Visit of the Toyota Museum, Nagoya, Japan (Part 2)

"Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy) 02/01/2015 at 08:45 • Filed to: None

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Here we are now with part 2 of Oppo's Toyota Museum's visit. If you've missed it, you can check the first part of the visit !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

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Anyway, let's get back to business with the rest of the visit! This time, more modern cars and more drooling!

1936 Bugatti Type 57C, beautiful french classic, true early-20th century luxury.

1941 Jeep "GPW" Willis beautiful american classic, true mid-20th century luxury.... or maybe not. Tons of fun nonetheless. If you're in good physical shape, a couple hours on the wheel of this thing should solve that problem.

Cisitalia 202 Coupe from 1947. I never heard about this one before. This actual car finished 5th at the 1948 Mile Miglia. It was also designed by Pininfarina.

1937 Cord Front Drive Model 812. If you are interested in weird shifters, I suggest you check Jay Leno's video on his Cord 812 Westchester. That little ring you see on the 2nd picture: that's the "stick shift".

1939 Packard Twelve that belonged to Roosevelt. This one is bullet proof and comes standard with a HUGE V12 engine.

I think I can quote Mr Regular by saying "RHHHHMPFFFFFFFGNAAAAAAAAWANNNTTTT!" Mercedes 300SL Coupe from 1955, the infamous "gullwing" Mercedes... So beautiful. This car is problably the only reason I want to be rich someday.

1951 Porsche 356 Coupe... A classic that does need not presentation.

1955 Toyopet Crown RS. The first version of a very popular saloon car in Japan.

Datsun Model 11 "Phaeton" from 1932. The oldest Datsun you can find today.

Tsukuba-Go from 1935. Not much to say about it... Just found it cool so I snapped a pic.

1953 Toyopet Super RHN. The first small car (engine limitation had to be under 1.5L to pay less taxes) with some kind of decent power. It made 48hp which was a huge improvement at the time when the average car was doing around 25hp.

1951 Toyopet Model SA. Independent suspensions! The first Toyota car with such "technology".

This one looked awesome really! The 1955 Flying Feather. 350cc engine that developped 12.5hp at 4500rpm! And it weighted.... 425kg! How cool is that???

The car that inspired Leela in Futurama! No, just kidding, probably not... This Fujicabin Model 5A was built in 1955 and was producing an incredible 5hp! On the other hand, it only weighted 150kg.

1958 Subaru 360 K111. Simply Subaru's first production car. Extremely popular car in Japan at the time.

Now you can imagine James Bond being chased in one of those in some kind of hot and humid asian country. The first Daihatsu Midget DKA in 1959. It stayed on the market for 16 years!

Mazda R360 Coupe KRBB. Two speed automatic and a four stroke engine, now that's sporty!

If you're a french bad guy, you drive a Citroen Traction Avant... If you're a Japanese bad guy on the other end, you drive a Prince Gloria Super 6 from 1964. Got chrome?

The Honda S500 from 1964. The first british-like japanese sports car. Also the first Honda car! No Vtech-yo yet, but a DOHC engine producing 44hp nonetheless

Seing the success of the little Honda, Toyota quickly jumped on the "small sports" bandwagon and came up with the Sports 800. My personnal favorite among all those small sports cars... Sadly more and more expensive thse days you can hardly find a nice once for less than 70k$ today.

DORIFFFFTO! Well maybe not at the time. Nissan Silvia from 1966! First gen Silvia. A car that wouldn't like to have it's rear bumper scrapped on a guardrail. Very fast at the time with 90hp!

The beautiful Cosmo... This one is from 1969. First Rotary engine Mazda ever fitted in a production car. Its line is just beautiful...

'Murica!!! It don't think this one needs presentation.

And the Japanese version of the musle car! The Toyota Celica. This specific one is a 1970 1600GT.

Wantto play a game? Say its name 5 times in a row with no mistakes: 1971 Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO-MR Model A53C. A fast car at the time that still looks great today.

Another classic name that unfortunatly does not mean today anymore. The Toyota Corolla! Back then the car was RWD and called the Levin. Not the econobox we've all driven.

