1975 Oldsmobile toronado 

Long Haired Country Boy by Charlie Daniels Band. Great song! Your channel is awesome!!!

The red reflectors on the doors were for an open door at night if you were parked on the side of the road. An oncoming cars headlights would reflect so the driver would see the open door. The white light was mainly an interior light but was helpful getting into the car at night.

I purchased this 1975 Toronado new off of the showroom floor, loaded for $8,900. Cream colored with the brown Cordova padded half roof with light brown unbelievably soft and well made interior. It was Definitely the most comfortable car that I test drove. I was going through tires pretty often and one day while having a CB radio installed I met a gentleman with the same model. He told me that he went with the largest radial tires that he could find and that solved the tire issue. I took his advice and got twice the miles out of the larger, wider tires. The car handled very well in all types of road conditions. Smoking the front tires wasn't hard to do and the large engine moved the weight easily and averaged 18 mpg. The girls really Loved this car also and we had some great times during these Disco, Bee Gee, Stayin Alive years. I really enjoyed your video, it brought back some Wonderful memories, thanks.

I’m glad you now have the opportunity to drive the car and let us see “what it’s like”. How about 30 seconds or so of the view inside, windows rolled up and let us experience the quiet. The ride smoothness and quiet were the big selling points back then. I remember the years of “pillow seats” covered in velour. 😂

My Grandmother bought both of her Toros, '72 and '76 Brougham from Frank Pultz Olds in Greensburg. Noticed yours from Arnold Palmer. And my favorite seat in the 76, the year of my birth was on the center armrest looking out at that long hood in front of me and seeing the "T" hood ornament.

You made a "Whoopsie". Oldsmobile had a 455 C.I. engine. Chevrolet had the 454. They are two totally different engines internally. - but I see a few people pointed that out! 😄

Really like these mid-70s Toronados.....even though some think they got away from the curvy, more pure late '60s stying, the '70s held their own for different reasons. Thanks for posting.

My best friend's Mom had a 73 Toronado. The view over the hood was awesome!

Red and white lights are there as a safety device for night time parking. the theory is that if your door is open in the dark, someone could drive their car into it if they don't have their lights on. The driver could see the door lights if they are on. However, it would make more sense if they were at the outer edge of the door instead. That dash is really clean!

These cars were designed as personal luxury coupes. Not really for families but great for rolling to the disco with your date...and as for the backseat, well no one ever needed to go back there...perhaps if you moved the front seats forward. Great video 👍

Good review! I had a'75, same color. Running perfectly, around town it got 5.7 mpg!! But super comfy. It's like a plush sofa with a steering wheel, and as safe as a tank! 😃

Answering, Red and White Door Lights. When the door was opened at night the White Light served to light-up the ground and interior, while the Red Light served to catch the eye of other drivers, like a taillight would. I'd like to point out the decorative headlight switch knob and radio knobs. GM had a way of making people feel special when they purchased one of their better cars, and the knobs in this Oldsmobile are one example. Jay, getting out of the rear seat. If you look at the lower right side of the seat back, you'll see that the seat release mechanism has broken off.

This big beauty is dripping with 70s kitsch and I love it! I've always found it fascinating how they styled this car to try and differentiate from the similar Eldorado. I think they did s pretty good job with this thing, and you can't argue sigh this color combo. Interiors like hat were designed for long distance cruising.

My grandpa had the same one except white with tan Top and interior. They had a strange smell, some interior material. I can still smell it. When he retired he bought a 500sel. I miss him still and hes been dead since'92

Toronado, the ultimate Oldsmobile from 1966-78 after 1978 toronado simply became another cutlass supreme with front wheel drive.

1976 was the last year you could get a 455 in any GM car. Also this year, 1975, was the first year for the rectangular headlamps on this car. Nice ride. Thanks for showing.

I owned a 1971 Toronado in the mid-1970s. It was an amazing car, and your observations brought back memories. Very powerful, but zero torque steer, due to an impressively over-engineered driveline. Very large but almost no rear leg room. And you could pull out to pass at freeway speeds and it would kick down to 2nd gear, remaining nearly silent as it accelerated briskly past slower traffic.

