The Toyota Automobile Museum celebrates its 25th anniversary next month and has announced a series of exhibitions and events to mark the special event.
The museum is situated in Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture, and opened its doors on April 16th 1989 as part of Toyota’s 50th anniversary. Exhibits from all over the world are shown over three floors, but for the 25th anniversary, the museum will have a special exhibition presenting an overview of the past 25 years of its work – and will include selected items from its collection of around 500 cars and 30,000 pieces of related memorabilia.
One of the featured exhibitions will be photographs of the restoration of a 1918 Franklin (pictured) – a technologically advanced car of its time, because of its unique air-cooled engine. On the first day of the exhibition the Franklin’s bare chassis will be driven.
There will also be behind-the-scenes tours of areas such as the vehicle maintenance room and other important vehicles on display include a 1904 Lanchester (UK), charcoal-gas powered 1937 Buick and a 1957 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ25, the first Toyota vehicle that was exported on a significant scale to North America.
For more information visit the Toyota Automobile Museum website.
By Iain Reid
Hi,
Apologies for leaving this here, I’m struggling to find a means to contact you.
I have a 1994 Toyota Starlet that I now can’t look after anymore (and is now currently off road), and I understand there are less than 35 1994 Starlets left (in the UK at least) so they’re very rare now. I’m keen to give her the best retirement home I can, but she does need restoration work (including the paintwork). I’m AuDHD (autistic + ADHD) and with how strongly I feel about this car, I desperately don’t want her to end up in the scrapyard or raced to death. I’ve had her almost 17 years and she’s only started to need more work in the last couple of years but has never failed me while driving. I was hoping you might be able to give me some advice on places I might be able to ask or if there’s anything you might be able to do to help.
Thank you for your time.
Kind regards,
Melissa.