It was an old trade story, and a partly true one, that Japanese manufacturers bought the best model of their prospective opposition, studied it, copied the better features, and then began creating their own version. But it was not only cars in which the Nipponese were adept copy-cats. The same applied to optical goods, cameras and watches, to name a few. By
1964 the Toyota Motor Company had become the leaders in domestic sales with 40 percent of the Japanese market. That success could be traced back some 30 years, to 1934 , when Toyota purchased a then-new
Chrysler Airflow (the model that was way ahead of its time
aerodynamically and had an Edsel-like sales run that hurried Chrysler back to the production of more conventional models) and based its first production cars on it.
It was wise enough, however, to spot Chrysler's sales slump and the first production "Toyoda" in 1936 showed strong American influence. This first model, of which 100 were made, was called a Toyoda after the founder of the company,
Kiichiro Toyoda, but subscribing to the theory that phonetically favorable names projected a favorable image, Toyoda was dropped in 1937 and replaced by the apparently more locally acceptable Toyota. The main production when Toyota started out in the automotive business was commercial vehicles, but the first cars had a six-cylinder, 3389cc engine with a 5.42 to 1 compression ratio producing 65bhp at 3000 rpm.
Development on this engine started in 1934. The Japanese government stopped car production during the war and in 1942 overall factory figures dropped from 16,302 to 9827, sinking as low as 3000 units in 1945 and 1946. By 1949 production had recovered to 10,000 and by
1956 it was breaking records at 46,417. Although forbidden to market cars during the war years, Toyota engineers kept their pencils sharp on a few prototypes that never ventured past the factory gates.
Japanese
automobile styling of the early 1960's had a boxy lethargy that wasn't in keeping with the more modern lines of such diverse Japanese goods as motorcycles and transistor radios. However, the Toyota range was changing, this being particularly evident with the good looking
Corona 1500 which was selling well on its looks and luxury trim in Australia, Denmark, Canada, Holland and the USA. The Toyota Corona 1500 became a family favorite, the larger 6-seater 1900cc
Crown was sold mainly to taxi and hire car operators, and the larger luxury Crown Eight with a 2.6 litre aluminium V8 engine was a prestige executive car only.
The Crown Eight
The Crown Eight was, in
1964, a 2.6 litre embarrassment to the company and export plans were shelved due to engine teething troubles. Those issues aside, on the local Japanese market the Crown Eight gave the Japanese customer plenty of standard kit - plush upholstery, plus literally everything electric that opened and shut, including electric seat adjustment. The self-seeker radio could be controlled by back-seat passengers, Toyo-glide automatic transmission was standard, and
air-conditioning could be installed for a few extra yen.
Favorites on the home market included the deluxe models of the 700cc horizontally opposed two-cylinder, two-stroke, Publiea, and the four-cylinder Corona and Crown. Road performance didn't count for much on crowded, rough roads with speed limits well under 50 mph. In place of pace that neither the roads or the law allowed the Japanese driver to use, they instead enjoyed luxury trim and a heavy, sturdy
automobile.
Toyota City
Toyota had established itself as a builder of trucks and lorries before the first car was built and during the war production naturally centred on military vehicles. During the Korean war Toyota supplied trucks for the American army. About 12 miles outside Nagoya, 250 miles south of Tokyo, Toyota City had mushroomed into a population of 35,000 by
1964, 80 percent of whom were employed in some facet of the Toyota sphere of activities. The town was originally called Caromo, but Toyota influence was so great in the area that the name was changed in favor of the company. Toyota provided its workers with hostel accommodation and apartment buildings as well as a four storey technical training centre, a hospital, and several sports fields near the main factory and administration building.
Car production began separately from trucks at a factory a few miles from the original plant in
1959. Its technical centre operated quietly and secretly behind high barbed wire fences across the road from the administration offices. There the engineers worked on new models, debating whether a sports model was a good move for domestic sales, and reportedly studying single-seater chassis bought from Brabham and Lotus. Toyota top men claimed that they had no interest in competition, and that Honda made its F1 move because it relied on competition successes for sales. However, Honda denied any four-wheel racing interests when they bought a Cooper chassis in
1961.
The Toyota Sports 800
One of the big events for Toyota in
1964 was the commencement of domestic production of the Sports 800, a delightful little car based on the Publica running gear. It was an entirely new concept of design for Japan, as it was built to reach high top speeds with the use of serious airflow principles, as against the use of cubic inches. Weighing 11 cwt dry, it used an
air-cooled 790cc two-stroke that produced 45 bhp (SAE) at 5400 rpm. Compression ratio was 9 to 1, and the factory quoted a standing quarter time of 18.4 seconds with top speed of 95 mph. The body was a beautiful fastback concept in two-door form (not unlike SCW's Project X), and the centre section of the roof could be lifted off by six bolts - all in 30 seconds. The interior was fully carpeted, with excellent seating and complete instrumentation.
The Australian and American manufacturers knew, by 1964, that they had some serious competition coming from the land of the Rising Sun. And the biggest Japanese threat was also the top domestic seller, Toyota. Many believed the company deserved more international recognition than had been accorded it - but things were soon to change. Their cars were not perfect, but Toyota's engineers acknowledged design faults and were determined to get them sorted. Quality may not have been a hallmark of the Japanese car industry in these early days. But the determination of the car makers was to ensure it soon would be.
