The All-Inclusive 1969 Oldsmobile Toronado, Available On Hemmings.com

When Oldsmobile got the green light to build a coupe on the second-generation E-body chassis, they went all-in on the chance to join the fight in the personal car segment that the Buick Riviera had picked with the Ford Thunderbird in 1963. Stylish and swoopy, the Toronado, like this 1969 example up for auction on Hemmings.com, certainly had the looks to draw eyes, but it was the list of luxury appointments and the offer of a front-drive powertrain that gave buyers something to investigate. Known as the “Unitized Power Package”, the system was composed of one of Oldsmobile’s larger-displacement Rocket V-8 engines mated to a TH425 transaxle that was designed with many components shared with the TH400 rear-drive automatic transmission. Front-wheel drive, with a flat floor, all the amenities you could possibly check on the options list, and somehow Olds even figured out how to appeal to the speed deviant in the form of the W-34 package, which included the 400 horsepower 455 cu.in. V-8.

When the Toronado appeared for 1966, the shape had to catch people off-guard. No vent windows! That sloping fastback shape! Add in the fact that front-drive hadn’t been seriously considered by an American manufacturer since Cord went under in 1937 and you would think that Oldsmobile would’ve had a runaway hit on their hands. The Toronado wasn’t a failure by any means – among other accolades, Motor Trend named it their 1966 Car of The Year. But with the introduction of the Cadillac Eldorado in 1967, Toronado sales were cannibalized. Aside from the W-34 and Toronado GT packages, the only real adjustments to the Toronado came in the form of yearly visual updates.

That unique shape still holds up over half a century later. There’s no hiding that the Toronado is a large car, at nearly eighteen feet long and a curb weight pushing precariously close to the 5,000 lb. mark, but the style is clean and smooth and that light gold paint (which is Topaz per Oldsmobile’s nomenclature) still gleams with the kind of class that endeared the brand to consumers in the 1960s and 1970s. Inside the Toronado, sink into the big broad bench seat and take notice of one of the more visually unique instrument panels to come out of General Motors. The instrumentation is simple enough (speedometer, fuel gauge, a bevy of warning lights and a mixture of buttons, switches and rockers for everything else) but the “slot machine” speedometer is sure to raise eyebrows. Don’t think about it too much, however. Just enjoy all that uninterrupted legroom.