1972 Olds Toronado

1972 Oldsmobile Toronado for sale on BaT Auctions - ending February 8 (Lot #97,879) | Bring a Trailer

 

What a lovely car.

 

It sure is. I always thought the front ends of the first few years of the second generation Toros were a little off-looking because there is no grill between the headlights like you normally see. Rather, they moved the grill to below the headlights in the bumper on each side. Gives the car kind of a toothy look. Not that it's not unattractive. Just different.

This feature only appeared on the '71, '72, and '73 Toros. After that, the grill was back between the headlights.


'71. '72 was pretty much unchanged.




'73. The grill was on both the bottom and top sides of the bumper on each side.




'74. Grill back between the headlights. It's not large, though. One other thing to note is that '74 was the first year that Toros came with a hood ornament. Prior to that, there was just an Oldsmobile logo badge in the center of the front end.

 

Hey Jaunty. I’ve seen the 1/2 vinyl in later years. Was this an option in ‘72?

 

I'd have to guess no. I can't find any photos of a '72 Toronado that has a vinyl roof that doesn't cover the entire roof. The first year that dealer literature shows a half-roof vinyl roof is 1974. The sales literature doesn't make a distinction that I can find. The literature for '72 and '73 simply says "vinyl roof covering" as an option. No mention of whether it covers the entire roof or just the rear half. The same is true for my two Toros, and '77 and '78. I have the dealer albums for both years, and both option lists simply call it "vinyl landau roof."

For the car that is the subject of this thread, while the vinyl roof certainly looks good, it just doesn't seem to look right in that it kind of ends abruptly. For later years, the half-roof end point coincides with some other feature, like the front edge of the passenger side windows or the rear edge of the doors.

Here's a '77 with a vinyl roof. It looks much more integrated with the design of the car. On the '72, it looks much more added-on.

But I don't know for sure!

 

Thanks for your usual great detail. I didn’t remember anything but a full top on the ‘72 with a halo treatment.

 

Bid to $10,750 on 2/8/23. No Sale