<VV> Toronado FWD "experiment failed"????

[Bill Elliott]

I, too, have owned Toros. The last one a '66 Deluxe. Like the Corvair, it was a technological tour de force and is the only full size American car from 
the era that handled well.

BUT, it was essentially a dead end, much like the Corvair. The technology did not spread to any other chassis and was only added to the Eldorado.

Had the Toro been a true success, the Vega, the '75 Monza, and a load of other cars would have picked up the technology.... and GM would have 
been ahead of the curve instead of playing catchup with the imports.

GM's first modern FWD design, the Citation, had more in common with the competition than it did the Toro... essentially a clean slate design. A shame, 
since I also had a late 70's Toro which was still a pretty awesome car. The basic design ended soon thereafter as the big FWDs went to a greatly 
modified platform that looked a whole lot more like the Citation than the Toro.

Like the Corvair, I greatly admire the Toro. But also like the Corvair, it failed to dominate its market, it failed to push its competitors to its design, it cost 
more to build than its competitors and only a few customers would pay the delta, and, more importantly, it failed to directly influence the design of its 
successors. In that sense, it was a failed experiment in a new technology.

Bill Elliott



>In addition to having owned 18 Corvairs since 1966, I also restore and drive
>Generation I Toronados (four of 'em currently), and I could not disagree more
>strongly. What, exactly, failed experiment are you talking about?  My sleek,
>powerful Toros--a carload of high school kids gave my teacher wife's '69 Toro
>the ultimate compliment in traffic a few years ago, yelling, "NICE car,
>man!"--cruise smoothly and effortlessly at 100MPH+ (my '68's good for 125 MPH
>indicated!).  You don't have to worry about the TH425 tranny self-destructing,
>either, as pre-Saginaw Vair owners do.  I'll agree that the 425s/455s do chug
>the gasoline, but if you have to worry about feeding Sixties/Seventies cars,
>you shouldn't be collecting them......