Toronados of that year had a 455 V8, not a 454. I am unaware of any adjustment for power steering road feel. Back in the 70s, these cars were made for road comfort, personal luxury and showing off. When I was in high school, Toronados of this generation were new and were quite common. They stood out just like the Eldorado. These cars were big, heavy and wide, and made no apologies while cruising down the highway at the Federally mandated maximum 55 mph speed limit. Gasoline in Texas in 1975 was 45 cents a gallon. With a 26 gallon gas tank, the Toro would take a measly $11.70 to fill a bone dry tank. Those were the days.

I never noticed this before but the front hood/grill design mimics the 1930’s Cord mentioned at the beginning of the video. I too like those upper brake lights that I know at least the Riviera shared.

I sure love/loved the pillow-y interiors of the seventies and eighties. Fantastically comfortable and much more so than most anything today. Now for sure they don't really hold you in the seats in turns, but these cars were not meant to handle. It was all about the ride. Good choice of a luxury barge. Distinct styling. Toro's had a very distinct roof line in the late '70s as an option. SX I believe. Oh by the way, this car had a 455, not a 454. Only Chevrolet used the 454 size engine. Your research material must have got it wrong. Thanks!

My mom had a 3rd generation one. Mom/dad looked @ the 1978's across the board. Caddy, Buick, Olds, Lincolns & Chrysler's. She ordered a silver painted one with light blue velour seats. Yes! had the "Oldsmobile ride" It was close to $12k when dad bought it. A month later one of the SSteel wheel covers came off on the freeway. Dad went back and was asked to return near closing time. LOL! Mom felt the car was "naked" with one cover missing. I love the "wrap around" rear window version of gen 2. You'd see a few out there. Glad you got to drive it Jay!

That is a seldom seen color on these. Thank you Sir

I only have a few regrets in life heading into my 60s next week and one of them is selling my 1975 white with burgundy interior and clean hard top ( non vinyl hard top).Best e-body. This car was rare, it had every option other than the half brougham vinyl roof.

When you think of it, the Toronado would be the first to offer an eye level brake light (x2) long before it became standard on all cars and truck beginning in model year 1986

Kinda on a binge of the content on the channel, and I gotta say, one of my buddies got one of these is decent shape but not to decent where he feels bad with how he drives it, and this car is pretty solid against most you throw at it, it'll push through snow up to the hood (he said never witnessed it myself but don't doubt it) and ram into hay bales going 15 mph pretty good, and the engine will keep running even when snow is packed into the engine bay, and the seats are about as comfortable as it gets(although the passenger side on his still moved even with the door closed, so you could still get from the back to the front), the steering and drift control is good, if you ever get the chance to get one of these in decent condition I'd highly recommend

The fourth red warning lamp reads “Air Cushion,” referencing one of the first production automotive airbag systems, the GM Air Cushion Restraint Systems, which were optional on the 1974 Toronado Brougham.

Hey Jay, The 66 Tornado was revolutionary & is now a timeless classic!!! This 75 is huge, luxurious & comfortable (unless you're in the back seat & you have legs)!! Thanks for sharing another fun video!!! 👍👍

First in the "S" in the shift quadrant is for "Super". This dates back the 2nd gen HydraMatic where the "S" position prevented the transmission from upshifting into 4th gear, giving the car super power and better throttle response. The "L" which you didn't mention is for Low as that was the only other forward shift quadrant, other than Dr., on the original HydraMatic. The transmission that the first Toronado and FWD El Dorado's used was a TH425. This is based on the first TH400, but because the TH425 was FWD, the helical cut gears in the planetary gearsets were cut in the opposite direction. Because there weren't as many TH425's(1966-1978) as TH400's(1964-on), there aren't enough TH425 spare parts to go around. Some have made the unfortunate mistake of using TH400 planetaries in TH425's and they were lucky if they lasted more than a few hundred miles. Oh, a beefed up version of the TH425 was made, the TH475, which was used in the GMC motorhomes. Buick, Olds and Pontiac engines were known as 455's, not 454's. Those were solely for Chevrolet as the division had to stay below it's siblings. The 455 is listed as having a bore of 4.126 and a stoke of 4.25. Even if it was a 4.125 bore, it is still larger than 454 c.i. The Toranados and El Dorado's were so heavy that it killed any advantage of front wheel drive. In handling, that weight made the car plow through turns, sometimes not following where you were steering. With a lighter FWD car, like a Ford Fiesta, it was impossible to spin-out as long as you kept the pedal floored. A car like you drove could get you stuck and buried in snow or mud as easy, if not easier, than a huge RWD car of similar weight. This is why it doesn't have torque-steer. I've never heard of a car where you could vary the power assist yourself. It was common to have a lever behind the steering wheel hub which was used for the telescopic steering wheel. If there is a variable power assist, it would be a friction clutch increasing or decreasing the ease of turning the steering wheel. However, a variable ratio power steering is in the gearing of the steering box. On center, any movement of the steering wheel results in quicker steering action. When turning the steering from the center position the gearing progressively changes making it easier to turn the wheel(like whe parking the car or going around a corner). Great video, as always! Thank you!

