Toyota AA Features, Photos and Videos

The A1 was the first prototype passenger car built by the company that became Toyota. It was redesigned and put into production as Toyota's first production cars, the AA sedan and the AB cabriolet. These were succeeded by the similar AE, AC and BA sedans.

The series as a whole was replaced by the quite different and much more advanced SA.

Three A1 prototypes were completed in May 1935. None of them survive. They were blessed in a Buddhist ceremony and Kiichiro Toyoda then drove one of them to his father's grave (his father having given him the seed money to start a car factory).

After completion of the prototypes, Toyota then switched its attention to the G1 truck because it was more likely to be profitable in the short term. After the G1 was in production the company was able to spend resources on developing the AA and AB passenger cars.

The A1 prototypes were completed in May 1935.

The A1 used the 3,389 cc (206.8 cu in) Type A 6-cylinder engine producing 62 horsepower (46 kW) with a 3-speed column-shift manual gearbox.

The Type A engine was copied from Chevrolet, and the chassis and electrics were copied from Ford.

Solid axles were used at both ends. Pressed metal discs were used for all 4 wheel rims (very modern for the time). Braking was by drums.

The mechanicals were the same as used in the production AA, AB and G1 vehicles.

The A1 was a fully enclosed, 4-door sedan, with normal front doors and forward-opening suicide-style rear doors. It was heavily based on the Chrysler built DeSoto Airflow; Toyoda bought an Airflow and disassembled it the year before producing the A1. The front window was a single piece of flat glass with a top-mounted wiper on the driver's side. There were 3 windows per side, one for the front door (without a quarter light window), one for the rear door and one behind the rear door. A spare tyre was mounted on the nearly vertical boot lid.

The A1 was available only as a right-hand-drive vehicle.

The AA was similar to the A1 prototypes with only minor changes.

A total of 1,404 AA sedans were produced from 1936 to 1943, when the model was replaced by the more austere AC.

A total of 353 AB convertible, including the military ABR version, was produced from 1936 to 1942. There was no direct replacement.

The AA was a fully enclosed 4-door sedan that largely copied the design of the Chrysler built DeSoto Airflow. It had a metal body on a metal ladder chassis. The metal body was of modern construction compared to the fabric-over-wooden-frame bodies used on cars designed in the 1920s. The rear doors opened backwards as suicide doors. The front glass spanned the entire width of the body in a single pane.

The AB was identical to the AA except that it was a convertible with a folding cloth roof, the rear doors opened forwards like conventional doors and the front glass could fold down onto the engine compartment.

The mechanicals were the same as used in the A1 prototype.

Toyota wanted to use an AA for its 50th birthday in 1987 but couldn't find any surviving examples. Toyota decided to build a replica but even for that there were no complete and consistent plans. Plans that could be found were from various points during the car's development process and in any case were often incomplete and lacking by today's standards. However, a single replica was built that is believed to be representative of the AA. This replica is now in the Toyota Automobile Museum.

In 2008 an original AA was found in Russia in derelict and heavily modified condition, with undercarriage and drivetrain from a GAZ-51 truck. It is now displayed, still in this condition, in the Louwman Museum in the Netherlands.

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