John Beltz - Car & Driver Cover

Car & Driver Cover

Beltz was also featured on the February 1971 cover of Car and Driver magazine (his most legendary editorial appearance), shown in the Sonoran desert at the GM Proving Grounds near Phoenix, leaning against a Toronado with his sunglasses on. In the corresponding article within the issue, the writer dubbed Beltz the ultimate "real car man" and Beltz discussed the Toronado and briefly, his other favorite Olds model, the high-performance 442. When asked why he built the Toronado, Beltz, in typical fashion, simply responded "It just makes you feel like God."

Other notable Beltz quotes from Gordon Jennings' piece include:

Discussing his love for automotive engineering: "I just fell in love with that machinery. I still love it. Love to see it change from lines on paper to finished form. All the time I was Chief Engineer, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the first prototype of a new car. I'd look for excuses to go out there in the shops and look at cars. I still do."

"But there's a lot more to the Toronado buyer than education and income: He's a guy who has made it - and knows that he has. Basically he's not buying a car to prove anything, because he has already proven it."

Writer Gordon Jennings wrote of Beltz, "Listening to John Beltz, which was what we mostly did, because he will talk at length on the subject of Toronados with little prompting - and very lucid speech it is - we found ourselves becoming almost too favorably predisposed to like the new Toronado. In fact, a few hours with John Beltz will make anyone ready to go out and buy an Oldsmobile."