1968 Oldsmobile Toronado 455 c.i from North America
Summary:
King of front wheeler.. period !!
Faults:
Right side c/v boot cracked and replaced.
Both lower ball joints had to be changed at 72000 miles.
Body to frame bushings needed to be changed badly cracked especially the ones in front of rear wheels.. big job and hard to find..found out that the ones from 80s chevy caprice are the same thickness a bit smaller, but OK.
Still have to change exhaust donut on right side manifold connection.
General Comments:
Incredible car!!
Too heavy for high performance, but wasn't built for that experience.
Constant head turner!! the front bumper is no match for beautiful chrome looks.. and the grills that go up makes kids popping their eyes and my friends saying wow!!
The coolest thing is the turning barrel shape speedometer.. friends likes to take a look while turning.
5-10 feet of smoking tire when pushed hard..
The rocket 455 is very reliable, always starts, and so far the th425 transmission is still shifting fine.
The 455 doesn't like 87 octane, you can hear engine knocking and feel a bit of shaking, have to put at least 94 octane.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know
Review Date: 10th June, 2005
14th Jun 2022, 19:26
They are nice cars. However the 455 runs fine on 87 octane fuel.
14th Jun 2022, 20:29
It sure was, GM's 1st front wheel drive in fact. And why not? Seeing how Oldsmobile was always the guinea pig of GM. They tried everything with them first, including the turbo hydramatic transmission, the front drive Toronado and the 350 diesel. Just to name a few.
17th Jun 2022, 17:05
The stock compression ratio on the 1968 Olds 455 was around 10:1 (advertised as 10.25:1), so it will not "run fine" on 87 octane unleaded. If yours does, either the piston rings are so worn that the engine has practically no compression, and/or the ignition timing (among other things) is severely retarded.
14th Jun 2022, 14:43
Nice review. I had to do an image search to remind myself what these look like. Stunning looking cars. What's most interesting for a big American V8 car from this time period, is that it was front wheel drive.