The original Toronado began as a design painting by Oldsmobile stylist David North in 1962. His design, dubbed the "Flame Red Car," was for a compact sports/personal car never intended for production. A few weeks after the design was finished, however, Oldsmobile division was informed it would be permitted to build a personal car in the Riviera/Thunderbird class for the 1966 model year, and North's design was selected. Oldsmobile spent seven years developing the Toronado. Prior to its introduction to the public, over 1.5 million brutal test miles had been performed to verify the strength and reliability of the Toronado's front-drive components. Obviously, Oldsmobile did not want anyone to experience problems with the new design. History has confirmed the Toronado design was indeed heavily over-built; the GMC motor home of the 1970s, which used a basically unchanged Toronado-derived drivetrain, stands as a testament to that fact. Nevertheless, the re-introduction of front wheel drive earned the new Toronado Motor Trend "Car of the Year" honors in 1966. The 68 model Toronado is arguably the most desirable of all 1st generation Toronados. It has the aggressive styling and big 455 cubic inch V8 rated at 365 hp that put this car on the muscle car map.This '68 Toronado is an all original car except for one quality repaint. With only 52,763 original miles showing, the car is simply spectacular. This is a highly optioned car that's options include Comfortron automatic air conditioning, power trunk release and power antenna. The car has been in an established private collection in Georgia since 2006 where it was religiously driven 50 miles a year and serviced every 3 months by an experienced staff. The paint on the car is newer and looks great. The repaint was done around 2006 and looks nearly as good today as it did then. During the repaint, the vinyl top was replaced and is equally as nice as the paint. The front and rear chrome bumpers both appear to be original for the car and are in great condition. The body is solid with no bubbling to be found. Inside, the original buckskin interior looks great and shows no signs of major wear. No rips or tears anywhere to the interior. The carpet has been covered in the front and rear with full length carpeted floor mats to protect the original carpet. The dash is equally as nice with no cracking or buckling. Lights, blinkers, horn and wipers work along with the A/C, power antenna and power seat. Under the hood, the monster 455 Cu In V8 runs great and starts with a turn of the key. The engine compartment is incredibly original and looks nearly as good as the day it rolled off of the assembly line. The "Comfortron" A/C system is blowing cold and works with no problems. The car also has power steering and power brakes. The headlight buckets go up and down as they should. Under the car is very solid with all original sheet metal. In the trunk which is nicely carpted, it appears that the original spare and jack have never moved from where it was set from the factory. When you get behind the wheel of this Toronado, the big 375 horsepower V8 starts up and will take you down the road with tons of power and grunt. The car drives as it should for a low mileage, well maintained, 52,000 mile car. The VIN number is 394878M623012 and the mileage currently shows 52,763.