Welcome back! Well, after somehow convincing you all to vote for a front-wheel-drive GM car over a Miata yesterday, I’m feeling emboldened. So today, we’re going to bask in the glory of GM’s earliest FWD design: the full-size E-body. Both Oldsmobile and Cadillac produced versions of this monster; we’re going to look at one of each.
Was it unfair for me to show you the worst Miata for sale I could find? Maybe. Did the overwhelming majority of you voting against it actually want that Pontiac? Probably not. I almost used a Dodge Aries instead, but I decided that was going just a bit too far. And it wasn’t as nice as the Pontiac.
I’d be curious to know the demographics at work here. I would guess that those of you who were desperately trying to plead the Miata’s case in the comments, saying “you just need to do this, and this, and this, and then it’s a good car for like five grand” are much younger than I am. I would believe that, with enough time and energy, you could polish that turd, but I am simply not willing to. I’ve got better things to do.
Front-wheel-drive has always been contentious among car enthusiasts. Some simply refuse to touch anything driven by its front wheels; others lament the fact that packaging and budget constraints led to the demise of rear-wheel-drive as the standard so many years ago. But FWD dates all the way back to the beginning, and plenty of celebrated cars have had no driven axles at the rear: every Citroën you’ve ever heard of, and a little car called the Mini, for instance.
No American car had been front-wheel-drive for three decades, however, when Oldsmobile introduced the Toronado in 1966. And no Cadillac had ever been FWD before the Eldorado moved to the same platform a year later. Oldsmobile ended its run with no rear-wheel-drive cars left in its stable except an SUV, and Cadillacs were nearly all FWD for years. So I guess, if you can’t stand the fact that so many modern cars are FWD, you can blame these two for starting it all.
1970 Oldsmobile Toronado – $2,850
Engine/drivetrain: 455 cubic inch overhead valve V8, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Palmdale, CA
Odometer reading: 68,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives but needs brake work
Nothing ever said “disposable income” quite like a personal luxury coupe. It wasn’t a uniquely American style of car – plenty of European and Japanese luxury coupes existed – but it was here in the US that the genre really flourished. In the ’60s, Buick had the Riviera, Ford had the Thunderbird, and in 1966, Oldsmobile introduced the all-new, front-wheel-drive Toronado, a stylish, comfortable “gentleman’s hot rod” with Oldsmobile’s famous Rocket V8 under the hood.
By 1970, the Rocket had reached its high-water-mark for displacement and power, at 455 cubic inches and 375 horsepower. All that power and torque was fed to the front wheels through an ingenious version of GM’s Turbo-Hydramatic transmission, which transferred power to a final drive under the engine via a two-inch wide hardened-steel chain. This drivetrain proved so tough that it also powered the famous GMC Motorhome. This one runs fine, it sounds like, but the car needs brakes to be roadworthy.
The Toronado’s FWD design gave it a flat floor inside, with no transmission hump or driveshaft tunnel. With a bench seat, there’s a ton of room inside these things. Sadly, the upholstery on this particular bench seat is gone. There’s no saving it; it will have to be reupholstered or replaced. I don’t see upholstery kits from the usual restoration suspects, but a good custom shop should be able to do it. Swapping in some buckets or a bench from some other blue GM vehicle might be a more economical way to go, however.
The seller says this car originally had a white vinyl top; it’s completely absent, and the surface of the top is rusty, but desert-rusty. It should clean up all right, and a repaint would eliminate all traces of that particular “factory defect.”
1973 Cadillac Eldorado – $4,000
Engine/drivetrain: 500 cubic inch overhead valve V8, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Odometer reading: 94,000 miles
Operational status: Ad doesn’t say, actually
Just in case the Toronado isn’t big and gaudy enough for you, here we have Cadillac’s version: the Eldorado. 1973 was a big year for the big Caddy coupe; it became a standalone model separate from the Fleetwood line, it was the official pace car for the Indianapolis 500 (in convertible form), and it got a major facelift, making it look even bigger and heavier than ever.
