Support group for those of restoring classics?

HiFi in WYO

The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.
There seems to be a support group for everything else.

I don't know how many of you are trying to restore a classic, or any type of vehicle, but it's certainly a long journey that has nothing in common with anything on "reality" TV. It's frustrating, maddening, expensive and rewarding - sometimes in the same day.

I thought it might be good to hear about others' journeys from start to wherever you're at now - the good, the bad and the ugly. And I'm not talking about putting it on a trailer and sending it away for months to some shop - that's easy. Those of us who are greasy, cut up, at times close to being divorced, broke and yet somehow still manage to love our projects - these are the good stories!

My own journey began about seven years ago when I found a pathetic looking sky blue coupe stuck out in a muddy field. My first look at it was in a rare downpour and looking through the busted out passenger window, I grabbed the sign from the seat. "$600 and will run," or something to that effect.

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The 1969 Olds Toronado the day I found it.

Flash forward to today. I'm finally putting the finishing touches on a freshly rebuilt 455. The original block was toast and though I did manage to make it run, it wasn't good. I'm about a month away from actually driving it around the block - something I've only done while being towed with a rope. Everything on this car has been a challenge. It's not a Chevelle - they don't make everything at GM Obsolete. And, of course, it needed about everything under the hood: butchered wires, fuel lines, vacuum lines, missing stuff. Arrgh.

There are a lot of Toro-specific parts to this old girl. They can be very hard to find and sometimes you buy what is supposed to work only to find out it's not right. Extremely frustrating!

Restoring the body will be the last piece to the puzzle. Next will be the seats and headliner.

I'm nowhere near finished, but it's coming along - hah yeah seven years! The cool thing is when it is running/driving, it will be done thanks to my hands (and a couple helpers when needed) and that's what keeps me interested.

I can't be the only one here who has experienced all the emotions that come with an undertaking such as this. Let's have the stories! :)
 
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There seems to be a support group for everything else.

I don't know how many of you are trying to restore a classic, or any type of vehicle, but it's certainly a long journey that has nothing in common with anything on "reality" TV. It's frustrating, maddening, expensive and rewarding - sometimes in the same day.

I thought it might be good to hear about others' journeys from start to wherever you're at now - the good, the bad and the ugly. And I'm not talking about putting it on a trailer and sending it away for months to some shop - that's easy. Those of us who are greasy, cut up, at times close to being divorced, broke and yet somehow still manage to love our projects - these are the good stories!

My own journey began about seven years ago when I found a pathetic looking sky blue coupe stuck out in a muddy field. My first look at it was in a rare downpour and looking through the busted out passenger window, I grabbed the sign from the seat. "$600 and will run," or something to that effect.

View attachment 810258
The 1969 Olds Toronado the day I found it.

Flash forward to today. I'm finally putting the finishing touches on a freshly rebuilt 455. The original block was toast and though I did manage to make it run, it wasn't good. I'm about a month away from actually driving it around the block - something I've only done while being towed with a rope. Everything on this car has been a challenge. It's not a Chevelle - they don't make everything at GM Obsolete. And, of course, it needed about everything under the hood: butchered wires, fuel lines, vacuum lines, missing stuff. Arrgh.

There are a lot of Toro-specific parts to this old girl. They can be very hard to find and sometimes you buy what is supposed to work only to find out it's not right. Extremely frustrating!

Restoring the body will be the last piece to the puzzle. Next will be the seats and headliner.

I'm nowhere near finished, but it's coming along - hah yeah seven years! The cool thing is when it is running/driving, it will be done thanks to my hands (and a couple helpers when needed) and that's what keeps me interested.

I can't be the only one here who has experienced all the emotions that come with an undertaking such as this. Let's have the stories! :)

Your car and the Eldo were the only big FWD GM cars that I know of....are any of their driveline parts interchangeable, or no ?
 
Yes you're right, and yes there are interchangeable parts. But big Eldos aren't a dime a dozen anymore either!
I'm pretty set on all the parts I need. The drivetrain wasn't a shambles like the rest of the mess. There are a few people who actually like these cars and they've been a tremendous help, both with knowledge and parts.
 
IIRC, didn't Mannix drive a version of the Toronado in his show?

Gonna show us some pics of the various parts of the car as you have refurbed them?
 
Sure, always happy to show off my baby.

This first pics are of the dash insert. It was a mess. Someone had cut the stereo area up - literally scratched it to the bone. So I took everything apart. The surface had a rubbery texture to it, so I used rubberized undercoating and textured paint to build it back up. Not perfect, but pretty darn close. The dark navy blue I was able to match with some Rustoleum. The speedo, clock and fuel guage is repainted with Testor's bright orange - model paint is perfect for these applications. Interestingly, the clock never worked until I took it apart, cleaned it and noticed it started working on its own with no power to it!