The 1966 Toronado was the first American car with a fwd automatic transaxle, previous fwd cars were manual shift.

The reason some vehicles use red lights or reflectors is for safety. The white is to light up the ground. You would find these on high-end vehicles.

Red and white lights are for when you’re getting out of the car on the side of the road to change a tire perhaps….or maybe parked someplace on the street, so traffic coming from behind you will see that open door a little better in the dark.

Tornado was an awesome unique automobile from its first model year, being such an auto enthusiast, I think there's something about every generation of it that I really like and appreciate. This one without a doubt has very nice styling and the interior looks so comfy cozy, I don't know if I'd rather drive it or sink into the passenger side and snooze 😊 I had cousin who owned an early 80s model tornado,and I rode in it once, back then when it was new, it too was an extremely comfortable solid feeling ride.

Pre-downsized seventies US cars were notorious for having inadequate rear seat room in two-door cars, including on enormous cars like this one. Ironically, when US automakers started downsizing in 1977, they worked to increase space efficiency and it really made a difference in rear seat room, even on two-doors, a trend that would continue even as they made cars smaller and smaller during the eighties.

What always amazed me about this second generation Toronado was the fact that so much of its sheetmetal is actually first generation Cadillac Eldorado with minor modifications. I guess they figured it was good enough for one more go around.

My first car! So awesome

Everything you said in the pros and cons is correct. In 1971-1972 the car horsepower race of the 1960's began to be cut off from the government mandates at the time, so the auto manufacturers had to sell other features to the public so the public would buy cars. They went for luxurious ride and seating as selling features. Also, the Oldsmobile in particular, was designed for the "Female Driver", so unlike the other GM cars, it had a castor of 0% instead of the typical +1% or +2% of the other GM cars. This was suppose to make driving easier for women. (As sexist as that sounds! LOL!) this results in a different ride for the Olds. All those hoses and wires under the hood included a lot of pollution restricting devices, like the charcoal canister and EVR valves that were not in cars prior to 1970. there was a lot of other experimental pollution control devices in these cars as well. Also, this car came out around the time of the 1970's gas crisis when America wasn't prepared for producing economy based cars, so getting 17 mpg was the norm unless you bought one of the British, German or Japanese cars of the time. I do believe this car was intended for a single person or a couple without kids...sort of a "Sports car with a bit of a back seat". 1970's thinking on these cars can be very strange to try and work out in our times. 🤓

Great review and video ! Please do a video review on the 1980s GM full-sized RWD cars. I love these full-sized personal luxury cars like the Tornado , Eldorado and Riveria .

