What cars were parked at Toyota USA headquarters in the 1980s?

Toyota is long gone from southern California, but back when they were still in Torrance, their massive campus was a showcase of its then-current models. This was especially true in the 1980s, when their star was on the rise. These images from the TRD 40th anniversary video show a treasure trove of unmolested Aichi steel.

Right off the bat you see a white E70 Corolla and white L10 Tercel parked outside the drive of the main building in the lead picture. Another image from the parking lot shows several X30 Cressidas, A40 Celica Supras, and Corollas of both the TE51 and TE37 variety. Of course, there are also a couple of GM A-Bodies — maybe employee or visitor cars — because they were everywhere in the 1980s.

Inside the main building was what employees called the Atrium. Even until the last days of Toyota’s presence in SoCal, this was still a centerpiece of the US headquarters building. The display in the center was often rotated the latest models, race cars, concepts, or cars from the Toyota USA Museum. On this day, a Tercel 4WD Wagon graced the building.

Sadly, the campus has since been sold to a real estate development company for $270 million. Even sadder, many of the museum cars have been sold.

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5 Responses to What cars were parked at Toyota USA headquarters in the 1980s?

  1. athula wilson says:

    do they have a different venue elsewhere?

  2. Nigel says:

    Wish I could have seen this in person !!

  3. GeorgeL says:

    The car in the upper left part of the second picture is a Ford Fairmont, not a GM A-body. The car on the far right is indeed a GM A-body Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

    • LTDScott says:

      I was about to correct you on the Monte Carlo until I remembered that generation was first called A-Body before they became G-Body.

  4. LB1 says:

    I got to go inside that building circa 1990.

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