JohnnyC
Long ago TLCA# 2231
¨Calty provides innovative design solutions for Toyota and Lexus product development, and supports North American production design, including color and trim. Activities include research, advanced design, competition design, production design, and philanthropic outreach.¨
The Calty name is a mash-up of the words California and Toyota.
The first design center established in North America by a Japanese automaker, Toyota’s Calty Design Research began as a bold experiment on October 2, 1973 in El Segundo, California. Ideally situated in California to best absorb the influence of the state’s burgeoning car culture, the first Calty studio was viewed as a unique exploratory branch of Toyota’s global vehicle design organization. At the time, no one in the Toyota organization could imagine that 40 years later, the Calty facility would play a key role in some of Toyota’s most significant designs and be pivotal in the company’s movement toward regional autonomy for North American product development.
interesting info from their site:
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Land Cruiser + Trekker = 4Runner, It started with an idea. It was 1979 and Toyota had just announced that the Land Cruiser FJ40 would no longer be imported to the U.S.¨ that took a few more years .... but not long after.
so the 4runner is the love child of the Land Cruiser and the illegitimate sibling Trekker.
1974 Toyota FJ40 Proposal Model
Often times after a design is put on paper, the design team will make a small-scale model of it to present to executives before producing a 1:1 scale. In this image from 1974, the CALTY team is presenting a one-fifth scale model of a what CALTY refers to as a "Toyota FJ40 concept" —likely a proposal for an updated, rebodied version of the original FJ40. (The FJ40 would finally be replaced by the FJ70 in the mid-1980s.) Eiji Toyoda, who was the President of Toyota Motor Company at the time is seen on the far right reviewing the model with CALTY staff looking on in the background.below from: Never before seen Toyota concepts mark 50 years of first southern California design studio - https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/calty-design-50th-anniversary-never-before-seen-concepts/
CALTY was quietly founded in 1973 at its original location in El Segundo, California. It was intentionally kept under the radar so as to not be influenced by the corporate mothership in Japan. The vision of two of Toyota’s most influential presidents — Eiji Toyoda, who held the post from 1967–82, and Shoichiro Toyoda, who succeeded him from 1982-92 — it was established so Toyota could tailor cars to American tastes. They wanted it to “develop a unique identity and provide fresh, creative inspiration to Toyota’s global design headquarters in Japan.”
One of the earliest concepts was a small 4×4 based on the FJ40 Land Cruiser. It reached the stage of a 1/5 scale model, which was presented to executives, including then-president Eiji Toyoda (far right). It almost looks like the original 3-door RAV4, which helped kick off the SUV craze, could have sprung from this idea some 20 years later.
IMHO it looks more like the 70 series.... which is the model that replaced the 40
CALTY Design Research (TOYOTA) on Instagram: "CALTY 50th Book: Some 1970s projects that we’re unveiling for the first time ever. #tbt #caltydesignresearch #calty #cardesign #calty50th #calty50thanniversary #toyota #toyotadesign"
149 likes, 0 comments - caltydesignresearch on December 21, 2023: "CALTY 50th Book: Some 1970s projects that we’re unveiling for the first time ever. #tbt #caltydesignresearch #calty #cardesign #calty5...".
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