Oldsmobile ‘Flame Red Car’ Toronado

HBD 55 The classic American muscle cars are always interesting to talk about. Besides having a distinctive shape, these cars usually have a powerful performance to match the name. And among the many models of muscle cars, there is one that we think is interesting to discuss, namely the Oldsmobile Toronado.

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado stems from a design drawing of an Oldsmobile stylist named David North in 1962 and first launched in 1966. (Picture from: Supercars)

Well, the first generation Oldsmobile Toronado stems from a design drawing of an Oldsmobile stylist named David North in 1962. The design is dubbed the 'Flame Red Car' and known as an image of a sports car/compact car that was never intended to be produced.

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado's interior featured with cloth inserts, chrome sport wheels, power steering, power brakes, air conditioning, bucket seats, center-shift automatic and a factory 8-track player. (Picture from: Mecum)

However, a few weeks after the design was finalized, the Oldsmobile division was notified that they were allowed to build a personal car in the Riviera or Thunderbird classes for the 1966 model year, then choosen the David North's design to be built.

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado is powered by a 425 cubic inch Super Rocket V-8 engine produced 385 horsepower coupled with a three-speed TH-425 automatic transmission. (Picture from: Barret-Jackson)

Furthermore, for production efficiency, they decided that the design of the North car had to share the E-body shell with the 1966 Buick Riviera which had been redesigned and substantially has larger sizes of the Toronado design. This was possible because Oldsmobile and Buick were under the auspices of the parent company General Motors.

The Oldsmobile Toronado had won the 'Car of the Year' award in 1966  from Motor Trend magazine at the time. (Picture from: Pinterest)

Just for your information, prior Oldsmobile decided to use the Toronado name on the North designed car, there were many other names considered during its development such as 'Magnum' (later used by Dodge), 'Scirocco' (later used by Volkswagen) and also ' Raven'.

The Oldsmobile Toronado represents one of the automotive milestones of the 1960s and one of the most important models that Oldsmobile ever built. (Picture from: Pinterest)

For the powertrain, the Oldsmobile engineers chose the Olds Super Rocket V8 engine with a capacity of 6,968 cc to burst 385 bhp (287 kW) of power and 644 Nm of torque. This engine is mated to a three-speed TH-425 automatic transmission. By using the driving composition as mentioned above, the Oldsmobile Toronado is able to accelerate from rest to 60 mph (100 kph) in 9 seconds, and capable to run up to a top speed of 127 mph (205 kph).

1968 Oldsmobile Toronado featured with no less unique headlights hidden behind the front grills. (Picture from: Hyman)

Oldsmobile spent about seven years developing the Toronado. And before being introduced to the public, the car model has undergone more than 1.5 million miles of testing to verify the strength and reliability of the front-drive components it carries. After the design was completed, the Toronado was launched in the 1966 and had won the 'Car of the Year' award from Motor Trend magazine at the time.

1968 Oldsmobile Toronado handled quite well and could reach the then noteworthy top speed of 135 miles per hour. (Picture from: Hyman)

Uniquely after the first model featured with a typical flip-up headlights out of 1966, the next Toronado underwent a number of facelifts so that it displayed a different face of the front fascia in between the models of the 1966-1967, and 1968-1970 was also featured with a larger-powered engine.

Finally, the first generation of the Toronado was ceased in the 1970 and then replaced by the second generation which featured a much different styling starting in 1971. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | CLASSIC | SUPERCARS.NET ]

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