1969 Oldsmobile Toronado 455ci Original Survivor Hide-A-Way Lights Low Reserve

Oldsmobile Toronado 1969 Description

Beautiful mint green Oldsmobile Toronado. This is a well maintained survivor car with lots of potential!The Toronado is historically significant as the first U.S.-produced front-wheel drive automobile since the demise of the Cord in 1937. The original Toronado began as a design painting by Oldsmobile stylist David North in 1962. His design, dubbed the "Flame Red Car", was for a compact sports/personal car never intended for production. A few weeks after the design was finished, however, Oldsmobile division was informed it would be permitted to build a personal car in the Riviera/Thunderbird class for the 1966 model year, and North's design was selected. For production economy, the still-unnamed car was to share the so-called E-body shell with the redesigned 1966 Buick Riviera, which was substantially bigger than North had envisioned. Despite the efforts of Oldsmobile and General Motors styling chief Bill Mitchell to put the car on the smaller A-body intermediate, they were overruled for cost reasons.1968 and 1969 Toronados share overall front styling, with the exception of the grille mesh. 1968 models feature a honeycomb pattern, while the '69s have have an elongated eggcrate pattern. The biggest difference is in the rear, where 1968 models retain the sloping quarters and trunk of previous years while 1969 models have a squared-off and elongated rear.