[FlyingSpur]

I happened to get a great opportunity to visit the Toyota Museum in Torrance, CA through the university. I happened to click quite a few pictures from my cellphone camera (quality isn't great) but I hope you will all enjoy the pictures anyway. Somewhere in resizing pics for the forum, the quality deteriorated a bit more. I would have loved to go into more details on some of the significant exhibits given some more time. This museum does well to encompass Toyota's history in USA since 1957.

[FlyingSpur]

Next set of pictures from the museum...

[FlyingSpur]

Next set of pictures continued....

[FlyingSpur]

Hang in there, another set of pictures....

[FlyingSpur]

....aaaaand the last set of pictures! Hope everyone enjoyed these.

[GTO]

Lovely walk down memory lane. Thanks for sharing, Flying Spur! I hope you're as observant inside the classroom too

Funny thing is, a few of the cars from this museum have real-world potential even today. The ol' Tacoma...light, simple & cheap (new ones are too big). The Supra (attainable, mod friendly, honest). The 2nd-gen MR2 (simple, cheap, mid-engine, RWD). Sad that Toyota doesn't make cars like these anymore.

Since we're talking history, here's some trivia: In the 60s, Toyota actually withdrew their car (Toyopet Crown) from the USA market. Reason....believe it or not, poor reliability & awful performance!!

[gautamkhadse]

Originally Posted by GTO

Lovely walk down memory lane. Thanks for sharing, Flying Spur! I hope you're as observant inside the classroom too

Funny thing is, a few of the cars from this museum have real-world potential even today. The ol' Tacoma...light, simple & cheap (new ones are too big). The Supra (attainable, mod friendly, honest). The 2nd-gen MR2 (simple, cheap, mid-engine, RWD). Sad that Toyota doesn't make cars like these anymore.

Since we're talking history, here's some trivia: In the 60s, Toyota actually withdrew their car (Toyopet Crown) from the USA market. Reason....believe it or not, poor reliability & awful performance!!

I guess all those left over Toyota Crown cars probably went to Hong Kong , Because all the taxis there are age old toyota crown . All of them . Not a single different car . And call it ironic , but they've stood the test of time and lasted this long .

[ksanjee]

WOW...that is a comprehensive history. I guess I will look through these pictures again and go back in memory lane...

I saw the MR2 Turbo during an auto show in SFO in early 90s and really fell in love with it. I test drove one and it was a pleasure. Also test drove the last generation Supra Turbo - it packed some serious power that you would not expect from a Toyota. The Tundra V8s were awesome..(I did own a little Tercel for a few months!)

Nice to see their race cars - Indy/IMSA/F1. Such rich racing history for a company that is known to produce Corollas, Camrys and Tercels!

The original Lexus LS400 really made a statement - don't like the other Lexus models based on Camry. Subsequently, the GS400 (rear drive and designed by none other than Guigiaro) gave the BMW540 a serious run for its money. I also recall a model called Avalon that was a failure.

Great pictures...
krishna

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by gautamkhadse

I guess all those left over Toyota Crown cars probably went to Hong Kong , Because all the taxis there are age old toyota crown . All of them . Not a single different car . And call it ironic , but they've stood the test of time and lasted this long .

Err... The Crowns that GTO told where the 1st gen ones of the 1960s.
The one you are probably talking about is the 7th or 8th gen one.
The one that flopped in USA


The one you are probably talking about.

Originally Posted by ksanjee

The original Lexus LS400 really made a statement - don't like the other Lexus models based on Camry. Subsequently, the GS400 (rear drive and designed by none other than Guigiaro) gave the BMW540 a serious run for its money. I also recall a model called Avalon that was a failure.

Great pictures...
krishna

Till a couple of years back, except the ES and RX, all others where RWD real Lexuses,

flyingspur. Superb pics , but i really wanted too see an 80s Cressida.

[ksanjee]

Ironically, the ES and the RX were the most popular (in sales) at least I remember seeing more of them till 2009 (just checked some figures - in 2012 56k ESs were sold out of a total of 132k cars and 95k out of 111k suvs were RXs.)

Are all of them Front drive now? (I guess some may be AWD?)

k

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by ksanjee

Ironically, the ES and the RX were the most popular (in sales) at least I remember seeing more of them till 2009 (just checked some figures - in 2012 56k ESs were sold out of a total of 132k cars and 95k out of 111k suvs were RXs.)

Are all of them Front drive now? (I guess some may be AWD?)

k

Yep, the ES and the RX actually rakes in the moolah for Lexus.

No, the main IS, GS, LS and sportscars are all RWD along with the AWD SUVs.
Most are still RWD/AWD, it's just two new models that are FWD. The HS and CT, both hybid only and based on the platform underpinning the Corolla.

Cheers.