What Are The Most Powerful Oldsmobiles Ever Produced The 1968-70 Oldsmobile Toronado

Was seen as General Motors technology leading division for many years throughout its lifetime , it introduced a number of key technologies to G M customers including the hyd dramatic transmission and an early overhead valve V eight engine .

As the Oldsmobile division matured throughout the fifties sixties and seventies , it ended up producing a wide range of vehicles including everything from compacts to mid size cars to entry priced full size cars to luxury , full size cars and even to sporty cars , shall we say ?

And sports cars , perhaps the sportiest of all these vehicles were the late 60 S Hears Oldsmobiles , which included not only great looks as part of the overall car package , but also some innovations particularly for olds , including forced air induction and high horsepower engines , including up to 390 horsepower V eight S .

However , despite the fact that the Hearst S was viewed as s's most sporty car during this time period .

There was another car in its lineup that actually wore the title of highest horsepower osmo .

That was the tornado with the optional 400 horsepower 455 cubic inch V eight from the 1968 to 1970 model years .

For those who haven't seen our previous videos , the 1966 tornado was not only a great looking car , it was also a general motors first vehicle with a longitudinally mounted engine and transmission powering the front wheels .

This front wheel drive technology was exclusive to Olds for 1966 .

But in 1967 Cadillac would pick up the technology and employ it in the 1967 El Dorado powering the cars .

However , with a different 420 nine cubic inch V eight that was sourced from Cadillac Motor Division versus Oldsmobiles 425 cubic inch V eight .

In this introductory 1966 model year , the S 425 made 385 horsepower .

The most that was available in any Oldsmobile at the time in 98 .

S for example , the standard engine was a 365 horsepower 425 cubic inch V eight and you could get optional 375 horsepower , 425 cubic inch V eight in the 98 S and Delta 88 S that was standard in the Old Star Fire .

By 1967 the old Star Fire was dropped but the 375 horsepower variant of the V eight still remained and the tornado was still S's top dog with 385 horsepower .

A number of styling changes were made for the 1967 model year including an all new interior with lots more button tufting than what was available in the 1966 interior .

And from a styling perspective , the eyebrows above the headlights were removed .

The grill texture was changed to a larger egg crate style and this egg crate style texture was also repeated in the tail lights at the rear of the vehicle .

However , for the 19 68 model year olds was really leaning into the performance variants across its lineup and even started touting its cards as young mobiles in a number of ads placed in the public domain top amongst these was the Hearst Oles .

As I mentioned , that came with an optional 390 horsepower , 455 cubic inch V eight under hood .

This was the first year for the S 455 which was made by elongating the stroke of the previous 425 cubic inch V eight .

More specifically , both engines shared a 4.13 inch bore , but the 425 cubic inch V eight had a 3.98 inch stroke while S 455 in V eight had a 4.25 inch stroke .

The tornado also received a number of stylistic changes to the 1968 model year including a change to its front end which put the hidden headlights , not in their own separate pod but behind grills that moved up and out of the way , in order for the headlights to illuminate , interiors were yet again changed now to eliminate button tufting just one year after it had been added .

But the overall interiors remained quite rich for the time period .

However , the real changes came under hood where the standard Tornado V eight now offered 375 horsepower as it had previously been 385 horsepower .

However , under hood customers could opt for s most powerful engine ever to date .

And what would become olds most powerful engine ever offered in its entire lifetime ?

And that was the 400 horsepower 455 cubic inch V eight .

That's right .

The tornado actually had a higher horsepower engine under hood than even the of the same time period .

The 1968 olds Buscher modestly talks about this package saying that this 400 horsepower V eight comes with forced air induction , dual exhaust and a higher lift cam really doesn't make much more mention of it than that .

In any case , the 400 horsepower 455 cubic inch V eight made the tornado a pretty peppy automobile .

The only problem with it was that the tornado was actually Oldsmobile's heaviest car in the class weighing in at almost £4400 .

When a comparable 98 from the 1968 model year weighed in at around £4200 .

A 442 would weigh in at around 35 to £3600 making the tornado about £700 heavier than the her .

So as an example or the 442 , which offered an engine under hood with only 10 less horsepower .

Thus the 400 horsepower tornado wasn't fastest car , but it certainly was its most luxurious car in combination with great sporty feel coming from under hood for the 1969 model year .

The tornado would yet again receive some styling changes .

Most notably , the little wings at the back of the car now displaced what was formerly a smoother tube shaped form .

The 400 horsepower 455 was still available in the tornado and the 375 horsepower engine was still standard for the 1970 mile year .

The tornado underwent some very significant stylistic changes up front with the removal of its hidden headlights in favor of a quad exposed headlight design and integration of the turn signals into a large loop style bumper interiors were also revised for the 1970 model year .

And unfortunately , during this time period , General Motors was beginning to take cost out of its interiors really across its entire lineup including Cadillacs and this did show up in the tornado with what I believe is probably one of the worst faux burl wood grains that cloaked to not only the instrument cluster but also the steering wheel .

Yes , other American cars during this time period had faux wood grain including luxury cars .

But for whatever reason , this burl trim in the 70 tornado to me just looks cheap and I think it's because the overall color was slightly more yellowish than real burl wood and it just doesn't look quite right any case .

Despite the not so great interior in the 1970 old tornado , these 1968 to 1970 tornadoes were the most powerful Oldsmobiles made .

And I should mention also that the 400 horsepower V eight was part of what was called the W 34 package that was offered on these tornadoes .

Beginning in the 1968 model year , only 124 of these W 34 tornadoes were produced in 1968 .

About 3000 were made in 1969 and about 5000 in the 1970 model year , the A price was $211 in 1968 dropping to $47 in both 1969 and 1970 for that price .

Not only did the customer get this 400 horsepower 455 cubic H V eight that came with forced air induction that was plumbed in from the driver's side fender , but they also got dual exhaust with bumper cutouts in the rear .

And in 1970 unique pinstriped as well that went over the wheel arches .

Some other unique content was placed in these W 34 vehicles including an upgraded transmission which can be identified by the letters O M on the transmission tag .

In the 1968 model year .

The car also had a unique washer fluid bottle that was noted to allow for the forced air induction coming through the driver's side fender .

And these W 34 vehicles in 1968 1969 also have a set up whereby the headlight doors will open in the event , the engine temperature exceeds a certain threshold to ensure proper cooling .

Overall , the 1968 to 70 tornadoes with this 400 horsepower engine and the W 34 package cars are very special automobiles that are sought after by collectors today .

And as I mentioned , are quite rare and they certainly represent the crowning achievement of what Oldsmobile was achieving during its peak years , which unfortunately would start to fall by the wayside in the 1971 model year is the tornado in particular would get especially bulky moving to a platform that shared many components with the general motors full size B body .

Hope you enjoyed the spotlight on some 1968 to 70 tornados with the 400 horsepower engine .

Thanks again for watching .

Until next time , take care .