Have you ever found yourself in the same room with a piece so important to automotive history that you could not believe you were actually there?

In August 2024 I went to Louwman Museum in The Hague.

The most interesting thing on display?

The 1936 Toyoda AA

If you want to know why it's Toyoda and not Toyota (yet!), read the story here and come back for the rest.

But "why is this old, rotten car, an exciting view?" you may ask.

Simply put, this is way more important and rare than any exotic hypercar money can buy.

A real "a one of a kind" car in the entire world.

• This is the first passenger car ever produced by Toyota, and

• Until 2008, it was believed that there were no remaining units in existence.

So much so, that Toyota has one in their museum.

But is actually a replica.

This very unit in front of my eyes is the sole "surviving car" known.

Toyota's replica in their museum is not even a "properly built" one either.

It’s different than how the company built it originally, as it cannot ever be built like that again due to information loss.

It's considered to be a "best effort".

The original blueprints and instructions of how to make a Toyoda AA from scratch, as well as people who work or knew about it, are forever gone.

They gathered knowledge from different documents and did their best to recreate one.

Looks pretty good though.

The fact that something as important as "how to build one of your cars" has no trace of instructions left absolutely blows my mind.

This one is kept exactly as it was found.

Not restored in any way.

​

This unit's story

The known story of this unique unit starts in 2008.

A family in Russia, near the city of Vladivostok, came across this authentic "barn find".

Louwman Museum bought it from the grandson of the original owners who had it since World War II.

It took 7 months to get the car to the Netherlands.

This is because, on top of the distance to The Hague, the Russian Ministry of Culture had to give its consent for the car to be exported, as it was older than 50 years.

They put it on a train from Vladivostok to Moscow and then on a lorry to The Hague.

The Toyoda AA was produced between 1936 and 1943.

Fitted with a 3.3 litre, 62 hp six cylinder engine, and with a design inspired by the Chrysler Airflow.

Approximately 1400 examples were manufactured in total.

And this sole survivor, is now at the Louwman Museum on display.

So if you visit it, you will share the room with the only known survivor of this first ever passenger car that spawned the success of such an important brand like Toyota.

Pretty wild to think about it, eh? 🤯

How would it have looked like back then?

As a closing addition to today's email, I want to add a simple illustration I did of what this exact unit could look like during it's glory days.

Let me know how you like it (you can reply to this email or write to me in social media).

This illustration was done following my own course for beginners

There was never a better time to start illustrating cars.

You don't need to learn how to draw.

You don't need to spend years practicing until you get something you are proud of.

Some of the biggest challenges for aspiring artists are:

• Not knowing how to start
• Not knowing how to draw
• Not knowing what software to use
• Not being able to come up with ideas or things to illustrate
• Being able to create traditional art but struggling with digital tools

And I know this because I asked you, and also because I was where you are now in 2018.

A car enthusiast interested in creating automotive art but feeling a bit lost.

I learned from a ton of different resources.

Back then, there was not one single resource that mixed creating art with automotive examples, so I had to spend time gathering mixed information and figuring out how to apply to my interests.

That is how my free course called "0-100: How to illustrate a car from reference".

It's a course that I would have loved to have when I started.

If you:

• Don't know how to draw.
• Don't have time to figure it out on your own.
• Know nothing about digital illustration software.

then this course is ideal for you.

You can read more about what's inside by visiting this page.

There you can sign up for free, just with your email and get started right away.

The course is self contained, and nothing is held back.

You start from 0 and end up with a finished illustration you will be proud of.

​Give it a shot and if you do, please let me know! I'd love to read what you loved and what can be improved on it.

Let's keep in touch! Inquiry or suggestion? creatinglightly@gmail.com​ Daily interaction? Follow me on: ​Bluesky 👈 I'm mostly here ​Twitter (soon to be phased out) ​Instagram​

And that's it for this one. I hope you enjoyed it and see you on the next.

All the best,

Juanma from Creating Lightly