Goodbye Mr. Toyoda

[Photon440]

http://www.clublexus.com/articles/news/father-of-lexus-eiji-toyoda-dies.php

He did a lot in those 100 years...

 

[Cranky]

Toyota got its start in the car business by reverse engineering GM and Ford cars. The Toyoda Automatic Loom Works’s first car engine, built in 1934, was a copy of Chevrolet engine that was so exact, Chevrolet parts could be attached to it.

http://factsanddetails.com/japan.php?itemid=928

 

[GrabberOrange69]

...

He did a lot in those 100 years...

I'm sure he did. In his early/mid 20s when Japan invaded China he was either A) a soldier in the fight in some capacity, or B) built the implements of the war.

May he now rest.

 

[Photon440]

I'm sure he did. In his early/mid 20s when Japan invaded China he was either A) a soldier in the fight in some capacity, or B) built the implements of the war.

May he now rest.

Not a soldier, just out of university in 1936. I'm pretty sure the major item of manufacture for them back then was still textile looms.

 

[Budnicks]

He was a big player in the racing industry in the 60's... If I remember correctly, I remember seeing a story about him & him courting Paul Newman, James Garner & Steve McQueen, I think it was, put a famous face out there, to help promote his SCCA/GT/F1/Indy type cars & other racing divisions... they all declined, if IRC... RIP Mr. Toyoda

 

[scotts74birds]

He was an engineer and a hands-on-man. Not one of the ******* executives with a Harvard MBA that ran the American companies into the ground! Engineers build cars, accountants ruin them. Business majors look how to take the last penny out of the part and process. But there IS a limit. The execs look for the last-cent in squeezing a part out of a supplier, figuring "We can always back-charge them for any warranty issues". But the thing they forget is that when you are sitting on the side of the road, you aren't cock-suckering the supplier, you are cock-suckering the name on the hood! Mr. Toyoda was a talented man, and he has my respect for what he did.