The 1958 Toyota Toyopet Custom Crown Deluxe made another appearance at the Community Development Foundation's Business to Business Expo / Taste of Tupelo event on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 in Tupelo, Mississippi at the BancorpSouth Arena. This business networking event had 2000+ people in attendance that were able to see up close the 1958 Toyopet …
Toyopet: $1 Million Dollar Toyota?
IMAGE CREDIT: http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/autos/2013-05-13/eb2a084c-a8fe-46a6-86af-2306a603780c_1967-Toyota-2000GT-Left-Front-Angle-1024x640.jpg Recently, a Toyota 2000GT sold at auction for $1.15 million dollars. Among those in the know, the Toyota 2000GT is appreciated for its style, craftsmanship and performance. But for decades, it has been overshadowed in the collector world for more prestigious and recognized European marques. But Toyota’s classic is finally getting its …
PHOTOS From Cars Under The Stars Car Show
The Cars Under the Stars Car Show was a lot of fun. Several people came up saying they came to just see the Toyopet. We were glad to bring it to represent Toyota, one of the event's sponsors. As always, if you want to use any of the photos you see on this blog (without …
“Cars Under The Stars” Car Show / Jackson, MS
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 …
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Samples in Long Beach? (Book source)
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 …
Akio Toyoda & the Tupelo Toyopet
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 THE NEWS 2011-8-31
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 …
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 …
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Toyopet Engine Installation / First Crank VIDEO
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.
Tupelo Toyopet 
