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 …
Category: Samples
Toyota history claims two Toyopet samples were brought from Yokohama, Japan to Long Beach, California, USA. Several historical documents and newspaper articles from that date (August-September 1957) refute this claim. There is no hard evidence to prove the first samples current location.
Hokubei Mainichi Newspaper / Toyopet story
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 …
APL (American President Lines) & Toyota (the unknown history?)
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 Several internet searches led to historical documents connecting APL and the first Toyopet samples.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?)
What makes this Toyopet so special?
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 …
Tupelo Toyopet 