In the 1950s, Toyota Motor Corporation set up shop in Los Angeles, California to serve as their North American Headquarters. With steady, conservative planning and continually striving to improve, Toyota became a benchmark in quality and automobile production. Many other car makers have contracted with Toyota to show them how to better build cars – sounds nutty, but it’s true. Even Porsche hired them. Over time, Toyota took out a large piece of Torrance, California creating a massive campus way before properties like this were called campuses. Upon the campus, they housed a museum showcasing various Toyota products ranging from family sedans to racing cars to sportscars to trucks and SUVs. For enthusiasts, it was a spectacular tribute to a company that largely reinvented how cars should be built. Sadly though, when Toyota abruptly left California for Texas, they took the museum with them. But fortunately, just a couple of weeks before the transporters showed up to move the cars, we were invited to visit and document what they had.
The Toyota 2000GT largely let the world know that the company could build a world class sportscar like so many others. Exotic and hugely engineered, it is a masterpiece of automotive design and construction.
The Toyota Museum in Torrance, California had a spectacular showing of various Toyota products from several generations. Look closely and rare, very desirable vehicles stand out among the racecars that helped prove Toyota’s durability. Polished concrete floors and extenuatingly high ceilings indicate that yes, this is a true warehouse. Sadly, it is no more.
Adjacent the 2000GT is an engine for the car as well as blown up marketing and informational posters. These are beyond rare.
The racing tribute is astonishing. Cars literally going up the walls, and cars on the floor, each reminding that Toyota has been in the sport for a long time. Trophies and racing suits are also on display. Interestingly, the museum trusts that people will not stupidly touch the cars and doesn’t employ stanchions
A row of high-end Toyota sedans reminds like the racing display that Toyota has been there for a while.Lined up along the wall is a selection of Lexus vehicles dating back to their US debut in 1989, the LS400 sedan. Interestingly, when Toyota elected to launch Lexus, it’s been said that decision makers at Toyota agreed money was no object. The goal was to create the finest, most dependable luxury car on the market for that class. Did they succeed?Largely the vehicle that started it all, the Toyota Land Cruiser before the name came to be. Japan wanted a vehicle similar to the American Jeep and discovering on abandoned in the Philippines ordered Toyota to reverse engineer the Jeep and build their own version.
