OREANDA-NEWS. July 31, 2015. Automobiles are an essential convenience in the fast-paced modern world, but they can also be so much more. During power crises, automobiles have been used as backup generators. In New York City, decommissioned buses have been outfitted with showers providing the solace of cleanliness to the homeless. Cars have even been used as a proving ground for advanced technologies including hybrid and hydrogen-powered systems. These are just a few of the inventive and game-changing uses for a technology that has become far more than a simple means of conveyance.

Encouraging suspension of disbelief and full utilization of the imagination, the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest is a worldwide program annually gathering entries from children of all ages. Children create fun, tasty, useful, and clever make-believe vehicles complete with a description of the uses to which they might be put. The winning contestants are given the opportunity to visit Japan and participate in the award ceremony. However, in 2014, a lesser-known competition upped the game.

The Toyota Engineering Society held “The Kids’ Car Design Exhibition,” a competition to give shape to childrens’ dreams. Students from 74 schools in Toyota City made roughly 4,200 submissions from which fifteen drawings were selected. These were then brought to life by fifteen teams of Toyota craftsmen specializing in technology and production engineering.

In addition to fostering interest in cars and technology among young people, the miniature models represent Toyota’s dedication to craftsmanship: the craftsmen themselves benefited from the challenge of bringing these dreams to life. Among the entries turned into prototypes were such creative vehicles as an “Earth-friendly Music Car” and a “Cleaner Car”. The former uses stored electricity to create sound upon contact with the musical instruments accessorizing the vehicle while the latter is, essentially, a human-driven vacuum cleaner.

The Earth-Friendly Music Car was converted by members of the Foundry Engineering Division into a model using five different sand molds with detail infused down to the level of delicate violin strings. The completed model is a striking work in silver and gold paint with a sweet, smiling face comprised of musical notes. For the Cleaner Car, members of the Plastic Parts Engineering and Partner Robots Divisions developed a sporty little model with exchangeable parts complete with real suction power to emulate a vacuum cleaner.

With creative and functional models like these making the dreams of children a reality—however bite-sized for the time being—who knows where the future of automobiles may end up? Some day, the dreams of today’s children may be the convention of the automotive world.