Vtech-yo... nope not yet! 1975 Honda Civic CVCC.

GRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHUMMMMMPHHHHHHHHHHRHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGNAGNAGNAGNAGNAHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!

A 1981 Toyota Soarer. Oppo Member "Bird" imported a slightly newer version of the car, the Z20. This is a Z10, the first generation of the car.

Lexus LFA Prototype... Meh...

Isuzu's take on the Aston Martin Lagonda I guess. The Isuzu Piazza JR130. It had a "satellite switch". If anyone could explain what that is...

A classic and maybe my future car. The AE86. This one is from 1983 and it's a Levin. The Trueno is more popular, thanks to Initial D. You can read my review of the car !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

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After looking at the prototype in the first part of the photodump, here is the final version! The AW11. This particular car..... is an automatic.

And to finish, once again, what could also be my car in the upcomming weeks if I ever manage to take a freaking decision.... The Toyota Celica Liftback, this time in 2000 GT version. Unlike the US version which was given a 90hp engine despite being 2.2L (thanks California!), this one produces around 130hp, which is more than enough for such a light car.

I hope you've enjoyed this little tour. More should come in the future!

FromCanadaWithLove > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 09:32

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That's a dream garage. Great photos.

Nobi > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 10:54

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Dat Beat. I want one so badly.

Devon lost his burner, understands electric cars don't require front grilles > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 14:13

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"1971 Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO-MR Model A53C"

Funny that Colt, Galant, GTO all became model names on their own and MR became a spec on the Evo (and maybe others?)

Great photos, I would love to to go there someday. Thanks for sharing!

472CID > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 15:40

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Honey I shrunk the Ford

the7thearlofgrey > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 15:48

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let's remember the good old days

tvismr2 > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 15:48

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Zomg! All those micro cars <3

SimplyTembak > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 15:49

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That's probably the most accurate description of the 2000GT I've ever heard...

PitCrew Lefties > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 15:50

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It's sad that 100% of the todays American Honda line up would not be adorn 20 years from now. I just hate how American Honda is trying to force a corporate grille on every design even if it doesn't fit with the rest of the car.

Chaparral2F > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 15:50

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Stop. You are killing me with more 2000GT pictures. I don't know how long I can take this. I have to get one!

Flavien Vidal > PitCrew Lefties 02/01/2015 at 15:53

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I know, it's absolutly terrible :(

Modern cars in general are a pity to look at... But they are even worse to drive.

Flavien Vidal > Chaparral2F 02/01/2015 at 15:54

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Your wallet would most certainly bite the dust on this one haha

Vincent Davidson > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:01

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Very cool stuff.

BTW, how the hell did Toyota gain ownership of this-

nickneo > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:06

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MMMmmmmmm... so much win.

A correction though: under the Subaru 360 you wrote "in the Japan"

Blondude > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:08

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Gah, I want a first gen Celica soooo badly.

Flavien Vidal > nickneo 02/01/2015 at 16:08

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Which is why I mentioned this is the "First Rotary engine Mazda ever fitted in a production car." :)

correcting the other mistake right now :)

Flavien Vidal > Blondude 02/01/2015 at 16:10

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American ones are VERY slow though... I've been in one and was kind surprised at how slow it was :)

Blondude > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:11

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I'm sure there's a way to fix that...

nickneo > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:17

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Yeah, sorry. I actually edited my reply and hoped it would go through before you read it! It is edited now.

Thanks for the pics! There's no such thing as too much Toyota 2000GT

Fuel_of_Satan > 472CID 02/01/2015 at 16:18

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Fuel_of_Satan > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:20

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It's like they updated the Hanomag 2/10!

Kylemaro > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:21

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faith in humanity restored, a wild AE86 appears, kmcn47 readies his masterball

Flavien Vidal > nickneo 02/01/2015 at 16:32

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no worries man

The Dubious One > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:41

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Love the photos, Flavien! I did have one question though:

On the Mazda R360 Coupe KRBB, you said it was a 2 speed auto, but I'm seeing 3 pedals and what appears to be a standard shifter. Am I missing something? I'd tag the photo, but I'm unable to for some reason.

