# Oldsmobile Toronado

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldsmobile-toronado/342995>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 4, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldsmobile-toronado/342995 "2006-02-04T16:18:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldsmobile-toronado/342995/21 "2006-02-07T08:01:10Z")

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> [@tomndebb](#):
>
> When the Toronado was introduced, I had a classmate who got all excited, figuring his dad was going to get some serious recognition. His dad, an engineer at Ford, had taken the basic Fairlane and designed a front wheel drive for it around 1957 - 1959. My classmate figured that once the Toronado took off, Ford would be back looking to update the earlier design.
> 
> Ford never bought into the FWD concept, though, so my classmate was pretty disappointed. (I talked to his dad from time to time, but never about that topic, so I don’t know how _he_ felt.)

Ford _did_ consider doing it, however. They talked about using a fairly primitive setup, which would have involved using a chain to connect the engine to the tranny, but that idea was quickly squashed by the higher ups. (Henry Ford II was a pretty big jerk, from what I gather.)

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**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldsmobile-toronado/342995/22 "2006-02-07T15:01:42Z")

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My brother had a '67 Toronado with the cylindrical speedometer. When it was stopped (0), you could see the maximum speed of 135 below it. He tried to roll over the speedometer on a long straight road (in the Dakotas) and got to 128 until he came to a railroad crossing. When he saw sparks in the rear-view mirror he decided to slow down; that car was really low-slung. (And being so low, it wasn’t that great in deep snow.)

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**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldsmobile-toronado/342995/23 "2006-02-08T18:28:22Z")

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> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> … a fairly primitive setup, which would have involved using a chain to connect the engine to the tranny…

Hmmm; which sounds exactly like the system GM used. Would they have been infringing a GM patent, perhaps?

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