Most Eldorados didn’t have this Continental-style hump in the trunk lid; the seller says this is some special-order edition called the “ElDeoro” (or maybe they meant “d’Oro”?). Apparently it’s one of only 100 made; we’ll have to take their word for it because I can’t find any other record of it. The ’70s was the era of the special edition, though, and it wouldn’t surprise me if some Cadillac dealership came up with its own package, especially in Vegas. It looks like it came with a special grille surround and a truly ostentatious padded landau top, as well.
The vinyl is deep-fried from the desert sun, and so is the paint. We don’t get any interior photos, but what I can see of the rear deck through the back window does not look promising. All the seller will say is that the interior is “all there” and “needs to be redone.” I’m assuming it looks similar to the Toronado’s interior.
The ad also doesn’t give any indication of whether or not the massive 500 cubic inch engine runs or the car is drivable. But it’s parked in an alley, and staged nicely with the hubcaps and fender skirts on display, and something tells me it got there under its own power. I just have a feeling that, with a car this rough, if it didn’t run, it would have been photographed wherever it sat. I could be wrong, of course.
Neither one of these cars is probably worth actually restoring. But they also both look sort of right, somehow, all desert-faded and scruffy. Mechanical stuff is still easy to find for them, at least. Fix ’em up enough to be reliable, clean up the interiors enough to not be scary, and just drive ’em as-is. Which flavor do you prefer?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Toronado for its overall better condition and its sweet “drum”-type speedometer. I’d even be willing to fight through the lien-sale BS to get it.
As for the Eldorado: I loved its work in Uptown Saturday Night.
The Eldo would almost be perfect for game day if painted white over orange and with a big set of longhorns on the front of the hood. A Boss Hogg convertible would still be better.
But still, I’d go with the Toro. The Olds designers were just a bit more talented than the Caddy designers, although, in both cases, the previous generations were an order of magnitude better designs than these two.
That Eldorado is 1 year off, and 1 roof on, away from being almost perfect. If this were a 74 convertible I’d be booking flight to Vegas right now, but as it stands I’d take the Toronado .
I think putting the money for purchasing either of these in a barrel and setting it on fire is a better option.
While I voted for the Olds, I think I’d rather just have a newer 80’s/90’s Toronado, Trofeo, Riviera, or Reatta. Or Thunderbird/Cougar. Plenty of them around for the same money but without the nuked interiors and paint.
word! totally my thought, I always thought they were handsome cars and screwed tovether relatively decently for 80’s GM. Teenage me thought they looked futuristic (at least inside). Buddy’s dad had a reatta with the touch screen, I thought it was awesome!
Love me the last version of the Trofeos. Saw a white one last year and was like “Damn, those were cool looking cars, shame they’re almost gone now.”
The Toro is a watered-down version of the original, incredible design, but still better looking than the Eldo, which was pretty hideous even without the added “decoration.”
Another pair of huge turds here Mark. Good job.
I want to care, but these were two great examples of the shit show cars of the early 1970s.
Not a good look at all here. I remember these well due to being an old. And they both sucked the big one, even brand new.
Except for the drugs, rock music, and loose women, I prefer to forget that crappy decade. Both of these look like something that may/may not contain the bodies of an overdose victim. Which is a road that I don’t care to drive down.
And 6-8 mpg? Oh hell yeah, take my money! /s
Thanks, no thanks, once again.
A runner AND a looker? Olds it is!
What’s funny, is if this was an actual purchase I was making, it would be the first FWD vehicle I’ve owned. I like the idea of a big block PLC as my first front-driver.
Olds for sure. The interior is roached, but I bet you could sort that out. I also like the styling of the first gen E bodies, got way to tacky after that. All that said, I bet that Caddie has some STORIES to tell.
At first I was prepared to say “Olds, please”. Both contestants are terribad, so I was going with the less expensive option.
And then I saw those three little words in the Olds ad: “Lien sale papers.” No, thanks.
Eh, I’ve bought a lien sale car in California before. It was a non-issue.