Thanks again!

Whitesmoke > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:47

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After seeing these cars I wouldn't be able to type anything correctly!

tobythesandwich > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 16:47

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"Another classic name that unfortunatly does not mean today anymore. The Toyota Corolla! Back then the car was RWD and called the Levin. Not the econobox we've all driven."

I don't know what the weird nostalgia is for the old Corollas. Granted, yes. They used to be RWD and the platforms had some variants that were okay.
But for the most part they've always been the boring econoboxes we know the current ones to be.

Joneez > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 17:19

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A very nice (and enthusiastic!) group brought a '65 Toyota Sports 800 to the latest Reunion at Seca. Probably the oldest Toyota to have raced at Laguna Seca. My pics and a short vid.

Awesomely pinned through turn 1!

TractorPillow > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 17:22

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Those are some beautiful cars. That 2000GT is so gorgeous.

SquirrelyWrath > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 17:30

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The 2000gt is the prettiest car there. Nicer than the 240Z even.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 17:35

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Flavien, you are living my dream. Next you'll be telling us you got an invite to the 'secret' Nissan museum in Zama.

Chaparral2F > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 17:51

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Yeah, I know. I love the car because it was a precursor to the 240Z and the lines are so sexy. Kind of a Japanese Jaguar XKE.

BicycleBob30 > 472CID 02/01/2015 at 17:53

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Possibly more likely: "Honey I copied the Austin Seven Ruby"

Also, the Toyopet model SA has a lot of Renault 4cv and Peugeot 4cv, and the Toyopet Super RHN looks like a Xeroxed 1947 Hillman Minx.

Jobjoris > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 18:03

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Awesome, epic, ISHOULDGOTHERE, all things coming to mind when looking at the pictures. THANKS for sharing!

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 18:07

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Did they get rid to the Tucker Torpedo that they had?

yurikaze > tobythesandwich 02/01/2015 at 18:23

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My "boring econobox" would like to have a few words with you.

Flavien Vidal > beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard 02/01/2015 at 19:00

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I'll start working on that pretty soon... hoping that those two articles open a couple doors...

johnny_ryall > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 19:07

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definitely need to revise the 10 car fantasy garage now....

Chaos-cascade > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 19:19

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http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/17-celic…

Not that difficult to make 'em go fast. LC Engineering can help you with that if you want to stay Toyota. F20C can help you with that if you want a six speed and decent gas mileage.

dopaz > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 19:45

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FFS, it's not "Vtech"!

Glen48 > Chaparral2F 02/01/2015 at 20:09

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Put a horn on a jellyfish...wonder how many troops were impaled on the jeep column???

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 20:51

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Flavien, if you're not going to buy that Celica, can you give me the details of the car? I'm planning on getting something in the upcoming 6 weeks or so. If you don't want it, and it's not insanely priced (and waaay out of the way from Tohoku), I'd be interested in taking a look.

brc is never late, because of his v8 > Blondude 02/01/2015 at 21:08

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I hadone, and it was a JDM GT with the dual side draft carbs, brought in as a grey import. An early car with the drop tank and rear filler between the lights. I even had some lightweight period 3 piece JDM racing wheels.

Like a chump I sold it for pennies after a series of bad outcomes. How I wish I could track that car down and get it back.

SIMid > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 21:28

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Raise you a 1971 Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO I saw yesterday ......

nmalinoski > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 21:29

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Mazda R360 Coupe KRBB. Two speed automatic and a four stroke engine, now that's sporty!

Caption says automatic. Photo shows three pedals. Does not compute.

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/01/2015 at 21:32

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Oh I'm not THAT Celica as it belongs to the museum... but a similar one maybe :)

Flavien Vidal > nmalinoski 02/01/2015 at 21:36

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Yes, I think the left pedal is in fact the crank to start the engine.

Snooder87 > PitCrew Lefties 02/01/2015 at 21:41

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ugh. The point of a "corporate grill" is to take an awesome and classic design and replicate across several lines so they all share the awesome.

Not to replicate hideous design like a stamp of failure across all your products.

