Blog: Discover how Oldham kick-started Japanese automobile giant Toyota

The story of Greater Manchester’s relationship with Japan dates back to the industrial revolution and is built around knowledge sharing and innovation, particularly in textiles and manufacturing. The regions have a long-standing history of collaboration that has helped fuel industries and drive transformative change across sectors.

By now, you should have heard the story of the three students from the Satsuma (now Kagoshima prefecture) in Western Japan, who travelled to Manchester and Oldham to gain expertise in industrialised textile spinning.

At the time, Greater Manchester was a world leader in this industry and home to some of the largest companies in the world like Platt Brothers. It was Platt Brothers that the students used to gain expertise and purchase cutting-edge machinery from to take back to Japan, starting 100 years of collaboration.

When you delve into this story, its impact grows and grows with this group of students building cultural ties and spreading innovations from Greater Manchester and Japan to drive mutual success.

One unexpected twist though, is the link between these students, Oldham’s Platt Brothers and the birth of one of the world’s most famous car manufacturers.

OLDHAM AND THE BIRTH OF TOYOTA

Using the machinery from Platt Brothers and calling on the company’s engineers to support the establishment of the first Industrial spinning mill in Japan, meant Oldham played a crucial role in the beginning of the Japanese Industrial Revolution.

As textile operations moved to Osaka, the Platt Brothers supplied thousands of machines to what became known as ‘The Manchester of the East’, where professionals continued to innovate and drive the industry forwards.

One of these innovators was Japanese engineer Sakichi Toyoda. Toyoda gained international success for the production of Japan’s first self-powered weaving loom for the textile industry. The looms helped to increase productivity and support the growth of the textile industry, including right-here in the UK.

In 1929, Toyoda sold his patent for an automatic loom to Platt Brothers, which was still one of the world’s largest textile machinery companies, for £100,000 – which equates to around £8m today.

With the money from the Oldham-based manufacturers, Sakichi’s son Kichiro decided to diversify the family’s business and pursue his passion project – automobiles.

Fortunately, this coincided with the Japanese Government’s ambition to develop a domestic automotive industry. And so, without realising, a transaction between the Oldham manufacturers and the Japanese innovator supported the founding of one of the world’s best-known and largest car makers, Toyota.

Kiichiro established an automotive division within Toyoda Automatic Loom Works and recruited a small but passionate team of engineers and industry experts to assist him in this venture.

For a time, the automobile department ran alongside the successful Automatic Loom Works until April 1937, when the business offshoot began to outgrow its parent company. The rest is history!

CELEBRATING THIS LINK IN THE MODERN AGE

Now, owner of Oldham Athletic Football Club Frank Rothwell has built a car to commemorate the links between the Greater Manchester town and the Japanese firm.

The Eclipse Machine Company were an Oldham company which manufactured cars between 1901 and 1920, and was started by Brothers Tom and Fred Rothwell.

Gallery Oldham hosts the only remaining original car made by the Rothwell Brothers, and it was seeing this piece of history in the gallery that inspired retired engineer Frank to build his own in his spare time.

Frank based his car on The Eclipse Machine Company’s 1910 model, which is currently on display in Gallery Oldham’s foyer.

The bodywork is a replica of this vehicle, but the chassis and engine use modern Toyota parts, from a 1994 Toyota Dyna Truck. The car is fully drivable today and perfectly merges Oldham’s history with the Japanese innovation it made possible.

Frank also created a personalised registration plate for the vehicle that matches those of the time period.

On bringing this passion project to life, Frank Rothwell said “It’s important that the only surviving Rothwell car in the world stays in Oldham. In 100 years, kids will come to the museum and see it is a part of history and Oldham’s heritage.

“As a retired engineer, I wanted to link the Toyota coming to Oldham with the current day. There’s a lot of history there, and it’s great to think that when Sakichi Toyoda came to Oldham, he’d have seen a car like that being manufactured. He’d have seen how to make cars, and how not to make cars, from right here in Greater Manchester.”

You can see the only surviving Eclipse Machine Company car by visiting Gallery Oldham.

Look out for Frank’s replica at events throughout Japan Week 2025, where we will look to celebrate the links between our two regions.