Toyota USA Automobile Museum

There’s a “secret” in the city of Torrance that no one knows about. Or at least I didn’t know about it anyway until I finally learned of it’s existence.

So, what’s this “secret” that I’m talking about? Well, the city of Torrance is home to the Toyota USA Automobile Museum. Say what? I have a feeling a good amount of Southern Californians did not know this. I also have a good feeling that a decent amount of people living in Torrance didn’t know about it either but I could be wrong.

Anyway, it’s a museum. It’s free. It’s clean. (What museum isn’t clean, though, right? Lol) It’s something good to do if you like Toyota or cars in general. Personally, unless you’re an avid Toyota fan, I don’t think this museum is worth the drive unless you’re going to be in the area or will be passing by Torrance.

​I like Toyota. I do. But I will be honest and say that I didn’t spend much time exploring the museum. I didn’t even bother to read a good chunk of their historical timeline info they had hanging against the walls.

What I did do though was take a photo of a photo that showcased 3 models by a car. Sounds creepy, eh? Well, allow me to explain. I have a tendency to like fashion from the 1940s – 1960s timeframe and since this photo was originally taken back in the 60s, I couldn’t help but to take a photo of it. My reasoning is valid, eh? Not so creepy anymore, right? Lol

Anyway, the main highlight of the museum was not so much the historical timeline, obviously, but the CARS.

I had the opportunity to take photos of some unique cars. I even got to see a car I kind of wanted but no longer can buy new since they stopped making/selling it.

Yes, the Scion iQ. I bet you thought I was talking about some luxury car, eh? :p

Talking about luxury cars, I did see a Lexus here and there, but only one of them caught my eye. This particular Lexus was blinged out, from the inside to the outside. I kid you not when I say it was blinged out. I don’t know what was inside that car but there were a lot of shiny things in it. Think rhinestones meet disco ball. Yes…

I also saw some race cars as well as cars used by celebrities.

​Once I saw all of the cars, I couldn’t help but to think there was more to see simply because there weren’t that many cars housed inside the museum. Thinking there was more to see, I got drawn to this wide open entrance located at the back of the museum. This “entrance” leads to more cars, but they’re all mystery cars since most of them were covered up. Sounds exciting, eh? Not really since this was actually an area that was off limits to museum attendees. It makes sense that they’d have an off limits area but it would have made a lot more sense if there was a sign somewhere indicating the area was off limits. I think this would have been a lot more convenient on both staff and museum attendees since it was rather annoying to be somewhat interested in seeing what else the museum had only to be informed rather loudly/harshly that the area is off limits. Oh well.

I don’t think I mentioned this earlier, but parking is free however you need to park in the museum’s lot. (Read the signs when you drive in and you’ll figure it out.) Something even more important than parking is the fact that their building doesn’t scream out that it’s a museum. You’ll have to rely on the museum’s address alone (look for 19600) as the museum’s building does not mark itself as “Toyota USA Automobile Museum”. So secretive eh? Lol Honestly, if they marked themselves, I feel that they would get more museum visitors. Although the museum wasn’t located on a busy street, I can totally imagine people driving by and visiting the museum at random. When I was there, there was only a few families that came to visit the museum. It’s not a museum that gets crowded so it’s an ideal museum to visit if you want to be away from crowds, surrounded by cars but away from traffic. Lol