Flavien Vidal > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. 02/01/2015 at 21:49

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The cars rotate regulary... they have about 3 times the amount of cars that are presented in the museum locked in storage somewhere.

tobythesandwich > yurikaze 02/01/2015 at 21:49

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Unless you've got a heavily modified engine under that hood. Yes. Boring.

I've driven AE86 Corollas as well. Can they be fun? Yeah. But so can a Cobalt SS. Do I call all Cobalts fun? No. They are boring cars to drive and are appliances. Just like a huge majority of the Corollas produced.

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 21:56

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I figured as much. :) A museum piece would be pretty much out of the reach of my budget. There's a fairly ratty one I was looking at up here. It was pretty banged up, and the guy was asking about 3-4 times as much as it was worth. Otherwise, I'm gonna end up in like a Honda Beat or something equally insane.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 22:09

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The Tucker was out for years, I guess it is time to give it a break, I suppose.

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/01/2015 at 22:17

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Where are you located by the way? and I recommend the cappuccino instead of the beat... it's much faster as the beat is a noon turbo car...

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 22:20

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I'm up in Koriyama, Fukushima. I take it you're based out of the Tokyo area?

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/01/2015 at 22:34

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Nope, not at all :)

I'm in Okazaki, in aichi, right next to Toyota :)

Married to a Japanese. Moved to Japan something like 5 months ago.

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 23:12

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I was considering the Cappy first, but theyr'e a little more money than I'd like to spend on a 20 year old Kei Jidosha. If I can track down a SAFC-II and a wrecked late model Honda Z, I figure I could cobble together something with triple digit hp.

emjayay > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 23:52

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The Museum of Modern Art only has a few vehicles in its collection. One is a Cistalia. Others I've seen there: XKE, WWII Jeep, Airstream trailer.

Ben C > Flavien Vidal 02/01/2015 at 23:53

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That is so awesome.

Thanks for that. Lovely pictures.

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/01/2015 at 23:55

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Upgraded turbo kits for the cappuccino only cost 2000$... and you get triple digit HP with almost no turbo lag for 5000 or 6000$... less trouble than dealing with a beat if you ask me...

emjayay > emjayay 02/02/2015 at 00:02

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Ooops, that wasn't supposed to be posted. See improved version below.

Jonee > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 00:08

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No, that's definitely the clutch pedal. That's not one of the semi-automatic R360's. I used to own one, actually, and there would be a button on top of the shift knob for activating the electronic clutch. You can't actually make out the button in this photo, but you can tell there's no third pedal. (This isn't my former car, but it might be the one that used to be in the one you saw's place and they haven't changed the signage?)

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 00:33

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Up around here, they start at about 6k with no shaken. There's a beat for 3.5k near me that has shaken until next July.

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/02/2015 at 01:11

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Holy crap, maybe go pick one up somewhere else... here you can find beat 2000$ with shaken...

Flavien Vidal > Jonee 02/02/2015 at 01:24

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hum... then it's a clutch... i recall a few cars that required a kick start and i thought it was one of these :)

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 02:13

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Yeah, Aichi/Nagoya is stuffed with all sorts of automotive goodness. Where I live is basically the inaka. Thing is, once I get down to Nagoya, and bring it back, the price kind of evens out.

Jonee > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 02:57

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Yeah, I imagine there were some early keis that had kick starts. Even some European microcars had kick or pull start. Maybe the 3 wheeled Mazda truck, the K360 had one at one time. That's where the R360's V-twin drivetrain came from. Great museum and thanks for all the photos. I want to go to there one day.

Looking at that picture I found again, you can just barely make out the button on the knob. It was a weird system and the thing was slower than molasses. I've driven one with a normal manual and it has a surprising amount of torque for such a small engine. It's not speedy but any means, but since it was meant for a little truck, it's got some pull.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 03:40

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great pics!

well done!

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/02/2015 at 04:08

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Well if you come pick it up, it's just gas money and toll roads really... round trip would cost maybe 200/250$ total. You go by car with someone and drive back with two separate cars... That's how I'll do for my car. I don't mind checking everywhere in Japan to find the right one :)

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 05:16

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BTW, can you link me to some of these 200000 yen Beats? Like, where are you finding them? I can't seem to find any in that price range with more than a few months of shaken on goo-net.

