Hard to imagine now, what with its parent company gone to that great used-car lot in the sky, but the Oldsmobile Toronado was one of the most innovative automobiles ever produced. Touted as “proof of Oldsmobile engineering leadership,” FWD was the wave of the future, and the Rocket Division was proudly leading the charge. Forcing the front wheels to cope with a massive 425 cu. in. V8 and a three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic transmission on 17 feet of “personal luxury” might seem downright suicidal today, but in 1966 it was called American ingenuity, dammit! After all, what would those know-it-all GM engineers think would be more appropriate? A wimpy Saab Viggen motor or something? GM made sure to get it right the first time, spending 7 years overengineering the bejezus out of its unique platform before presenting it as the company’s technological masterpiece. Coupled with its packaging efficiency and ease of assembly, the Toronado was an easy choice for all sorts of wacky platform-sharing, such as GMC’s Motorhome and, well, this. 
Looking like the unholy combination of a flathead trout and a meatpacking plant, this would be the inspiringly-named AQC Jetway 707: a six-wheeled, 25-windowed beast designed to ferry lower-level accountants from Mississauga, Ontario to their awaiting TWA flights for corporate planning initiatives. Think your stretched-out Town Car limo you rented out for prom was something special? This could seat 12 to 15 jaded airline passengers, whisking them across the tarmac in relative driveshaft-free comfort. It was the “limousine of tomorrow” in 1968, with enough room to reenact the naumachia of Augustus within its eight (yes, count ‘em, eight) doors.
Hard to imagine now, what with its parent company gone to that great used-car lot in the sky, but the Oldsmobile Toronado was one of the most innovative automobiles ever produced. Touted as “proof of Oldsmobile engineering leadership,” FWD was the wave of the future, and the Rocket Division was proudly leading the charge. Forcing the front wheels to cope with a massive 425 cu. in. V8 and a three-speed Turbo-Hydramatic transmission on 17 feet of “personal luxury” might seem downright suicidal today, but in 1966 it was called American ingenuity, dammit! After all, what would those know-it-all GM engineers think would be more appropriate? A wimpy Saab Viggen motor or something? GM made sure to get it right the first time, spending 7 years overengineering the bejezus out of its unique platform before presenting it as the company’s technological masterpiece. Coupled with its packaging efficiency and ease of assembly, the Toronado was an easy choice for all sorts of wacky platform-sharing, such as GMC’s Motorhome and, well, this. Looking like the unholy combination of a flathead trout and a meatpacking plant, this would be the inspiringly-named AQC Jetway 707: a six-wheeled, 25-windowed beast designed to ferry lower-level accountants from Mississauga, Ontario to their awaiting TWA flights for corporate planning initiatives. Think your stretched-out Town Car limo you rented out for prom was something special? This could seat 12 to 15 jaded airline passengers, whisking them across the tarmac in relative driveshaft-free comfort. It was the “limousine of tomorrow” in 1968, with enough room to reenact the naumachia of Augustus within its eight (yes, count ‘em, eight) doors. Built by Cotner & Bevington, it was the first in a series of Oldsmobile professional cars with hearses, ambulances, funeral cars and more conventional limousines planned to follow. Unfortunately, sales of the oddball Jetway tanked with only 52 built, and the enterprise was soon shuttered.
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