Great stories..

I owned a '66 Toronado from 1993-'96. Great car, drove it in the winter as well. Finally spun a bearing -- when I pulled the motor and trans to part out, I suspected the PO had rebuilt the drivetrain, so I figured it had over 200k miles.

In 2000 I bought a '70 Toronado GT (Olds claimed 400HP, same cam as the 442, higher stall TC). That 455 had some serious torque. I liked that car much more than the 425 powered '66. It was fast too -- you could nearly peel the tires off. Some dingbat ran a light and hit me summer of 2002. I parted it out and a Cutlass guy bought the motor for a street rod project. The car had 120k miles on it, used no oil. I never had a problem with it, with exception of an annoying trans fluid drip.

I also owned a 307 powered Delta 88 (winter beater). The PO had used it as a tow vehicle and it was originally a rental car. By the time I sold the car, the motor was tired. My buddy bought it from me for $300 and managed to drive it another 2 yrs and 30k miles w/o a hitch. Then the trans went out, dang 200M trannies.

When I started this thread last week, I was hoping that people would react to Olds' demise by giving us little glimpses of their own histories and experiences. How Olds was intertwined with their earlier lives. originally, the first few replies were off-the-mark...that is, they merely hit on the technical side and the slide of GM quality and technology. That wasn't the point.

But, gladly, the last 15 or so replies have been personal histoiry par excellence. Thanks for bringing your own lives out front!!

If you wish, keep it going some more.

Most enjoyable!!