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/02/2015 at 05:24

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Well I convert it, 25.0000 yen for 2000 USD... There are two around my place at this price (even a bit cheaper) but haven't found them on any website.

On carsensor you can find a few for 28.0000 yen but to find cheap you have to look at smaller garages that don't list them or even just order one. In auctions you can buy those without shaken for a couple hundred bucks... of order one from a small garage and if this one knows he'll make a quick buck, he will sell you one with shaken for 20.0000 yen fairly easily... it's easy money for him and no storage or anything.

You have to ask around you :)

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 06:05

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Well then. I guess I'm headed out to the auctions with my friend then. Hopefully there'll be a good opportunity during my next scheduled holiday.

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/02/2015 at 06:14

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Well normally you won't have access to those auctions... They are reserved to "dealers" and "licensed" people... You have to know somebody with a used car selling license to get a car there... Which is still why you have to go through a garage for those... But you can neogicate with the garage and get a good deal if he knows you'll buy it back right away.

Or (like me actually) you know somebody with such a license and therefore you can buy pretty much whatever you want for MUCH cheaper...

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 07:06

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Well, he DOES have a car lot. ;)

Flavien Vidal > Eggplant 02/02/2015 at 07:15

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Then he most likely has a license to access those auctions :)

Keep those kind of friends very close to you haha, you will see auctions are AWESOME!

The Gray Adder > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 08:58

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Kinja's giving me fits trying to thumbnail the above images. Anyway, seems there is a lot of American influence in a few of these cars. The one with all the chrome looks kind of like an early 60s Pontiac.

Eggplant > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 09:28

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Between him and the guys who built that SBC Prius for TAS, I'm in a good spot.

Oh, I think you might have done the fun2drive thing with another friend of mine from Canada?

HideyoshiJP > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 10:32

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Your posts, while excellent, are notably lacking in pink Cadillac.

TooManyCarsMike > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 11:10

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The 1971 Mitsubishi Colt Galant GTO-MR Model A53C looks like a mini Pontiac GTO from the front. I love it!! Now to search for the prices these are going for.

AceNG > tobythesandwich 02/02/2015 at 14:03

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They have always been econoboxes. It just that someone found out how to have fun with it with relatively less money to spend (including all the necessary mods) than to buy an out of the box sports car, then it got popular. Nowadays, people pay half of the price for it's popularity.

fmafra > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 15:18

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You did it again. One more thing I'm adding to my Japan trip.

AR > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 16:41

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Did you get a chance to go upstairs into the "Private" areas? They have a BOATLOAD of cars hidden up there that they rotate in and out of the museum. I was lucky enough to be part of a group that got to go behind the scenes there. Check out the photos:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahmed_r…

I was in Japan as part of a VIP group that visited Nissan and Toyota. Browse my other albums for more pics. Here is a write-up from my entire trip back in Nov. 2012.

http://www.gtrlife.com/forums/topic/8…

RedWhine > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 17:33

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Question for you Flavien. Do you speak / read Japanese or are there English equivalents of these signs?

Question for the general Jalop populace. Do 356s normally sit this low? Looks like some serious stance action going on here

SwellBell > Flavien Vidal 02/02/2015 at 17:43

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Jeez, you just keep making me add tentative things do do/visit for my trip to japan (still a ways out)! You got me interested in the Fun2Drive, now I may need to make another side trip here! If you are still around then, i wouldn't mind entertaining the idea of meeting up while over there, just a thought...

SwellBell > SwellBell 02/02/2015 at 17:45

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So, an old celica huh, not a bad option. Werent you also considering the AE86 from your Fun2Drive review? Granted if they have any available still...

tobythesandwich > AceNG 02/02/2015 at 22:58

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You can have fun in quite a large majority of shitboxes to be totally fair.

The issue with the Corolla is everyone remembers the modified ones and the "LOL INITIAL D" life, but for the huge majority of the Corolla's life it was just always a boring econobox. I dunno. I don't get the whole argument that they were something great.