How Toyota began: Sakichi Toyoda's looms, Kiichiro Toyoda and the Model AA

Toyota's founding: Sakichi and Kiichiro Toyoda history

Sakichi Toyoda was born on February 14, 1867, in the village of Yamaguchi, now part of Kosai in Shizuoka Prefecture. Working in his father's carpentry trade, he designed an improved wooden hand loom that received patent No. 1195 on May 14, 1891. In 1898 he patented Japan's first power loom, which combined a wooden frame with iron gears and shafts.

His eldest son, Kiichiro Toyoda, was born on June 11, 1894, and studied at Tokyo Imperial University. In 1924 Kiichiro and his team built a new automatic loom with an automatic shuttle-change mechanism and filed patents under his name. It became the Type G Automatic Loom; the first came off the line in November 1925, and Toyoda Automatic Loom Works (TALW) was established in Kariya on November 18, 1926, to mass-produce it.

When the British loom maker Platt bought the Type G patents in 1929, Kiichiro spent part of the trip studying the auto industry. In 1933 he set up an automotive division inside TALW, reverse-engineered American cars and built prototypes. That division became Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. on August 28, 1937.[1],[2],[3],[5],[6],[7],[8],[9],[10]

Years and production numbers

Generations and key variants

Engine and drivetrain facts

• Kiichiro designed the first engine around a 1933 Chevrolet engine so owners could use the Ford and Chevrolet service parts common in Japan at the time. The truck frame followed sturdy Ford practice.
• The first prototype A engine was completed on September 25, 1934, using in-house castings for the cylinder head, block and pistons and imported Chevrolet parts for the crankshaft, camshaft, valves and electrics.
• In a test in a Chevrolet truck it made only 48–49 hp against the Chevrolet engine's 60 hp. After a redesigned cylinder head, it reached 65 hp, more than the Chevrolet.
• Toyota's 1936 specifications list the A engine's torque at 19.4 kg-m (140 lb-ft) at 1,300–2,000 rpm.

Sources:[10],[11]

What changed over the years

1. 1891Sakichi Toyoda's first loom patent (No. 1195).
2. 1898Patent for the Toyoda Power Loom, Japan's first power loom.
3. 1924–1925Kiichiro's shuttle-change automatic loom; first Type G loom produced.
4. 1926Toyoda Automatic Loom Works founded in Kariya on November 18.
5. 1929Type G patents sold to Platt of the UK; final payments totaled £83,500.
6. 1930Sakichi Toyoda dies on October 30.
7. 1933Automotive Production Division set up on September 1.
8. 1935Model A1 prototype (May) and Model G1 truck (August); first trucks sold in December.
9. 1936Model AA and GA in production; name changed from Toyoda to Toyota in October.
10. 1937–1938Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. registered August 28, 1937; Koromo Plant completed November 3, 1938.

Sources:[1],[3],[5],[6],[8],[9],[10],[11],[12],[13],[16],[17]

What to check before you buy one

• Original prewar Toyoda and Toyota vehicles are museum pieces; anything offered for sale as a Model AA needs documented provenance from the seller.
• Prewar and early postwar Toyotas have no 17-character VIN, so identification relies on chassis and engine numbers and period documents rather than a VIN decode.
• A replica or later recreation should be described as one in the bill of sale and title paperwork.

How to verify a Toyota's founding: Sakichi and Kiichiro Toyoda's factory options

Standardized 17-character VINs began with the 1981 model year, so the looms and the early Toyoda and Toyota vehicles described here predate them.[18]

For vehicles built before the 17-character VIN, identification rests on the original serial number, the vehicle data plate, engine stampings and the paperwork that survives with the vehicle. A VIN-based build lookup does not apply. Researching a later model? Start at the Toyota history timeline.