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THE RISE OF A TITAN

Classic & Sports Car

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April 2026

The Toyota Collection in Cologne charts the Japanese car maker's ascendancy, on road, track and rally stage

- WORDS CHARLIE CALDERWOOD PHOTOGRAPHY MAX EDLESTON

THE RISE OF A TITAN

An early Toyota Corolla under spotlights is a far more surprising sight today than a handbuilt exotic, such as a pre-war Bugatti or Ferrari 250 - at least in a European car museum.

With the enthusiast of 2026 more commonly clamouring for Supras than Siatas, however, Toyota Deutschland has opened its 75-car heritage collection to the public. Mirroring the Mazda Classic Automobile Museum Frey in Augsburg (Classic shrine, April 2021), the Toyota Collection Cologne began with a car dealer turned hoarder. Peter Pichert, one of Germany’s first Toyota franchisees, amassed his collection over decades. He set up a museum in Bavaria, then the family handed the cars to Toyota after Peter's death in 2016. Today, they fill a hall that once housed tennis courts for employees at Toyota’s German HQ.

Starting out with austere Corollas and rugged Land Cruisers in the early ’70s, Pichert’s career oversaw the Japanese company’s rise from relative minnow to multiple decades spent as the world’s largest car maker, and the collection reflects that journey. European-market Coronas and Cressidas - which are now rarer than most 1970s sports cars - are here in force, while Tercels and Starlets join the fray from the ’80s onwards and all are in exceptionally good condition, some plucked straight from the showroom floor many decades ago.

Every Toyota sold in Europe in the 1970s and ’80s is represented here in some way, and while it’s typically just one variant of each, some of those are quite rare specifications. A ’77 Corolla Liftback, '81 Celica GT Sunchaser Cabriolet and ’82 Starlet Kombi represent just a handful of each left in the country.

Chronologically, the collection continues until close to the present day, although more sporadically - focusing on highlights such as the Mk4 Supra and a very early, launch-spec RAV4, complete with its showroom decals announcing ‘

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The Toyota Collection in Cologne charts the Japanese car maker's ascendancy, on road, track and rally stage

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April 2026

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