MINICARS: The World’s Smallest Car is a Toyota AA

We’ve talked about minicars here before, but this nano-sized Toyota AA takes it to a whole ‘nother level. Built by Denso to demonstrate its ultra-precise machining and semiconductor capabilities, this micro-model of Toyota’s first car, the 1936 AA, is 1/1000 the size of the actual car, or about the size of a grain of rice. What’s even more amazing is that it actually runs!

The ultra-thin wires on top lead to a tiny magnetic motor and when a tiny blip of alternating current is passed through them, the engine turns at 600rpm! The project was included in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1995 for being the world’s smallest motorized car.

The car is made of 24 distinct parts, including the body, tires, spare tire, wheels, axle, bearings, headlights, taillights, front bumper, rear bumper, step, number plate and emblem. The bumper itself is just 50 microns wide! For comparison, the average human hair is 80 microns across.

But that’s not all. In 1996, Denso built one that could be powered, sans wires, with a remote magnetic energy transmission. Top speed? 5-6 millimeters per second!

[Denso]

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12 Responses to MINICARS: The World’s Smallest Car is a Toyota AA

  1. kpgc10 says:

    I think this car was in GWR Book of 2003.Still its a cute on!I would like to have half inch hachi roku lol!

  2. Jonathan says:

    Good old Nippondenso…

  3. Nigel says:

    What is cool about the micro Toyota is that it is only 2/3’s the size of a match head.
    (Maybe the size of a wheel from a “Micro Machine”.)

  4. Jake says:

    Wasn’t Toyota spelled Toyoda back then?

  5. Bob says:

    I remember reading about this in a Scholastic (book company) scientific magazine they used to hand out for free in elementary school. I forgot all about it until I saw the image and went, “Oh, I read about this when I was 10!”. Too cool.

  6. Ryuji says:

    and i wish it was mass-produced…

  7. master logray says:

    I remember this being on something like “beyond 2000” back in the day!

  8. Dale Wood says:

    It was on the show Home Improvement. Tim dropped it and squashed it. Of course, just on the show.

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