One option that wasn't mentioned was that you could get an airbag in it, that was offered from 74-76, not a lot of people payed attention to it, but it was a rare option indeed

When i was 15 years old and in high school I was taken mechanics shop classes. I went to the local GM dealer and saw a 1974 Oldsmobile Tornado in the back a doctor had trade it in. This was in May the car needed a lot of work I went tobacco picking that summer when I came back I bought the car for $600. Had it towed to my local garage to pass inspection so I would know what it needed. They said about $1,200, of work I think the garage was charging $15. Per hour. I had turned 16 over the summer. When I was at school the garage called our house and my mother got to the call. I never told my parents I bought my dream car. When I go home the shit hit the fan… just wait till your father gets home…. Where did you buy that car? Your returning it my mother says …I said it’s to late. No she’s said they took advantage of you as you’re under age. This was a small town in northern Ontario Canada she called her lawyer friend Damn! I was so embarrassed we had my Dream car towed back to the dealer. Gave me my $600. I had made $2,000 that summer my mother said we are going to the bank and put that money in a GIC as the interest was 20 % this was in June 1981 I took $200 and bought a Fisher stereo. Now that sucks. As I just turned 60 My dream car 1974 Oldsmobile Tornado was red with white vinyl roof exterior with a matching interior. Gone forever. Cheers 🇨🇦

Hi Justin, thats a beautiful car. I like the model with the wrap around rear window also.

Great cars, the last where available with the expensive XS package that included the wraparound backwindow and power glass moonroof and with or without leather interior. Overal length 227.6 inches, wheelbase 122.0 inches but no room in the back. Customers seem no bother at all about this, it was intended as a luxury personal car. If was more space needed the Olds 98 and 88 could fix that roominess.

Had 1970 beautiful green with a white vinyl top 455 underneath the hood great looks unfortunately got stolen boy I love that car first first front wheel drive I ever drove he got around amazingly well in the snow compared to my 1970 Buick wildcat rear wheel drive still have the 455 in that the good old days

2) The red/white lights on the door were there to make an open door more visible to oncoming traffic, if you opened the drivers side door when parked on a street.

That 75 Toronado was more than 6700 in 75. My Folks bought Olds 98s then The first Toronado in 78. In 75 that Toronado was over 8000! Their 98 was 8300 and Toronados were about 400 more.

11:05 Not a great place to be if the car is on fire. I remember those electric seatback releases (before the inertia catches came in, starting with the '76 Chevette) , but with this car, you can't get to the door handle to open the door to release the seatback. I believe the Eldorados had a second door-opening handle toward the rear of the passenger's door. In all fairness, I suspect that open patch in the upholstery near the latch is where an emergency release should be mounted. I think with the 126" wheelbase, the Eldos probably also had more legroom.

There's a local person in my area. That has built motorcycle Trike from the front end parts of a Oldsmobile Toranodo. Interesting about that old car's whereabouts thesedays.

When I was a kid my friend Wayne was given this car by his Father, in this color! It was a land yacht! His had significantly more wear than this one. This is a nice example of a survivor. The velour cush seats were way more comfortable than the Chrysler Cordova's "Corinthian" leather! LOL

My dad was a Cadillac man but he did have a Toronado . He would let us teenage boys drive the Olds. That was ok with me, the girls couldn’t tell the difference. They were jumping in the windows.It must have been the crotch vents.

This is one of the best cars ever made for driving in the winter snow.

Jay, your spec on the engine of the Toronado. Stated 454, Chevys large engine 454. Oldsmobiles engine was the 455.

I own a 1978 toronado XS edition......... 77 and 78 only .............................. ....small block -4bbl -403V8 .... The 4bbl -455V8 ..from 71 to 76. .....was a BIG BLOCK MOTOR

Good Video but I think you meant Oldsmobile 455, the 454 was Chevrolet. And what you called the transmission is actually the TH-425 transaxle which also has the differential combined within the unit.

You opened the hood and then closed it really quickly without saying anything. Well, that big 455 with all the wires in there and the braces, I would have got intimidated too! LOL!

Red door light to alert oncoming traffic the door is open. White light to light the ground. Kinda simple

GMC used the entire front wheel drive package from the Olds Toronado to power their 1973 to 1978 GMC Motorhome.

Hi Justin, I watched this video after seeing your current 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, first American made FWD car since the Cord. I see when you had trouble getting out of the back seat of the 1975 Oldsmobile toronado, if you notice (watch the video) you will see a small seat back release lever located down low, that is broken off at this time. Please see my comment on your current 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, first American made FWD car since the Cord. Please reply. Dave...

Those red/white lights are there so an oncoming car can see them when the door is open. It is a safety feature

What a beauty!

