Tetsuya Tada will be remembered?
 

I have seen almost all videos of him on youtube. Looks like he is really a passionate and car enthusiast. Do you guys really think he is a a genuine guy like NSX/S2000's chief engineer Shigeru Uehara?

Who? Never heard of till you mentioned him. So no.

Oh boy... opened up pandora box. K, brb I gonna write a long ass article of Tada-san in my perspective.

So have popcorn ready by the time I comeback finishing writing it. Lol

:D

He had something to do with something.....marketing I believe.

Is he dead?

Shigeru who?

I was completely joking bout typing up an article (but if I’m in the mood... maybe).

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3791cfe70a.jpg

I’ll try to keep it simple...

Met him in spring of ‘12. First time he saw me & I gave him my card (which back then only stated “forum mod”), not once he made dirty look or look down on me (some other brand engineers do), he treated me like a gearhead friend. He even said “I check that forum often and amazed with information.” Since then I was blessed enough to chat w him more than some other ppl. Sometimes he gotta say certain things due to company stuff and he’s the face of 86, other than that he’ll tell you stuff both on & off topics.

He maybe be a POS to some fans for ruining 86 by collab w Subaru & Supra by collab w BMW... & sadly he have heard that from ppl both online & in person. If you actually give him a chance and get off your 86 &/or Supra fan boi high horse and listen, he’s just a normal down to earth gearhead.

In the end, only ppl who was able to meet him and chat w him know if he’s enthusiast or just yes-men.

I think years from now he will be remembered fondly for championing classic style sports cars. I was hyped for these cars since the concept in 09. Something simple, lightweight and involving thanks to a manual transmission. Before these cars Miata really was the only answer, and while I appreciate the MX-5, I just needed a little more convenience while maintaining the good looks. A nice coupe fit the bill.

Dude was just in Orange County meeting 86 owners 2 weeks ago:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8vZD6On7nA/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8vLnD3FDCs/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8vXxsoHVYk/

practically revived the affordable and fun sports car market and built a super popular, customizable, perfect driver's car.

dudes pretty awesome

Wow. I am not an experienced person like you guys, but I believe, the way 86 is built, without a pure enthusiasm, it was not possible. Correct me if I am wrong.

When I read this heading, I legit thought the guy died...


From what I've read and seen online, he is an enthusiast that goes the extra mile, which is why he delayed his retirement to be Chief Engineer of the GR Supra as well.

Wait a minute, isn't Tada-san Japanese for @Tcoat - san?

People need to read and understand the development story. Tada did not dream up this car, decide to partner with Subaru or even have a hand in the early prototypes. The project was already launched and in it's early stages when he was pulled from designing minivans and assigned to it. By the sounds of it he didn't even see the assignment coming.


Once he was assigned he lead a TEAM that did the development. Yes, he was their spokesman and representative to higher management (as chief Designer for a project he is many many steps down from the top) but he did not single handedly build the car. Would the same or similar car result with a different leader? Probably.


Like any corporate public figure he can only say so much about a project without being fired for disclosure of restricted information. That restriction is part of why many of his official statements were always so vague. He was also very often misquoted or his statements twisted by the "press".
My favorite progress can be found if you dig through some old articles about the MR2.
The statement made was "I would LIKE to see a three sports car line up" no mention of an MR2 or any other specifics. By the time that statement had played telephone through 4 or 5 click baits we were seeing the headline "Tada announces plans to build a MR2 in conjunction with Mazda". Hell some of the sites even had beautiful renders of the car.


All in all he may be a great, friendly, down to earth man but in the end he is just a middle sized fish in a really big pond so to think of him as some automotive god is just ridiculous.

Yup! I was there as well! He & Fukumoto-san enjoyed seeing all the 86 & Supra making the meet.

He actually retired... while Supra was in development. So how is he still working? Toyota made a “contract” w him. So technically, he’s not full Toyota employee anymore lol

@ichitaka05 can't quote you.
Why don't you post the interview you had with Tada but include the 86 references that the Supra forum pulled out?

What? You want me to go back & translate some spots that I didn’t have to translate? lol when I have time in this weekend, I’ll try to get that going.

He was a successful corporate middle sized fish, but that doesn't make him any less of a bona fide gearhead, either. Cupholder design pays the bills a whole lot more reliably than rolling loaded dice with the motorsports dream...

Didn't say he was less of a gearhead. Said he wasn't the original person with the dream just the guy that lead the team to make it happen.

