been removed carelessly by a clueless repairman, I found the shattered remnants - wasn't that a rock group? - in the trunk. A local resto shop told me they had done similar work with fiberglass replacements that required many man hours to fit correctly, they quoted $1000 to replace and finish them. I think I might want to tackle that project myself instead.
I bought my Dad a set of those extensions from the same company for his '76 Toronado, back in the early 90's. He put them in himself and they fit fine. In fact, he never even had them painted, because with the beat up paint on his car, even with them just gray looked better than the torn up originals.
Mind you, my Dad was a definitely not a bodywork guy. He could bolt and unbolt things to swap in/out, but bodywork was not in his skill set.
When he replaced that car with a '77 model, the extensions went to the new one. Again, he did it himself, and it turned out well. When he had that car painted at Maaco, they had no issues.
Good luck with your new to you '77! Post some pictures when you get a chance.
I bought my Dad a set of those extensions from the same company for his '76 Toronado, back in the early 90's. He put them in himself and they fit fine. In fact, he never even had them painted, because with the beat up paint on his car, even with them just gray looked better than the torn up originals.
Mind you, my Dad was a definitely not a bodywork guy. He could bolt and unbolt things to swap in/out, but bodywork was not in his skill set.
When he replaced that car with a '77 model, the extensions went to the new one. Again, he did it himself, and it turned out well. When he had that car painted at Maaco, they had no issues.
Good luck with your new to you '77! Post some pictures when you get a chance.
thanks for the encouragement I'll give it a try and let you know
Drove the car home after checking the fluids, belts, hoses, tires and topping off the coolant. Then immediately to the shop after watching the radiator gushing coolant. A week later, the shop could not find a replacement radiator so sent mine out to have it re cored. Won't see the car again for maybe two weeks. Grrrr.
I wanted to start work on the extenders and on restoring the paint, but now I have to be patient.
I took some pics before driving it home and have now uploaded them here to my album. Hopefully it is available o everyone.
Welcome to the wonderful world of '77 Toronado ownership. I believe all of the folks on here that post for their '76 through '78's have found themselves in the same position.
It baffled me that there wasn't an aftermarket radiator that I could order from one of the usual car parts suspects to drop in. Nope. Recore was the way we had to go.
It'll be worth it. It's a great road car, and you definitely don't blend in with the crowd.
No doubt about it the radiator for these mid 70's Toronado's were real oddballs in terms of size. Not even an Eldorado rad of the same vintage would fit. As long as they can re-core your unit your are in good shape. Actually the rad is really a minor inconvenience on these cars. Wait until you have issues with engine quitting and trying to track down whether fuel delivery, carb or ignition are the culprits. The unique MISAR system on these cars can make you crazy some days but there is a solution for that as well.
I did the back ones about 5 years ago and they took very little work to get them to fit. Definitely fit them before painting them. A hair dryer or head gun makes them flex pretty easy if needed.
I just got the front ones about a few (6) months ago but have not had time to install them yet They were just starting to crack last fall but falling apart pretty bad now.
Just joined the group...picked up a '85 Toronado over the weekend. Pretty good shape but of course the rear bumper extenders are missing. Just ordered some from Replica Plastics as suggested. But i also noticed that I'm missing the driver's side bracket to hold it on. Any suggestions?
June 4th, 2019, 09:12 AM
They were just starting to crack last fall but falling apart pretty bad now.
