1978 Oldsmobile Toronado XS

Beautiful!

You have saved and restored some deserving automotive Americana, Jaunty!

Congrats - you should be very proud of that Olds!

I still love those decorative lamps on the front end of the fender headers - more glorious excess!

Cars like this will never be produced again, so let's save them whenever possible.

 

Thanks. It is a fun car to drive. Large and heavy, but tracks straight and true with good feel through the steering that makes it feel nimble. It also has a smooth, tight, quiet ride. Of the five old Oldsmobiles I've owned ('64 Jetstar 88, '67 Delta 88, '73 Custom Cruiser, '75 Delta 88, and this one), while all have driven and ridden fine, the '78 has been the most enjoyable to sit behind the wheel of and take for a spin.

 

Yes, I like how they're not turn signals. They're just decorative running lights.

 

You should get yourself one of these. You've been talking about it. I think you'd really enjoy it.

 

That's only because the '67 Delta is underpowered, because the original owner neglected to order the ultimate option for it (but, it's never too late, if you ever run into a '65-'67 parts car which has this package). But, then again, that's a different form of enjoyment, since front-drive vehicles have a different dynamic of which it pulls you through a curve, instead of you having to literally push it with rear drive

 

The photos look great Jaunty. Nicely done.
I dig the custom plate too!
Now all you need to do is get a chrome exhaust tip and you'll be set.
Oh, and the coffee for Mrs. Jaunty...

 

That's it. Be mean to my other car!

Factory advertising for this car also featured the headlights on, and it is raining. I don't intend to do the rain part. That would require the sunroof to not leak, and I don't trust it. Plus, I would want it to be raining right at sunrise or sunset. Around here, I might have to wait years before that coincidence happened.

 

Thanks.

The vanity plate was inspired by one of these cars for sale on ebay a few months ago. It was a West Virginia car. TOTAL XS was available in New Mexico, so I grabbed it.

 

"MISAR mini computer?" I was not aware these had any computer controls, not even for the ignition. The only thing I could think of is if it was built with either the EFI Olds 350 in the Caddy Seville of that time period, or the EFI Caddy 500, because my understanding was computer controls for carbureted engines didn't start until 1980 with the Chevy V6. Unless they're talking about a trip computer....

 

Very nice car and very nice photos. You should be proud of that, it looks amazing. They don't call dawn and dusk "the magic hour" for nothing when it comes to photos...

 

Read on, Macduff!









And from the 1978 Olds Chassis Service Manual:

 

From the December 2015 issue of Journey with Olds. "The best laid plans of mice and men oft times go awry."

 

I think the reason that you have not heard of this is because it was basically a failure. In a late '70s, oil-shortage-induced environment of ever-increasing pressure by the government to improve mileage, GM and the other manufacturers were trying everything under the sun, and there were all sorts of one- or two- or whatever-year-only attempts to do so. This was the era of ever-increasing vacuum hose mileage under the hood and ever-increasing complexity in tuning the car. The CCR system employed by Olds in the early '80s basically required you to have a Ph.D. in electrical enginering to tune the car. But it really wasn't until the widespread adoption of fuel injection starting in the mid-80s that the manufacturers were finally able to fine-tune engine performance and improve mileage while reducing exhaust emissions.

If you want an idea of the complexity of the ignition and exhaust systems on the '78 Oldsmobiles, have a look at this list. It's a portion of the table of contents for the "Emission Control Adjustments and Engine Performance Specifications" section of the chassis service manual. There are enough valves and switches and acronyms to start a whole new alphabet. It must have been a nightmare-and-a-half to diagnose and repair ignition and driveability problems back then because there were so many interconnected systems and so many things that could go wrong. It's no wonder that much of this was disconnected, removed, or just plain ignored by the owners of these cars back in the day. Not all of these valves and switches were found on every Olds engine, but various combinations of them were. Most are not available at the parts counter today, so if one fails, your only option is to just leave it disconnected and bypass it or find one from a parts car.

 

Very interesting read.

 

See, I 'm quite familiar with all that, but I'm so blown away that I have never, in my years as a driveability diagnostic tech, to not have ever heard of MISAR, let alone touch one.