A mythical Toyota AA or "just" Chrysler Airflow?

groupb · **Posted:** Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:44 pm

wow this has gone sooo longggg

I do not think that this was a Russian copy or anything, they only copy established brand names- they do not waste their talent on cheap stuff and at that point and time Toyota was a nobody

may have some Toyota DNA as the pixel count can almost prove... but the original chassis may have long been gone: it will be interesting to know what metallurgy Toyota used (if indeed pieces of it are Toyota) since early Toyotas rusted easily

someone please send me a file of all the pictures available (the photo CSIs will be great!!

I will send it to Toyota Japan- by official Toyota pouch (thru Toyota USA), they may need amusing reading at this time....

other details will expedite this mystery. More mysterious is why the owner hasn't contacted Toyota ! They would given him a Century or an LS easy...

they would be so happy to know about this possible vehicle and I am sure someone there can give a professional assessment

then Ben and Dan can memorialize and lead the safari (Toyota will pay if the info proves to be a correct lead); then Toyota will advertise in JNC magazine of true Toyota diehards, unlike all the news organizations now...

on the other hand you can "Raiders of the Lost Ark" it and hold ransom for Toyota ! then trade and get the last production LFA!

or let us display this piece at a future TORC show as a "work abandoned"!

madFaber · **Posted:** Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:20 pm

I think this car may be cursed by gypsys, and there is a good chance that they used spare parts from an orphan to keep it running.

zulu · **Posted:** Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:34 am

madFaber wrote:

I think this car may be cursed by gypsys.

hey lets keep racism out of this please thanks :tu:

madFaber · **Posted:** Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:52 am

Iam sorry I didn't know gypsys were a race, sorry if I offended any gypsys

RoadsterViking · **Posted:** Sun Feb 14, 2010 1:53 am

zulu wrote:

madFaber wrote:

I think this car may be cursed by gypsys.

hey lets keep racism out of this please thanks :tu:

Let's not be PC-thugs,please.That was a humorous remark,not a racist remark. :wink:

Sven7 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:18 pm

Did anything ever come of this?

bert · **Posted:** Sat Mar 20, 2010 10:17 am

Sven7-I don't think so, I think, until someone goes to Russia, finds the owner, shakes him down and demands answers, we will be debating this car till Jesus comes back!!

BTW I saw a 32 Packard sedan that looked a lot like this car!

Just trying to keep the debate goin! :lol:

toyotageek · **Posted:** Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:41 am

Look what was spotted at the Louwman Museum.
Found on Skitmeister's Photostream...

The Louwman Museum is in the Netherlands - http://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/

EDIT - found the Museum page for the Toyoda AA

Dutch to English translation
Almost no one had expected that somewhere in the world has an original copy of the first car model of Toyota are the AA. The Toyota factory museum in Japan even has a replica be produced. Around 2008 the AA, however, arises in the Russian Vladivostok. He had since World War II owned a Siberian farmer and is likely to come to Russia as war booty. The car has always driven the country and has been heavily modified. The examination of the history is still ongoing.
Toyota is the Museum Louwman taken directly from the grandson of the
original owner. It has taken seven months to get the car in the Netherlands. Including the Russian Ministry of Culture was authorized to allow the car to be exported, because more than fifty years old. The car is by train from Vladivostok to Moscow and then driven by truck to the Netherlands.
Except the oldest, this is also the only known war for Toyota in the world.

The Toyota AA is made from 1936 to 1943 and was equipped with a 3.3 six-cylinder engine of 62 hp. The design is inspired by that of the Chrysler Airflow. There are approximately 1,400 copies made. Besides, there was a saloon AA
convertible version, the AB.

liquid51 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 06, 2010 4:29 pm

Really don't think its the AA, I mean someone from toyota would have spotted this already and went to buy it back but it hasn't.

toyotageek · **Posted:** Tue Jul 06, 2010 5:00 pm

Lookie, lookie..... I went back and looked through the previous posts and this car appears to be the same car... see the broken side rear glass...

liquid51 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:18 pm

Yup the tires are the same to

ben · **Posted:** Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:39 pm

Amazing! I assume the museum has verified its authenticity. Any dutch JNC members here?

poindextrose15 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:54 pm

Unbelievable! the only thing that still confuses me is the rear hump, because the AA is flat in the rear. we need pics of the firewall to confirm its AA status, although everything else screams AA.

Mamutas · **Posted:** Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:05 am

Russian car is mix, toyota aa body, chassi could be from Gaz 12 , or Zim cars, wheels are from Gaz model car.

toyotageek · **Posted:** Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:55 am

I've decided to keep an open mind with this thing and won't be too judgemental with a 'Yea' or 'Nay'. However even if it is only a small portion of Toyoda AA it is still remarkable, and even more so since it was in Russia. I mean, how the heck would a farmer from WWII era Mother Russia get his hands on some no name marque called Toyoda?

I think the Louwman is a respectable museum, and that they will do some research in order to determine the authenticity of the car (if they haven't already done so). But it would be nice for some JNC Dutch agents to check things out for us! :wink:

I wonder if a metallurgist could help determine the cars origin with an analysis of the metal's composition?

parrot · **Posted:** Thu Jul 08, 2010 5:16 pm

toyotageek wrote:

I mean, how the heck would a farmer from WWII era Mother Russia get his hands on some no name marque called Toyoda?

Second world war reparations or organised looting following the war. Don't forget the USSR and Japan are very close to each other.

tkmedia · **Posted:** Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:12 pm

I would have thought that most of these were melted to form new metal for japan war effort.

sleeektoy · **Posted:** Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:23 pm

poindextrose15 wrote:

Unbelievable! the only thing that still confuses me is the rear hump, because the AA is flat in the rear. we need pics of the firewall to confirm its AA status, although everything else screams AA.

Maybe it is an AC, i have an encyclopedia of japanese cars, this scan (sorry large size for clarity) shows the AC with a boot hump, split screen, and the exact same wheels.

ben · **Posted:** Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:57 pm

If it's an AC that's even more amazing.

toyotageek · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:02 pm

banpei wrote:

Got an “official” answer from the Museum:
The car was converted from RHD to LHD. Holes are still visible in the dashboard.
They are confident that the trunk is original since there are no reasons to doubt this.

I can still visit the museum and see for myself. Haven't had the time to take a day off to go there yet, so maybe next week I'll have the opportunity to go there.

Interesting! Thanks for checking in to this. Hmmm... looks more and more like it might just be an AC if the rear boot is original (115 AC were built after the war).

Model AC
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/toyotageek/4790978087/" title="toyoda_ac by toyotageek, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4790978087_0752502eb3_o.jpg" width="360" height="229" alt="toyoda_ac"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/toyotageek/675423797/" title="Picture 252 by toyotageek, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1100/675423797_1fa72e6852.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Picture 252"></a>

Model AA
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/toyotageek/675410419/" title="Picture 244 by toyotageek, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1392/675410419_33fc299192.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Picture 244"></a>

Can't wait for more info. :tu: :wink:

A mythical Toyota AA or "just" Chrysler Airflow?

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