Piston Slap: New Tricks for an Old Car Phone? (Part II)

Sajeev Mehta
by Sajeev Mehta

Tony writes:

I have a 1992 Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo with a built-in cell phone (analog) that doesn’t work. Could you help me convert it? That would be amazing.

Sajeev answers:

Well I can help, as I mentioned before, but making a car phone upgrade happen? Oh, it’s gonna be a huge pain requiring creativity, electronic knowledge and wiring diagrams on your end. But the end result on this video? Worth it!

No car must live on with its factory stereo intact more than a Toronado! The amount of gee-whiz tech GM loaded into the Toronado (and the Riviera/Reatta) means it’s your duty to keep everything period correct and/or 100 percent functional. And that Motorola 2700 certainly looks the part.

To help make it happen, here’s the above YouTuber’s write up on LincolnsOnline.

We don’t need no Google Maps! (photo courtesy: saabsho @photobucket.com)

Oh yes! Someone needs to make this display work with a car phone once more!

Who will make it happen? And will they take us along for the journey?

Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry…but be realistic, and use your make/model specific forums instead of TTAC for more timely advice.


Sajeev Mehta
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  • Joe Oliphant Joe Oliphant on May 20, 2015

    Rather than getting the phone to work, an option is updating it to Bluetooth. I've seen quite a few inovative ways that people have made Bluetooth adapters work with stereo systems that originally had cell phone interfaces. In my case, I discoverd that Jaguar put out a bulletin to adapt later model BlueTooth modules to work on models as far back as 2003. A description of what you need for that is here: http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xk8-xkr-x100-17/bluetooth-capability-123196/#post1035419

  • Grant404 Grant404 on Aug 04, 2015

    I thought "Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo FE3" was one of the more pretentiously wordy model names ever pinned to the side of a motor vehicle.

  • Redapple2 I gave up on Honda. My 09 Accord Vs my 03. The 09s- V 6 had a slight shudder when deactivating cylinders. And the 09 did not have the 03 's electro luminescent gages. And the 09 had the most uncomfortable seats. My brother bought his 3rd and last Honda CRV. Brutal seats after 25 minutes. NOW, We are forever Toyota, Lexus, Subaru people now despite HAVING ACCESS TO gm EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT. Despite having access to the gm employee discount. Man, that is a massive statement. Wow that s bad - Under no circumstances will I have that govna crap.
  • Redapple2 Front tag obscured. Rear tag - clear and sharp. Huh?
  • Redapple2 I can state what NOT to buy. HK. High theft. Insurance. Unrefined NVH. Rapidly degrading interiors. HK? No way !
  • Luke42 Serious answer:Now that I DD an EV, buying an EV to replace my wife’s Honda Civic is in the queue. My wife likes her Honda, she likes Apple CarPlay, and she can’t stand Elon Musk - so Tesla starts the competition with two demerit-points and Honda starts the competition with one merit-point.The Honda Prologue looked like a great candidate until Honda announced that the partnership with GM was a one-off thing and that their future EVs would be designed in-house.Now I’m more inclined toward the Blazer EV, the vehicle on which the Prologue is based. The Blazer EV and the Ultium platform won’t be orphaned by GM any time soon. But then I have to convince my wife she would like it better than her Honda Civic, and that’s a heavy lift because she doesn’t have any reason to be dissatisfied with her current car (I take care of all of the ICE-hassles for her).Since my wife’s Honda Civic is holding up well, since she likes the car, and since I take care of most of the drawbacks of drawbacks of ICE ownership for her, there’s no urgency to replace this vehicle.Honestly, if a paid-off Honda Civic is my wife’s automotive hill to die on, that’s a pretty good place to be - even though I personally have to continue dealing the hassles and expenses of ICE ownership on her behalf.My plan is simply to wait-and-see what Honda does next. Maybe they’ll introduce the perfect EV for her one day, and I’ll just go buy it.
  • 2ACL I have a soft spot for high-performance, shark-nosed Lancers (I considered the less-potent Ralliart during the period in which I eventually selected my first TL SH-AWD), but it's can be challenging to find a specimen that doesn't exhibit signs of abuse, and while most of the components are sufficiently universal in their function to service without manufacturer support, the SST isn't one of them. The shops that specialize in it are familiar with the failure as described by the seller and thus might be able to fix this one at a substantial savings to replacement. There's only a handful of them in the nation, however. A salvaged unit is another option, but the usual risks are magnified by similar logistical challenges to trying to save the original.I hope this is a case of the seller overvaluing the Evo market rather than still owing or having put the mods on credit. Because the best offer won't be anywhere near the current listing.
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