The crotch vents you mentioned were called " Lap Coolers" by GM in the 70s, They might have had a patent on it as no other car maker could have the. Similar to Ford's Finger Touch cruise control mounted on the steering wheel. For many years only Ford could have that feature.

This baby looks more understated & refined than the 75 Eldorado. The outside door openers certainly seem unique; I've never seen them in any other GM car of the era. The negative of this car is the very limited rear leg room & the difficulty to enter/exit the back seats. I'd put this second on my list, after the 65 Riviera, as a design being clean, has a presence, but far less garish than Cadillac designs. Kinda like comparing modern Bentley to Rolls Royce.

my 71 Cutlass Supreme. I didn't even notice, until I read this, that I have Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, "Super", and Low:

Not a red light. A reflector. The doors are so big it has to have a safety reflector for opening at night. Imagine hitting one of those with a new compact car--you wouldn't even dent it.

1) I believe that torque steer results from unequal length front drive axles. If the designer takes pain to keep the axles equal, torque steer is not a big issue.

You have to move the seat belt when you get in the back! LOL! In my 1972 Cutlass, you can detach the upper belt from the lower. They might have changed that by 1975 though.

The 70's were sorry evolutions of many sporty American cars to me. I didn't like the bigger, heavier, fat cat merchandising. Anyway, I always like your reviews and pointing out the details of these boat mobiles.

I think it had the red/white light or reflectors on the door so when it is open people can see the huge door. Did you try maybe having the front seat moved forward for more room in back?

That was mainly a car for one person or a couple, and typically you would only put kids in the back. -But, if you did put adults back there, there was enough room in the front to move your seat forward to allow more legroom for the back passengers. My parents‘ Toronado had a lever to release the seat back, I’m almost sure of it. I think I see the slot for it in your video right now….maybe someone broke it off.

the red lights were so people driving at night and the door was open saw as a warning and the white was to illuminate car entry.

Red light on the doors were for drivers behind you could see your door was opening and to use caution

Torque steer is caused by unequal drive axel lengths. IIRC the early Toronados used a chain drive transmit the power laterally they had axle shafts of equal length. So no torque steer.

The Red reflector Inside door is for when door is opened at night so Traffic can see

They put those door lights on there so if you open your door on the side of the road or curb people will see your door is open and will avoid hitting you years before that car was built they wanted people to get in and out on the passenger side for safety

I believe the white light of course is so people can see in front of where they're stepping to get in the vehicle the red light in combination with the white light is to alert oncoming drivers when you open your door in traffic to let them know hey watch out you might have to stop person getting out of the vehicle.

1:30 I think the most remarkable thing about these cars was that FWD and RWD models shared the same platform. I can't think of another example of that which actually got built, though there was a prototype FWD Oldsmobile F85 that would have shared a platform (well, at least body shell) with the rear-engine Corvair, the front-engine-rear-transmission Pontiac Tempest and the front-engine,rear-drive Buick Skylark. It was never built and neither was a FWD version of the Ford Falcon, which was designed to accommodate either FWD or RWD.

I used to own a 1973 tornado.

Do you realize that you can increase the rear seat leg room by moving the front seats forward? The full size cars of this era had a rediculous amount of front seat leg room with the seat adjusted all the way back. Also the front seat backs on 2 door models had a manual lever usually located toward the bottom of the back of the seat for rear passenger to exit the vehicle. It appears to be broken off on this car.

The original 66 was a design and mechanical masterpiece. Never liked anything beyond the first 2 generations

Aye you have a typo, the Toronado had a 455 (not 454, which was a Chevy engine), 2 trivia manusha The 1st year of the Olds rocket 455 was 1969, I had an Olds 88 with a non rocket 2bbl carb 455 by Olds . Trivia number 2 the Toronado 455 engine and transaxle was put in and used by GMC motor homes. Torque steer on these Toronados was non existence due to the way the engine was mounted and the low engine horsepower, I heard on pre 71 models that there was slight Torque steer, again pre 71s had more power

The Toronado actually used the Oldsmobile 455 engine, rather than the Chevy/GMC 454. Still different from the Pontiac or Buick 455. Back then, each division still had their own engines. The transmission used was the TH-425. It was a weird bird, longitudinally mounted front wheel drive...derived from the THM 400. The reason it has no torque steer is that it employs equal length axle shafts. Subarus, with their symetrical AWD system also have absolutely zero torque steer. The TH-425 with the Olds 455 is the same powertrain, unchanged, used in the GMC Motorhome from 1972-1978.

