Oldsmobile "Mini-Toronado" 1968 - a special Toronado for winter emergencies
03/05/2012
The winter of 1967/68 was a tough one. Lansing in the US state of Michigan was not only the hometown of the oldest US brand Oldsmobile, but was also completely taken over by winter. The employee parking lot offered the same spectacle every evening. The employee vehicles wouldn't start and had to be pushed. Or if they did start, they quickly got stuck again in the barely cleared parking lot.
Front-wheel drive offered unimagined possibilities...
Only a few employees had no problems: they were the owners of the front-wheel drive Toronado that appeared at the end of 1965. Its heavy big-block V8 sat on the driven front axle and offered enormous traction advantages. As a result, Toronado drivers were constantly allowed to drag their stuck rear-wheel drive colleagues out of their awkward position.
Designers and engineers observed the scene and set to work creating the Oldsmobile Toronado "Pusher". A piece of the current 1968 production model's impressive length of 5.36 meters (211 inches) was sawn out of the middle and everything was neatly welded back together. There was no more room for the rear seat bench, so the 6-seater was reduced to a 3-seater. The doors and side windows were also shortened and neatly re-fitted. The front and rear were sawn off and replaced at the front and rear with maple panels cast in hard rubber. Holes for cooling as well as small round headlights and indicators were embedded in the hard rubber panels so that the vehicle could also be operated in the dark. There was also a recessed towing eye at the front and rear.
... as a pushing and towing vehicle
With the hard rubber front and rear, the stuck vehicles could now be pushed out of their awkward position without damage. With the towing eyes, this could also be done without "touching the enemy" with a rod or rope. Either way, the heavy eight-cylinder engine with its 375 SAE hp on the driven front wheels was the best advertisement for the Toronado as an ideal winter vehicle. In addition, the total weight was around 200 kg higher than the standard Toronado due to additional ballast and the tires were fitted with studs. The equipment was supplemented by an orange flashing light on the roof, reinforced batteries, a first aid kit for man and machine and many other features. Connections for battery cables and compressed air in a flap in the left front mudguard made the Mini-Toro a veritable "white angel".
The short wheelbase also made it very maneuverable. One of the people in charge said: "It turns on a dime and still gives change..." At the time, the makers were very proud of the professional and not at all tinkered-looking shrink-wrap, and there was even an official press release in February 1968. However, the appearance of the now 4-meter-long vehicle was more reminiscent of a bulldog and was less elegant, but all the more functional.
One-off at retirement age
As far as possible, the parts used, like the 1968 base vehicle, came from scrap and were assembled in the prototype store. The Toro was used for many years by the responsible building department as a towing and pushing vehicle - not only in winter, of course.
However, the hard work took its toll, and the car was in a pretty battered state when it was taken out of service in 1981. It was handed over to the automotive engineering department of the local university, which donated it in a half-restored condition to the R. E. Olds Transportation Museum, where it again provided valuable service as a towing and pushing vehicle for several years. Tom Hummer, a great Oldsmobile fan and museum supporter, took pity on the short Olds and restored it to its original condition in around 200 hours of hard work and with parts he had financed himself. Hummer also gave it back the white paintwork that the "Mini-Toro" had lost in the meantime.
The workhorse is now retired and a much-appreciated exhibit in the Olds Museum. Many a former employee will remember the harsh winters when the "short one" helped them out of trouble...
