Mid-2000s guitar weirdness: Fender Toronado GT HH

I know what you're thinking...

...right now you're saying, "Okay, so Fender had a guitar that looked like the Ford Gran Torino from the '70s show Starsky & Hutch?"

Yes. Yes, they did. The Fender Toronado GT HH is a guitar that looked just like the striped tomato Torino.

The interesting part is when this guitar was released, which was 2005 and 2006, meaning this guitar isn't even 20 years old yet.

In listings for this guitar, you'll see it alongside other Toronado guitars that look a lot more normal. The GT HH has that "loud and fast" look to it. It has no pick guard and keeps things very basic with a 3-way toggle switch, 4 control knobs (two volume, two tone) and a Gibson-esque bridge and tail piece.

To add to the loud/fast look, the headstock is also color matched to red just like the body with a white Fender logo.

Interestingly, the headstock does not state "TORONADO". Just "Fender", and that's it.

Is this guitar the same as the Squier Paranormal Toronado? No. The Squier has a big honkin' pick guard on it, totally different bridge and pickups with chrome covers on them - and no color matched headstock...

...but I could understand it if you preferred the Squier over the Fender, if for no other reason than it's much less in price and absolutely looks more normal compared to the striped Fender.

However, that big competition stripe is the entire reason to get the Fender Toronado GT HH in the first place. It's not often you see a guitar that "looks fast", but the Fender pulls it off quite nicely.

Does this guitar have any connection to the 2004 movie? I'm honestly not sure. The guitar is from 2005-2006 and the movie was just one year prior, so... maybe? I've never seen it, so I can't say for certain.

But even if the guitar isn't connected to the movie, it's still cool because you almost never see Fenders that have a "loud" appearance like the Toronado GT HH.

One last note: There are also "bumblebee" yellow body/black stripe and "gold bee" gold body/black stripe versions of this guitar that you'll see from the listings - but the red/white is the best of the lot by far.

Published 2024 Apr 2