PIC: Something different #48 (2/17/2025)

Very interesting....a Toyota Airflow.

Posted by: @jack-dodds

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Very interesting....a Toyota Airflow.

How cool. Another wonderful choice John. Great article too.

Their cars carried founder,  Kiichiro Toyoda's name but Rizaburo Toyoda, who had married into the family and was not born with that name, preferred "Toyota" (トヨタ) because it took eight brush strokes (a lucky number) to write in Japanese, was visually simpler (leaving off the diacritic at the end), and with a voiceless consonant instead of a voiced one (voiced consonants are considered to have a "murky" or "muddy" sound compared to voiceless consonants, which are "clear").

Posted by: @perrone1

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How cool. Another wonderful choice John. Great article too.

Their cars carried founder,  Kiichiro Toyoda's name but Rizaburo Toyoda, who had married into the family and was not born with that name, preferred "Toyota" (トヨタ) because it took eight brush strokes (a lucky number) to write in Japanese, was visually simpler (leaving off the diacritic at the end), and with a voiceless consonant instead of a voiced one (voiced consonants are considered to have a "murky" or "muddy" sound compared to voiceless consonants, which are "clear").

@sizedoesmatter

I believe Volvo also made some cars in the thirties that favored the Airflows as well.

@bob-jackman 

They did, and Brooklin made a scale model of it: the Carioca.

@ed-glorius RobEddie made this convertible version as well...

What a story!

"So when news of a 1936 car, one of only 100 units built in the very first year of Model AA production, suddenly surfaced from within Russia, the discovery was met with a degree of scepticism. Nevertheless, even the most remote opportunity to uncover an example of the world’s rarest production Toyota had to be followed up.

Further investigation by specialists at the Louwman Museum revealed that the car was indeed genuine. The Model AA had been owned by a Siberian farmer since World War II.

It is unknown how the car ever got to Russia."

Tamiya make a highly detailed 1/24, which I had a go at but must admit I stuffed it up and gave the finished model away. After reading all this I'll get one and have another go.

Thanks John. Great post.

It's sort of a crossbreeding between a '36 Chrysler Airflow and an early Ford Prefect....

Or maybe a Morris 8?

Incidentally, Diapet (Yonezawa) did the Toyota AA in 1:50 scale. All done in pewter, including the wheels and tyres.

I don't know where or when I acquired mine or whether it came with a box. It's an interesting specimen, in a slightly crude sort of way. You can see how the pattern maker must have glued on (or soldered) a strip of metal rod to mark out the rear window.

Yonezawa started out making tin toys, and this pewter model may have been a transition from that to making zinc diecasts with proper wheels and rubber tyres. So you would think that might make it relatively rare, and since it is also a model of the first Toyota, you might expect surviving examples to go for quite high prices, but in fact they can be found on eBay for as little as $15.

Posted by: @jack-dodds

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@ed-glorius RobEddie made this convertible version as well...

And a pretty light green too.

@graeme-ogg Yes Graeme, the Morris 8 is much better matched.  I can't believe this didn't occur to me....I have the damned Morris model right here!  Lol.

Gents, thanks for the pics and responses.