Toronado.org

Last year I bought a sad looking but cheap Toronado from a Nederlands seller. The original owner was his uncle, died some month before. The seller don´t know what he should do with it.
The Toronado was in a bad shape with an accident at left rear, horrible paint job, bad seats and some technical problems. But it is a rare bucket seat car with console and engine/transmission was ok.
So I started the work in Oktober 2020...

































Today the exterior was finished. Now the work with interior begun. New headliner, restored side panels, new carpet will be mount next days. Seat covers are made by SMS Auto Fabrics in Oregon/USA. They promised me that the covers are ready in May 2021 - now it is August but nothing is coming till now...

That looks great. Glad to see you removed those horrible hood scoops and ridiculous wheels.

As for SMS, they've always been that way. I had them redo the door panels for a 1964 Galaxie 500 20 years ago and it took them forever.
The final product was worth the wait, though. They also aren't the friendliest people to deal with but again, their products are top notch. so you just have to put up with it.

Great job Roland! It looks beautiful!
You are a brave soul. That rust was bad.
SMS is a PIA to work with. But if you want the original materials you often have no other choice. When I have to resort to them I buy the materials and have someone else sew them up. Hope you get your seats soon. Post pics of the finished product.

Roland, did you ever get in touch with Harold Schoener? He is in Germany and detailed his restoration of a '66 Toro here. if you run into any trouble, he's your local connection.

Yes Otto, I had a phone call with Harald. But seems he is very busy and has less time for our hobby.

Roland, that's an unusual looking truck that your car is sitting on. I know most of your heavy trucks in Europe are COE design which makes that one stand out.

I looked it up and discovered that it's a Volvo. The cab looks like it hasn't been re-styled since the 1950s and just has a modern hood grafted on.

That´s a 1982 VOLVO N720 roller-truck. It´s from the N truck family from the mid 1970th to mid 80th. I restored it in five years with help of two younger friends. You are right, cab is from the 60th Volvo N86, modified with a steel hood - later 80th plastic ABS.

Truck was build in Brasilia for USA, sold to France, worked its live there, sold to a Belgium truck seller and bought by some crazy germans

Now that's a clean Toro! Looks a lot better than before (especially without those wheels). Looked like something the Joker would have driven. Did you paint the car yourself? How long did that take and how difficult is it to do that?

Nicolas, after some "offers" from car painters between 6.000 and 10.000 Euros for a paint job, I did it myself. 600 Eur for paint and primer, some sandpapers and a polish machine and a 7m x 3.5m DIY paint box with a fan in addition 350 Eur was my bill then.
Take some time for watching youtube paint job and polishing videos and try it. I need estimated 6 month for stripping the paint, smooth down, painting and polishing.

That's a fantastic job, Roland whether it was your first time or your 100th time. You'll need the leftover 9000 Euros for gasoline!