The home of the only (known) 1958 TOYOTA Toyopet Custom Crown Deluxe in the U.S.A. This car was previously owned by the consulate General of Japan in San Francisco and is now at the Tupelo Automobile Museum in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Our 1958 Toyota Toyopet Custom Crown Deluxe will be making it's first car show appearance at the "Cars Under The Stars" car show in Jackson, Mississippi on March 2, 2013. Watch a news clip from last year's show: http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/17074167/cars-under-the-stars-at-trade-mart Learn more about this year's show: http://www.msclassiccruisers.com/ Daron Pitts, part of the team that drove to …
Continue reading “Cars Under The Stars” Car Show / Jackson, MS
Shotaro Kamiya was the man that convinced his counterparts at Toyota to begin exporting passenger cars to the United States. Kamiya-san is listed, along with "Toyota Archives" as the two sources in this book stating that the first samples arrived in Long Beach, California, from Yokohama. The Toyopet was not just the first TOYOTA to arrive on US …
In November, 2011, Akio Toyoda (CEO Toyota Motor Company) visited Tupelo, Mississippi and the Tupelo Automobile Museum in conjunction with the “Line Off” Ceremony at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi plant located near Tupelo, Mississppi. His visit included a surprise viewing of the Tupelo Toyopet. Mr. Toyoda was excited to see the car and climbed …
In August on 2011, as engine installation was being completed, the Tupelo, Mississippi Daily Journal came and did a short story on the Toyopet. Frenchy Dehoux, of Phoenix, Arizona, had come to install the engine & transmission that he had rebuilt. You can see a video of that engine turning over in the Toyopet for …
One of the many stops during the Toyopet research trip to San Francisco that was made included a stop to the Hokubei Mainichi newspaper. The Hokubei Mainichi newspaper was a daily bilingual newspaper in San Francisco that closed it's doors recently after over 60 years of service (http://www.nikkeiwest.com/index.php/the-news/past-articles/2-hokubei-mainichi-japanese-american-daily-bilingual-newspaper). Before they closed, Daron Pitts and Jamie …
On July 23, 2008, Daron Pitts and Jamie Kennedy of the Community Development Foundation visited the San Francisco Maritime Library located at Fort Mason Center Building E, near Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco. Several internet searches led to historical documents connecting APL and the first Toyopet samples. It was believed (according to Toyota archivists that …
Continue reading APL (American President Lines) & Toyota (the unknown history?)
On August 30, 2011, Frenchy Dehoux arrived from Arizona to install the engine he rebuilt. The Toyopet's engine and transmission was installed and the car was cranked for the first time in decades.
The Tupelo Toyopet was on display at the Community Development Foundation's Business to Business Expo in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Tupelo Automobile Museum had a booth at the B2B to showcase the Toyopet. Many people enjoyed viewing the car, taking pictures with it and being amazed that it was an early TOYOTA.
The Tupelo Toyopet is the ONLY known complete 1958 Toyota Toyopet Custom Crown Deluxe, left hand drive, in the world. The Toyota museum in Torrance, California has a 1958 Custom Crown Deluxe, but it does not have the clock, the radio, or the "Deluxe" chrome name plate on the bottom left trunk. The Toyota Museum …
