Dec. 22, 1988

DETAILS OF TOYOTA AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM ANNOUNCED

 

Toyota City―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION today announced details of an automobile museum that the company is building near Nagoya as part of Toyota's 50th anniversary commemorative program. The project was first announced in November 1987 and is now nearing completion.

The "Toyota Motor Corporation Automobile Museum," as it will officially be known, will offer a unique look at the first 100 years of the gasoline-powered automobile and how it has affected our lives# Scheduled to be opened in April 1989, the museum will have a total floor space of 11,000m2 spread over three, floors and will display about 100 different vehicles from around the world. Exhibits will trace, in chronological order, the development of a "motor culture" and the technological progress of the automobile as it has been manifested through some of the trend-setting cars of the past century.

Featured will be about 50 Western automobiles from the end of the nineteenth century up through 1940, as well as an equal number of Japanese autos that will cover the period up until 1970. The Western cars will be displayed in four categories, including the pioneering years, cars for the masses, luxury models and racing, with special emphasis on those cars that particularly contributed to the popularization of the automobile. Japanese cars will include the likes of Toyota's first passenger car, the 1936 AA Sedan, the 1953 Hino Renault and the 1956 Fuji Cabin, of which only some 85 units were ever made.

The museum, which will be open to the general public, will also include a reference materials room, museum store, snack bar and auto restoration shop.

Major Vehicles on Display

  1. Western Vehicles
    1. Pioneering Years
    • 1910 Oldsmobile Curved-Dash Runabout (U.S.)
      Most popular model before debut of Ford Model T; typical pioneering American car
    • 1909 Ford Model T Touring (U.S.)
      First commercial vehicle to be mass-produced; a total of 15,007,033 units manufactured in 20 years from 1908 to 1927
    • 1910 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Tourer (U.K.)
      Original luxury car; its excellence in quiet running, driving stability and quality was unparalleled.
    1. Cars for the Masses
    • 1916 Chevrolet 490 (U.S.)
      GM's competition to Ford Model T; named 490 because priced at 490 dollars.
    • 1924 Austin 7 (U.K.)
      Manufactured as a car for the people suited to conditions in U.K.; explosive sales made Austin the greatest maker in Britain.
    • 1934 DeSoto Airflow Sedan (U.S.)
      First vehicle that adopted the streamlined style fashionable in the 1930s
    • 1938 Citroen 11CV (France)
      Leading popular car of the 1930s in France; borrowed Ford's heart-shaped grille fashionable at that time
    1. Luxury Models
    • 1912 Cadillac Touring (U.S.)
      World's first vehicle equipped with electric starter and electric headlamps; an epoch-maker in automobile technology
    • 1930 Duesenberg Model J Double-Cowl Phaeton (U.S.) Super-luxury car that was the most luxurious and perfect model representing the U.S.; a status symbol for Hollywood stars
    1. Racing
    • 1908 Isotta Fraschini (Italy)
      Leading Italian sports car active in early years of motor sports
    • 1935 Bugatti T35B (France)
      Leading high-performance sports car dominant in races in the 1920s.
  2. Japanese Models
    1. Major Toyota Models
    • 1936 AA Sedan
    • 1953 Toyopet Super RH Model
    • 1955 First Crown RS Model
    • 1967 Toyota 2000 GT
    1. Major Models of Non-Toyota Japanese Automakers
    • 1953 Hino Renault
    • 1953 Isuzu Hillman
    • 1955 Suzulight
    • 1959 Bluebird
    • 1959 Daihatsu Midget
    • 1963 Honda S500
    • 1955 Flying Feather
      360cc rear engine model; some 200 units manufactured by Suminoe Seisakujo
    • 1956 Fuji Cabin
      125cc three-wheeled light car; some 85 units by Fuji Jidosha