1978 Oldsmobile Toronado XS

Thanks for the lead. Unfortunately, that auction is "local pickup only," and I'm in New Mexico while he's in Michigan. Oh well.

Regarding the flags under the "Toronado" script, those are not correct for the car. The guy I bought it from said that he worked at an Olds dealership in the early '80s, when his father owned the car, and he bought the flags at the parts counter and put them on the car because he liked the look. I like it, too.

 

He's a great guy. He also painted my '67 Delta 88 back in February 2014. Here's a photo of that car that I took yesterday. Paint job still looks brand new. (Yes, the tires need to be washed!)

 

Did not note the "local pickup only." Sorry. Here's another hood ornament possibility. Can't imagine this entire heap will sell as one unit.

https://nd.craigslist.org/cto/6204166424.html

 

Not a problem. I've already found and purchased a hood ornament on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-OLD...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

This one appears to be only the ornament itself and not the base nor spring mechanism, but I do have the base (still stuck to my car), and I'm getting another ornament (generic Olds same year, just not Toronado) from a guy at classicoldsmobile, and it does have the spring mechanism, so I'm assuming that, with my base and the parts from these two sources, I'll be able to make one complete Toronado hood ornament. Once these two purchases arrive and I get the thing put together and mounted, I'll post a photo of the finished product.

 

Nice. Certainly priced right.

 

Now I'm looking for opinions.

Blackwalls or whitewalls?


The car needs new tires, and whitewalls in this size (on the car now are P215/75R15--the door jamb sticker says JR78-15) are hard to come by. I tend to think that the full-size cars of the '70s look better with whitewalls, but I'm not sure I think that for this car. It's sportier, and while whitewalls would of course look fine, I think a set of blackwalls would look pretty good, too.

Thoughts?

 

I dislike whitewalls on pretty much anything except some very specific 1950's era cars, so I'll vote blackwalls.

 

Thanks.

I did some google image searching, and it's not that easy to find examples of Toros of this vintage with non-whitewall tires, but I did find three. The yellow one actually has raised white letters, but they're kind of hard to see, so the car, from this angle, comes across as having blackwalls.

I think they all look pretty good!

 

Of course, if you could find proper tires with the type whitewalls already on there, that would be best. Redwalls would be second best. Plain black isn't cool and white-lettered would be improper.

 

I appreciate the comments. I'm not against whitewalls. I'm more bracing myself for the possibility that they're not available in the size I need.

However, a search at tirerack.com did turn up a good candidate, and not at all a bad price, either. This is the only one that turned up when I searched for the particular size. All others (about 20 other options) are blackwalls.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...SR5H724W&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

 

I had some Toyo Extensa A/S tires put on my Crown Vic a couple of summers ago in that ballparkish size (225/70/R15). I was surprised to see they had whitewalls on the inside. They have been decent tires, but I haven't driven the car a ton since then.

 

The Hankook tire is available, but has a more modern looking sidewall. Google Matrix Multi-Mile tires, they have a white wall tire in the size that should work. They have a slightly wider white wall than the Hankook but a more plain sidewalk. Here's the link:
https://simpletire.com/multi-mile-matrix-tires

I put the 235 75R15 on my 67 Electra and they ride very nicely. You should be able to find a local supplier. For "on the shelf" white walls, these two are really your only choice in a 15-inch now.

 

Are you going to put on correct 1978 factory Toro wheel covers? If so, I vote whitewall tires. But, I'm a purist. I like them just the way they came from the factory. It's all just a matter of individual taste.

 

If you could get those as only summer tires, that would be optimal. All Weather Tires are like Jacks of All Trades. They're compromized, at both weather extremes, as far as traction's concerned. You're not going to drive that car in Winter, anyway. Or?
It seems, the tire itself is not of poor quality, as is the opposite for tires made in neighboring China (Rotax, for example). Although, the ones you order might originate from there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hankook_Tire

All three of the listed countries use a thriftier-priced labor force, as well as lower-priced utilities, to manufacture their products, and thriftier transport. So, you might want to think over forking over so much money for tires which were produced for a fraction of the cost, before searching further for alternatives which would justify their prices better.

 

Yes, I plan to use the full wheelcovers. The seller included a set with the car. They need a little cleaning. I don't like the smaller, dog-dish covers that just cover the lug nuts. They don't fit very tightly and rattle any time I go over a bump in the road. I'm leaning whitewalls.