Vintage TOYOTA MOTOR Hand Tools, "TEQ" Accessories and Collectibles

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dmamj said:
Quick brush-up on WWII history.

On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" over the center of Hiroshima, Japan at 8:15 am. Three days later on August 9th, a second atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" was detonated over the city of Nagasaki, effectlively ending WWII. Japan's formal surrender came 24 days later when the "Japanese Instrument of Surrender" was signed on September 2, 1945, aboard the U.S. Navy battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

How this relates to Toyota: the Hiroshima Toyota Motor Sales Co. Ltd. Building was destroyed by the first bomb.

In the aftermath, Toyota was determined to rebuild operations. They relocated and began reconstruction under the name "Toyota Sales Co. Ltd.” approximately one year later. The date reconstruction was complete is unknown .

This copper container and matching tray was produced to commemorate the completion of the Hiroshima Toyota renovation. How many years it was made after completion is also unknown, but Toyota has commissioned many other items to mark the 10th anniversary of significant company events. We don't know if it dates to the late 1940's (shortly after the new Hiroshima Toyota was completed), its 10th anniversary, or sometime after that. I speculate it was in the 50's.

Box and tray are crafted of hammered copper with what appears to be riveted brass inlay. The container measures 6 1/2" x 4", the tray 9" x 6 1/2". The top stamp on the underside of the tray tanslates loosely to "Hirosima Toyota Reconstruction Commemoration". I believe the bottom two characters translate to "Copper <something or other>". Can't quite make out the second character, but it could be, believe it or not, "Bug". If it is, I don't know how it relates. It really is a nice piece and exudes Toyota quality.

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I had researched this topic awhile back … and my thread had links to aerial photos of the bombing however links are now broken… I have pics I believe I saved

Interestingly Toyoda had before the bombing changed the name of the mother factory to the national 20th factory to as a counterespionage to not have the plant bombed just two months before it was actually bombed

MrT said talking of Commander Bock's Plane ‘Bockscar’ "Fell right on the money, leveling about a quarter of the plant."

The Bockscar plane was the one used to drop the second atomic bomb the one dropped on Nagasaki

It dropped a pumpkin bomb on the toyota factory

The plane is on display in Dayton, Ohio… so you can see the plane that not only dropped the second atomic bomb but also destroyed the main factory of Toyoda
 
The direct hit on the factory was actually the third bomb dropped there is a crater that was made from the second pumpkin bomb drop attempt on the toyota factory (a miss) and is still visible today

It’s near Yahagi River Bridge the toyota arrows bridge

The first bomb dropped landed near the factory workers housing

The third was the direct hit leveling 1/4 of the factory

In all … no loss of life

Btw the bombing of toyota was the day before the war ended
 
I spent weeks at the Air and Space Museum. When no one was watching I leaned over the rail and put my hand on the Enola Gay's tail fin. I didn't feel anything. There was a small alcove there with a bench, I sat at watched people look at the B-29 pieces. Of all the tourist I could see on the faces of the Japanese that lost family that day of the event.
 
Vis-a-vis the previous video clip: should be viewed with the knowledge of an educated Land Cruiser aficionado. The script is very good; however the attached films often show the opposite to what is spoken, which kind of ruins the overall presentation. In the movie industry I believe there is a person dedicated to "continuity" to ensure that splicing together various takes doesn't show abrupt changes in a character's clothing or movements, etc..

I know--picky. Just my take and two cents.
 
An example of an early tire pressure gauge. Last pic compares it to other Toyota gauges.

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dmamj said:
Quick brush-up on WWII history.

On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" over the center of Hiroshima, Japan at 8:15 am. Three days later on August 9th, a second atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" was detonated over the city of Nagasaki, effectlively ending WWII. Japan's formal surrender came 24 days later when the "Japanese Instrument of Surrender" was signed on September 2, 1945, aboard the U.S. Navy battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

How this relates to Toyota: the Hiroshima Toyota Motor Sales Co. Ltd. Building was destroyed by the first bomb.

In the aftermath, Toyota was determined to rebuild operations. They relocated and began reconstruction under the name "Toyota Sales Co. Ltd.” approximately one year later. The date reconstruction was complete is unknown .

This copper container and matching tray was produced to commemorate the completion of the Hiroshima Toyota renovation. How many years it was made after completion is also unknown, but Toyota has commissioned many other items to mark the 10th anniversary of significant company events. We don't know if it dates to the late 1940's (shortly after the new Hiroshima Toyota was completed), its 10th anniversary, or sometime after that. I speculate it was in the 50's.

Box and tray are crafted of hammered copper with what appears to be riveted brass inlay. The container measures 6 1/2" x 4", the tray 9" x 6 1/2". The top stamp on the underside of the tray tanslates loosely to "Hirosima Toyota Reconstruction Commemoration". I believe the bottom two characters translate to "Copper <something or other>". Can't quite make out the second character, but it could be, believe it or not, "Bug". If it is, I don't know how it relates. It really is a nice piece and exudes Toyota quality.






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this is so cool, I love that you were able to get it translated and figure out where it came from! Pretty amazing how quickly Toyota was able to rebuild and thrive after WWII
 
scoobiedubes said:
Pretty amazing how quickly Toyota was able to rebuild and thrive after WWII
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They had some help.

It amazes me how Douglass MacArthur, who was hell-bent to destroy Japan, rebuilt that country as Military Governor.
 
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