This 1966 Olds Toronado was a heavy weight hot rod
While attending the car show at the St. Louis Elks Lodge #9 in Ladue, I was drawn to this bright white, 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. Being a big Oldsmobile fan, I couldn't help spending some time at the car with its owner, Patrick Kellenberger. He told me the fascinating way he came to own the beast.
Patrick had been driving by a rural property which had three Toronados and a vintage Mercury parked in the front yard. One day, they seemed to have disappeared, and he stopped to inquire where the Toronados had gone. The property owner told Pat that they had belonged to his father who had passed 10 years ago.
"I saved the best one for you," the owner replied, pulling back some weeds and other miscellaneous overgrowth revealed the car.
When Patrick asked how much the owner wanted for the Toro and the man stated $2,000. But he then added, "But don't you come back here and tell me you sold it for thirty-grand!"
The engine wouldn't start so Patrick, an admitted tinkerer, had it towed to his home. The tow truck driver offered him $5,000, but Patrick said, "Thanks, but no thanks!"
After taking possession of the vehicle, Patrick replaced the fuel lines and cleaned up the fuel tank and a few other issues and the Olds 455 cubic inch V-8 fired right up! His next trip was to the local Walmart where he purchased a new set of tires. Good idea!
The car was basically solid and a good runner with only forty-some odd thousand miles on it. Once he got it running right, he took it to Donovan Auto Body in Saint Peters where Don Donovan replaced the rusted floors, painted it a special white that was very close to the original Olds color Porcelain White. This color was a pure white-white which consumers, as well as Olds salesmen, referred to as appliance white. Other cars with white colors paled in comparison to the bright white of the Toronado. Even the other Olds models dressed out in traditional Provincial White.
Many who once owned one of these American front-drive Oldsmobiles, (the first front-drive American car since the "pre-war" Auburns and Cords) refer to them as hot rods. Stories abound on the surprising power and acceleration these cars had, including my own story.
When I attended Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville back in 1966, one of the kids in our carpool had one his father had purchased for him. The speedometers on these cars were a drum-style speedometer with a horizontal red bar which topped out at 160 mph. Crossing the new Chain of Rocks Bridge one day I witnessed a reading of 145 mph!
Decades later, I spoke to a man who was friends with an Illinois State Trooper (both men's names will go unmentioned). When the Toronado owner was bragging about how fast his car was, the trooper told him to go out on the newly completed section of I-255 near Collinsville around 2am and blast by his patrol car sitting on the shoulder of the road running radar. They agreed to meet at a local donut shop to discuss the results.
When the trooper arrived, he was shaking his head in disbelief and said, "I would never have believed it, but I clocked you at 166 miles per hour!"
This from a standard 455-cubic inch Olds V-8 with a 4-barrel carburetor, in a car which weighed a skosh under 5,000 lbs., was 211 inches long, 52.8 inches tall and had a 119-inch wheelbase. There must have been a tailwind that night!
Patrick's beautiful Toronado now has only 51,000 miles on it, and it shows. The interior was not dressed out in the optional leather, but in vinyl and cloth in a burgundy hue. It had become brittle with age, so Donovan replaced the seats with period-correct reproduction upholstery. The result is a very special, great-looking vintage Oldsmobile that he will be proud of for years to come.
There are a ton of car shows in the coming weeks before Halloween. Search the Lakers Car Club for details and hopefully we'll run into each other at one or more!
FIN MAN FACTOID: The Oldsmobile Toronado was the first, front-drive production car made in the United States since the 1937 Cord 810 and 812.2. The name "Toronado" had no prior meaning and was originally selected for a 1963 Chevrolet show car.
Tri-Power Trivia:
Tri-Power of Trivia Answers:
2. C. "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas.