Fair enough. OTOH the lien might be the tip of the shenanigan iceberg, and that’s a can of Annelida that I’d prefer not to open.
If I’m spending my hard-earned pretend internet money on a dilapidated crapboat I want the paperwork to be clean 🙂
Toronado. It’s the more interesting of the two. If the Caddy was a convertible I’d go the other way.
True to form, I’ll always be an Olds man. This one is without the cool front end treatment that earlier models had (evidence that it had already passed through the GM cheapener machine), but at least I wouldn’t be driving something that wasn’t originally owned by someone with the first name of “Big”, “Super” or “Huggy”
Kinda liking the cut of the Toronado’s jib. Especially compared to the Eldorado. That car should stay in Vegas…
Fun fact, the Eldorado has multiport fuel injection. At least my high school buddy’s ’76 Eldo did. You could put the hammer down and that thing would boil the tires for as long as you stayed on it, alternating black marks side to side as the open diff changed its mind on which tire to burn.
Toronado for me. I think it’s actually a cool car and worth restoring.
That’s interesting. Just looked it up and apparently it was an option. Seems like a weird thing to make optional.
The fuel injection was only available on the 1976 model it was available on all models except the series 75 Fleetwood. There were 1200 total 500 fuel injected engines. I own one of them. Fun fact they get about 16 mpg high way on 87 octane gas
I wanted to vote the Caddy and it’s glorious 500ci engine. The vinyl top scares me. Roof is probably pinholed to death. The sag in the back is likely suspension but may be frame. Then the price. It is in much crappier condition, so the weird FWD Toronado wins.
You say “pinholed to death”, I say micro sunroof/starry sky array.
“Starlight Lounge”
Some automakers charge extra for that feature, the Caddy provides the same option at no cost.
Not only do they provide it for no extra charge, it self assembles!
Old’s ripped from the pages of Roadkill. I’ll take it
The Toronado is more realistically priced and so much cooler looking (IMO). I’d leave the paint as is and fix the front seat with a diamond-pattern horse blanket. A full restoration could be in order for someone with a little more cash to play with than me.
Olds. The 70s Caddies hold appeal for some, but I am absolutely not one of them. That goes double for whatever bizarre custom job the Eldorado above is.
Seller- It’s rare!
Me- Thank the gods for that.
Hahaha! Exactly. Yet another fine example of rare does not necessarily equal good or valuable.
Smallpox is rare these days, but that doesn’t make it desirable.
I chose the Olds, but in reality, I would not take either. The Caddy is probably a lost cause, and certainly not worth $4K. The Olds is cheaper, and runs. However, the broken and missing trim is probably unobtanium.
Eldorado has the look of an in-period custom job, would hate to see what that modified trunk lid looks like under the paint
These cars have their fans. I am not one of them. Plus I know where you can get a clapped out but functional boy racer Miata for similar money.
“Functional”
The Toronado is a thing of beauty, and maybe something Jake and Elwood would cruise if the Monaco was impounded.
The Eldo I’ll leave to Super Fly.
First time I’ve seen a vinyl top extend FORWARD onto the doors. Not saying I like, just first time I’ve seen it….
My brain didn’t process what was going on with the top of the doors the first time I looked at the photos. It was as if someone saw normal vinyl roofs and said “We can make it uglier, we have the technology” and then went and did it. Yuck.
You should see what Ford did with the four-door Thunderbird from 1967 to 1971. The vinyl “top” below the forward portion of the landau bar is actually part of the rear door:
https://photos.classiccars.com/cc-temp/listing/164/7355/34667852-1969-ford-thunderbird-thumb.jpg
https://www.2040-cars.com/_content/cars/images/2/151102/017.jpg
I sure wish you hadn’t shown me that.
There’s no need to thank me. I’m happy to have been of service.
The Toronado, because it runs, it’s cheaper, and because someone has already gone to the trouble of removing the vinyl roof.
Toronado all day. The Eldo may be the best color, but the Toro looks to be in SO much better condition, is a better design, AND it’s cheaper!
Easy choice.