1976 Oldsmobile Toronado Custom coupe

Same dealer as the 1977 Cougar 4-door. Another immaculate but largely unwanted 1970s car.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-Oldsmobile-Toronado-/142653314139?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368

 

The Olds Mirrors with the outside air temp gauge were always kinda kool to me. I see it has a newer split cat back exhaust installed, I wondered about the duel exhaust outlets. I agree about the condition & desirability of this Model.

 

A low-cost doohickey that pleased both new owners and bean counters alike.

 

Ouch!

Beautiful car inside and out. Interesting options. Most of what you'd expect, but only an AM radio to go with the tape player. No passenger-side rearview mirror. No trip odometer.

Starting price is $500, and he has one bid at that amount as of the moment. I wonder what the reserve is. Probably twice what he can realistically expect, especially since it's a dealer. The car is probably worth in the high four-figures ($8,000 to $10,000). But I'll bet his reserve is 15 or $20k

 

I've got one of these on my '78, but it's in poor shape cosmetically, and it doesn't work. Or put it this way. It works as long as the temperature is 65 degrees.






Had an interesting situation about this mirror when I had the car painted. I had a replacement from a guy parting out a '78 Toro, but it didn't have the thermometer option. But it is in much better cosmetic shape. Yes, I'd be losing the thermometer, but I asked the paint shop owner if he would replace the mirror with the better one in the process of removing trim and painting the car. He said OK. When I went back a few weeks later to see how he was doing, he asked me if I really wanted him to change the mirror. He thought the thermometer option was so cool and so '70s that it would be a shame to remove it in spite of the poorer condition of the mirror. I said OK, leave it. I still have the replacement mirror if I should ever want to change it, but, I agree, it's cool, so it stayed on.

 

It's probably hanging up at 65°, because of the overall corrosion of which chromed-over die-cast is notorious for. You could probably fill in the pits. Then, have it chrome flashed again. In the mean time, disassembling the unit would free the thermometer. Thank painter, you didn't uncool your car with the replacement mirror

 

I spoke too soon on this. I had the car out this morning, which is earlier in the day than I usually do, and the air was a little cooler (about 50F). The thermometer actually showed 55, so not bad. It does move after all. It may not be exact, but close enough.

 

Yeah, it seemed to me it's disassemblable and repairable, and the procedure may or may not be in the '78 shop manual. Also, I thought those could be undone from the mirror mounting?

 

At the very least, you could cosmetically spruce it up on the lens with some Meguiar's #17 plastic polish, which is formulated for clear polycarbonate plastics.

 

It is a very cool 1970s option. Was GM the only one to offer this at the time?

 

Here's a page from the 1976 Buick Full-line Brochure. Note the fourth item from the bottom. Available as an option on LeSabre, Estate Wagon, Electra, and Riviera.

I checked a few of the brochures for Pontiac and Chevy from that time, and they don't show a thermometer. I don't know if that's definitive, but perhaps the thermometer was available only on the upper division (Olds, Buick, Cadillac) lines.

 

It's been a long time, since I last watched a silent film

 

I wonder what one of those mirrors nos would cost. Can't imagine they would be cheap.

 

well here is a NOS one for $350

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-75-OL...ronado&hash=item4b34d80b10:g:-UQAAOSwg31aX6zo

and a used one for $85

https://www.ebay.com/itm/REMOTE-SID...ronado&hash=item3d55c8c69a:g:MPwAAOSwEW9aWEME

But to my Eye the NOS one has enough shelf damage to not demand the NOS price.