We didn’t call these crotch vents. They cooled legs and lower body areas.

Jay, I like you Dude! I'm wondering if the bottom red lens on the "four" cluster to the left of the steering column is a "door ajar" light, as I'm sure this car surely had one. The 70s were certainly not the high mark for domestic automakers (mostly Uncle Sam's fault, I think) but I have a lot of good memories of my time in them.

I like your video, but need to make a correction....it had a 455 cubic inch engine. Having owned 3 generations of Toronado and one being a 1974 Toronado I can tell you Oldsmobile didn't use a 454 engine. The high mount brake lights were the answer to insurance company requests for safer vehicles....the pre-run to the 3rd brake lights found on cars post 1986.

I am sorry but need to make a correction to your narrative. That car has a 455 cid. Also the first fwd car was the Cord L-29 followed by the Cord 810 and 812.

Beautiful car! You need to review a 1966 Toronado, I think they were far prettier.

455 cubic inches guys. It's an olds

Red lights were a warning the door was open and of course the white light was to light up the area as they called it the light group.

I believe Olds considered the engine a 455; as did Buick and Pontiac (all different engines)…Chevy ran a 454…overall, good job!

Nice😀

no torque steer because its not transverse mounted...its mounted front to back, transmission is at the front on the back of the engine with a huge chain that drives the wheels...the engineering in this car and the Eldo was amazing...transverse is the cheap way to mount a front drive car..usually cheap 4 cylinder economy crap...

Telescope steering was an option....with the handle ...directly above the horn -...left 2 right 2 adjust THE LENGTH...of the steering column...(about 2 inches) It has absolutely nothing 2 do with the tension of the steering....period. With Tilt steering...also being offered as an option...an up and down adjustment BOTH on the column ...was also an option...with TILT being more commonly found on the TORONADO

Just My Opinion ,,The baby blue color on this magnificent Tornado ,,,,Does Not Do This Car Justice whatsoever, ,,,IT Truly Deserves the More Rich Color Of Dark Navy Blue Metallic ,,,the baby blue unfortunately is definitely Not an Eye Catcher .....Nevertheless Another Great Jay Video!!!

I guess the red door light was a warning to oncoming cars.

The S in PRNDSL is for “Super” not Second.

You wouldn’t get no loaded Toronado in 75 for 6700! No way. That’s stripped. I know because my folks bought 98s and toronados in this era and the 75 Toronados I remember and have a sticker on cost 8800!

The 1st gen Toronado of 1966 was a stunning automobile engineered to be a "drivers" luxury touring car with unique styling. But the Toronado was quickly overtaken by the "personal luxury" coupe craze that sweep over the entire auto industry. The 1967 Eldorado & the 1969 Mark III, ushered a fancy coupe frenzy that favored all-out luxury instead of sporty handling. For 1971, the new Toronado got the message and became a sort of Eldorado clone at a lower price point. Too bad the Toronado didn't have that Cadillac nameplate to boost it's prestige.

Red is ..don't hit me and white is so you don't step into dog poop.

Check out 1977 1978 tornado Xs and xsr with wrap around back window. I have a 77 xs

From 1970 forward / Oldsmobile 455 = Big block *ALL ELSE ARE SMALL BLOCKS*, Buick 455 = Big block **, CHEVY 454,402,396 = Big block ** but also had a 400 small block, Pontiac = 455 - 301 used the same block, Caddy 500-368 used the same block. Ford 460,429 = Lima Big blocks (Lima Ohio assembly) 428,390,352 = FE Big blocks and mostly truck use after 1969 ** with 2 versions of the 351. Chrysler 440,383 = Big blocks **.

omg i had a '75 same color same everything but i had a full white vinyl roof - traded a '73 in for it -how much

454 or 455?? Great video