Toyota Museum in Nagoya, Japan

The Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology is an industry and technology museum centered on Toyota’s history. Toyota started as a textile firm and evolved into an automobile leader.

The museum is housed in an old red-brick textile factory, and the exhibits start with textile technologies and then introduces the history of Toyota cars.

Virtual Tour of the Toyota Museum

Toyota Sedan Model AA
Toyota Truck G1 Model
Toyota Sports 800
Toyoda Automatic Loom

Toyota Sedan Model AA

This Toyota Sedan Model AA vehicle is a replica of the first 1936 passenger car, originally manufactured and sold under the name “Toyoda” (トヨダ).

The name was derived from the family name of the company’s founder, Kiichirō Toyoda.

Later that year, “Toyota” (トヨタ) was selected as the new company name, which was registered in 1937 as the Toyota Motor Company.

The Toyota AA’s sales price was more than 10% cheaper than Ford or GM cars, and a total of 1,404 AA sedans were produced from 1936 to 1943.

The AA was a fully enclosed 4-door sedan with a metal body on a metal ladder chassis. The rear doors opened backward as suicide doors.

A “suicide door” is the slang term for an automobile door hinged at its rear rather than the front.

The nickname is mainly due to the design’s propensity to injure anyone entering or exiting if the door is hit by a passing vehicle.

Toyota Sedan Model AA

Title: Toyota Sedan Model AA
Manufactured by: Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, later renamed Toyota
Production: 1936–1943
Assembly: Koromo, Japan
Body style: a 4-door sedan (AA)
Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Powertrain: Engine 3.4 L Type A I6 (original)
Transmission: 3-speed manual
Dimensions: L 4,737 mm (186.5″); W 1,734 mm (68.3″); H 1,737 mm (68.4″)
Museum: Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology

Toyota Truck G1 Model

This Toyota Truck G1 Model is a replica of the first 1935 truck, originally manufactured and sold under the name “Toyoda” (トヨダ).

The Toyota G1 was 6 m (20 ft) long, could carry 1.5 tons, and be similar to the Ford and GM trucks of the time.

The G1 used the 3389 cc Type A six-cylinder engine that was also used in the Model AA, which produced 65 hp (48 kW).

Toyota Truck G1 Model

Title: Toyota Truck G1 Model
Manufactured by: Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, later renamed Toyota
Date: 1935
Assembly: Koromo, Japan
Powertrain: Engine 3.4 L Type A I6 (original)
Museum: Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology

Toyota Sports 800

The Toyota Sports 800 is an example of the first production sports car made by Toyota, featuring a space-age sliding canopy.

The car went into production in 1965 and was a lightweight and agile machine. Weight was kept down by using aluminum and thin steel in construction.

The Sports 800 was one of the first production cars featuring a lift-out roof panel. Between 1965 and 1969, about 3,131 units were built.

Toyota Sports 800

Title: Toyota Sports 800
Manufactured by: Toyota
Production: 1965–1969
Assembly: Japan
Class: Sportscar
Body style: 2-door roadster; 2-door coupé
Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Museum: Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology

Toyoda Automatic Loom

Sakichi Toyoda invented this Non-Stop Shuttle Change Toyoda Automatic Loom. He was a leader of the Japanese industrial revolution and founder of Toyota Industries Co., Ltd.

His most famous invention was this automatic power loom, in which he implemented the principle of autonomous automation.

Sakichi Toyoda (豊田佐吉, 1867 – 1930) was a Japanese inventor and industrialist, the son of a poor carpenter, Toyoda became one of the most prominent Inventors in Japan.

Toyoda developed the concept of 5 Whys: When a problem occurs, ask the question “why” five times to solve the problem effectively.

This quality concept is used today as part of lean methodologies to solve problems, improve quality, and reduce costs.

Toyoda Boshoku Corporation was founded by Sakichi Toyoda in 1918, as a textile company. Looms were built on a small production line.

In 1929, the patent for the automatic loom was sold to the British company, generating the starting capital for automobile development.

The production of Toyota automobiles started in 1933 as a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works under the direction of the founder’s son, Kiichiro Toyoda.

Vehicles were initially sold under the name “Toyoda” (トヨダ), but in 1936 “Toyota” (トヨタ) was selected because it took eight brush strokes (a lucky number) to write in Japanese, was visually simpler and easier to pronounce.

The newly formed word was trademarked, and the company was registered in 1937 as the Toyota Motor Company.