The third image is of the driver's side grill (these have hideaway headlights). The rocket is usually red and white, but I wanted to go a different route so I again used model paint to create the gold/black. The back of the grill - it's plastic - was painted sillver so I resprayed the entire instert then buffed the front to get it to look new and shiny. The emblems were simply chrome polished seemingly forever to buff them shiny.

The next is the engine when we took it out. What a mess!
The last two are of the engine as I'm putting it back together. I had the 455 rebuilt. The correct color is on the intake manifold. The block is slightly darker thanks to me buying paint from two different suppliers. I have a nickel finish Holley 750 cfm Rochester that will look great.
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1479942131731-2089092319.jpg Done. The 455 should be around 400 hp. That should burn some Chinese rubber when it's back in! :)
 
Show a picture of the big old massive chain that goes from the engine to the transmission !
 
Ha, you're right, but I'm not taking the tranny apart. It's a turbo 400 split in half then joined with a heavy duty chain. They call it a 425. I have a new torque converter for it, so need to get that in before the engine.1479944758464-2089092319.jpg
 
i used to restore classic and vintage cars many years ago .. was a total strip down and strip the paint off the body then rebuild the body first then rebuild / restore the running gear and get it rolling . then the engine . then redo the interior .. we had someone come in for that as its a specialist job ..
 
Very cool build! You did pick one that not many people would attempt. Saying it's challenging is an understatement. I have done many engine restorations over the years and been involved in quite a few builds. I could tell a lot of good stories about fixing nearly irreparable piles of rusted cast iron..if I could remember most of them! I remember a customer who was restoring a '49 Olds who bought a junk car just so he could look at the wiring harness so he could make a duplicate. It's insane the amount of work that actually goes into it. You are correct in that it's nothing like the TV shows. I have a saying "if it comes to your door in a box it ain't gonna fit". Thanks for the thread and keep up the good work.
 
Always liked the toranado.Liked the cool rear decked rivera better thought,lol.Doesnt Jay Leno have an outrageous toro with something like 800 or 1000hp?
 
I think Jay's Toro is 1,000 hp. It's also rear-wheel-drive. That's cheating ;)

I think you're right, 500 lb ft. or torque.

Actually, 2011etec, I liked the rear end of the '69 Eldorado the best. The '69 Toro is the most pedestrian of the three from the rear for sure.
 
So the latest project, and PIA, is replacing the plastic surrounds for the headlights. Of course you can't just unbolt them and pull them out ... you have to take the bumper off and all accompanying brackets, turn signal buckets and braces out first. I have replacement surrounds and I thought this would be an easy Saturday project. Wrong. Got everything apart and go to put the new surrounds in and they are warped. The plastic is so old and weatherd, they have warped enough to cause the hideway shrouds to rub. Arrrgh. Off to Harbor Freight for a heat gun tonight and we'll see if I can't gently bend them back into shape. They're no good warped as the headlights will just break them. And talk about unobtanium! Jeez. Next time: Chevelle!

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Magnificent !

The front end design makes up for what the rear lacks.

Did y'all notice the rolling drum speedometer ? I looked at one of these in the real world, abandoned but not for sale.
 
Isn't the drum cool? The dash is among my favorites. This car really has early ergonomics down pat, thanks to Mr. North's vision. Btw, David North, the designer of the Toro, is still around. He's a very down to earth guy who will talk on the facebook Toro page. Lives in Montana too, close enough!
 
Back in the winter of '89 or so I ran across an older gentleman who was trying to put chains on the rear tires of his Toronado due to the amount of snow that was falling. He didn't want to get stuck on the way home. I asked him if he realized that the Toronado was FWD. Took awhile to convince him. Come to find out he was the original owner and had the car for 20+ years and never knew that it was FWD, yet had never gotten stuck in the snow. Probably helped that he put snow tires on all 4 corners. I still chuckle every time I think of him and his Toronado in the snow.
 
They are so well designed they never suffered from torque steer and in my driving a 81 Cadillac Eldorado briefly
it was the same. It seems after 85 the abandoned that expensive FWD design (it had the North-South engine and expensively engineered axles) and so later models had the expected torque steer like other brands.

Driving any FWD vehicle on slush or black ice still scared me after having a Festiva even with studded
winter tires. For sure why the US Gov. mandated stability control around 2011.
 
Dad had a 7th gen Eldo just a bit smaller than a WWll aircraft carrier as I recall. I borrowed it to go to Superbowl Xl at the Rose Bowl in '77. For whatever reason a good deal of the parking lot was closed, rain I guess, so they used the adjacent golf course. When we were going home the guy directing directing traffic took us over a hump and we got high centered. I bunch of guys were trying to help by putting their weight on the back. LOL.

And yes I could have used a support group. The only resto I ever started that got finished was my '65 El Camino. That's because 99% of my involvement was writing checks and making decisions for 11 months. Life happens daily and the ability to put the time and the money together consistently over the long haul has always escaped me.
 
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