Agreed. 'Automotive god' is reserved for the few people who saw their designs from original spark out to to the successful end and without whose active engineering input to the development process would have resulted in failure...Porsche, Chapman, Shelby, McLaren, etc. Tada is certainly a huge enthusiast - I don't take that away from him, and it certainly helped his pitch to the upstairs suits - but in the big picture is a regular corporate guy who has a mortgage like everyone else.

I've met him a few times at different events. He's a nice guy. I don't know if he will be remembered because I don't even recall the NSX/S2000 engineer you named.

Takes a special kind of fanboi to be able to throw out the names of chief engineers for several models of car!

Yeah.. but like hundreds of others.

He will be remembered by a few that owned these cars.. otherwise.. negative.

Really? I can think few legends like, Father of Z, Katayama-san aka Mr. K. In Honda other than Soichiro Honda, def Shigeru Uehara come to mind. He helped develop iconic sports cars like NSX & S2000 (iirc DC-5). Hiromu Naruse was different engineer, but def carved Toyota's motorsports involvement and help develop Supra, MR2 and other sports cars. Of course, if you get into designer... Yoichi Sato (Rx7), (forgot the first name) Sakurai with GT-R comes to mind. Daisuke Sawai (AP1) is debatable. Not really Japanese, but want to note is Larry Shinoda (2nd gen Japanese) designer of String Ray & Mustang Boss 302 is up there on legend imo.

I'm pretty sure there are other famous engineers/designers... but that's what I can think top of my head.

Except for Soichiro Honda, none of those were names I remembered. I'm not an automotive historian, just an enthusiast who likes to drive cars.. and I don't really care about who the chief engineer was for any of them. I'm sure Tada is a great guy, but I don't know him personally so don't really care all that much to remember his name 5 years from now. :shrug:

SEE! Special!

I'm disappointed that my name wasn't on your list.

Nobody cares about paint shakers.

It's on my list. :thumbsup:

Au contraire:

https://www.fauxhammer.com/featured/...l-paints-2019/

That's not a profession, it's a religion...

What list?

Surprised you didn’t know Mr. K. For some, he’s a God to them. There have been countless article & interview of him.

Not a historian lol I was the same way. Who cares bout who made it, as long as it drive the way I like, who cares. But when I find out bout designer, engineer, test driver & etc personality, you kinda figure out why they did some design or character of the car the way it is.

There’s no right or wrong for this. I just think, it’s fun to know who help develop the car and their goals/ideas from the car.

Haha I’m far from giving the title “special”. Moto-san deserve that title more. Compared to him, I’m a young grasshopper who thinks know everything. Moto-san is LITERALLY automotive database. He knows not only Japanese automotive, but American, European and even some of small Asian automotive histories all the way down to small random detail specs. I’m very bias, so don’t think I’ll ever become like him... but something to try for... maybe

Booo... I'm much more than that.

In the grand scheme of things his contribution to the automotive world is so insignificant.
Off the top of my head I can name much more influential names such as Gianni Agnelli, Lee Iacocca, Bob Lutz, Zora Arkus Duntov, Ettore Bugatti, Harley Earl, Enzo Ferrari, Ferdinand Piech, Akio Toyoda, Soichiro Honda, etc. Nobody is going to mention Tetsuya tada in the same breath unfortunately.

Like Tcoat already mentioned, he's a great middle man tasked with a fun project to over look. If I was managing minivans I would be hella excited to run the 86 project, especially as a car guy.

Is Toyota better with him? Probably, i'm glad there are still "enthusiasts" in such a progressively boring company as Toyota (as it is now).

I'm no slouch when it comes to motorsports history, especially from the F1/GP/sports racer/rally era from the late 50s until the mid 80s... That said, corporate engineers just aren't terribly memorable people, in the grand scheme of things. Lead engineer for the E30 M3? No idea. Ur-Quattro, Lancia Delta S4, Stratos, Porsche 956/962/959...all landmark cars made famous by legendary drivers who developed them, but no idea who the engineers were...

That's not intended as a slight against them, but rather to point out that a legendary vehicle typically gets developed by great drivers over some time, rather than clever engineers right off the bat....

Now those are names I generally know - except for Gianni Agnelli. Actually had to look him up. I won't remember him lol

Definitely worth remembering, he basically founded the Agnelli/Elkann FIAT dynasty. Some of the wealthiest most influential people in Europe and now that they own Chrysler, the world. Also Ferrari...

He was a fashion icon and a staunch business man.

Famous for wearing his watch over his shirt cuff.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8e/dc...bb46473b8d.jpg

Unlike many I don't really care about Ferrari.

And I certainly don't care about Chrysler or Fiat. :shrug: I just don't think I'll remember his name as it wasn't a "household name" like many of the others you mentioned.