Fast Toronados

[gene]

now there you go, could have your spare engine in your toad.....

gene

>Delivered-To: gmcmotorhome
>From: HWalterZimdars
>Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 18:42:33 EDT
>Subject: GMC: Fast Toronados
>To: gmcmotorhome
>X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 108
>Sender: owner-gmcmotorhome
>Reply-To: gmcmotorhome
>
>>>Tom WroteDate: 14 Jul 2000 00:52:49 -0000
>From: tom warner
>Subject: Re: GMC: GMC Memory Lane
>
>Tony I had 10 toronados at one time or another and the fastest of the fast
>was the 1970 Toronado GT. I did a few things to the 455 and it was like
>riding a rocket. You did not really drive it, more or less pointed it in the
>direction you wanted to launch it and than hold on. The acceleration was
>awesome with all of the black smoke from the front tires. It was kind of
>like flying thru the clouds without benefit of radar.
>
>the old days indeed,
>
>tom
>
>****************************************************************
>Tom:
>
> Early Toronados were fast, but just think about a Toronado Engine in a
>vehicle that weighs only about a third of that of a Toronado. Back in the
>early 70's a member of our Corvair Club in Chicago pull the back seat out
and
>then cut out the rear bulk head on his 65' Corvair. He replaced the old
>Corvair drive train with the front sub-frame from an early Toronado. There's
>nothing like an Old's V-8 in the back seat for going very, very, very fast.
>He didn't even think about upgrading the motor, it scared him enough
straight
>from the factory. It was faster than the Crown conversions using a Chevy V-8
>in the back seat, but didn't handle as well on the race course.
> And yes, the big 15 inch rear wheels extended out the past rear fenders
>and he the little 13's on the front looked funny. He never did get all of
the
>structural problems or over heating problems figured out, but he had a wild
>ride there for a while.
>
>Walter
>'78 Trans/mode in western Colorado
>
>PS - Passengers were told to bring a clean pair of pants to put on after
>their demo ride.
>
Genef -- 77PB/ore/ca
GMC MOTORHOME INFORMATION
mr.erf
http://www.california.com/~eagle/

 

[antnip]

I recall seeing in one of the big car magazines where some guy put a 455 in
the back of a VW Rabbit. He had to flare the rear fenders, and put some
cooling scoops on the lead edge. The back seat was boxed in to hide the
engine, and from the outside it looked like any other Rabbit, only with some
odd rear fender flares. I can't recall performance #'s, but seeing as a
regular rabbit weighed in at just over 2000 lbs, I bet there were many left
scratching their heads when that thing took off.

I also saw a similar trick done to an old VW bug too. I guess they liked the
Tornado set up because it was nice and compactly set to drive the wheels it
sat over.

There are a lot of twisted minds out there. I'm glad, they make life
interesting!

Tony Bad

- ----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2000 6:42 PM
Subject: GMC: Fast Toronados

> >>Tom Wrote Date: 14 Jul 2000 00:52:49 -0000
> From: tom warner
> Subject: Re: GMC: GMC Memory Lane
>
> Tony I had 10 toronados at one time or another and the fastest of the fast
> was the 1970 Toronado GT. I did a few things to the 455 and it was like
> riding a rocket. You did not really drive it, more or less pointed it in
the
> direction you wanted to launch it and than hold on. The acceleration was
> awesome with all of the black smoke from the front tires. It was kind of
> like flying thru the clouds without benefit of radar.
>
> the old days indeed,
>
> tom
>
> ****************************************************************
> Tom:
>
> Early Toronados were fast, but just think about a Toronado Engine in a
> vehicle that weighs only about a third of that of a Toronado. Back in the
> early 70's a member of our Corvair Club in Chicago pull the back seat out
and
> then cut out the rear bulk head on his 65' Corvair. He replaced the old
> Corvair drive train with the front sub-frame from an early Toronado.
There's
> nothing like an Old's V-8 in the back seat for going very, very, very
fast.
> He didn't even think about upgrading the motor, it scared him enough
straight
> from the factory. It was faster than the Crown conversions using a Chevy
V-8
> in the back seat, but didn't handle as well on the race course.
> And yes, the big 15 inch rear wheels extended out the past rear
fenders
> and he the little 13's on the front looked funny. He never did get all of
the
> structural problems or over heating problems figured out, but he had a
wild
> ride there for a while.
>
> Walter
> '78 Trans/mode in western Colorado
>
> PS - Passengers were told to bring a clean pair of pants to put on after
> their demo ride.
>