Toyota Is Crushing A Bonneville Record-Setting Prius

It’s not awfully uncommon for one-off cars to appear in random salvage yards, ready for a crusher. Once prototypes or pre-production models have lived out a useful life, they’re often left to be forgotten and a manufacturer will decide they’re best turned into tin cans. However, sometimes, a piece of history will be sent to a cruel death - like this Prius.

According to Japanese Nostalgic Car, a 2003 Toyota Prius has turned up at a crusher near the Toyota USA HQ in Dallas, Texas. That fact alone may not be interesting, but then you see the Prius in question.

This particular car was prepped especially to take on the Bonneville Salt Flats, leading to its interior being stripped, a roll cage and harnesses fitted, the stance being lowered and wearing a set of aerodynamic wheels wrapped in specialist Goodyear Tyres.

Driven by the Prius’ chief engineer Shigeyuki Hori, then-Toyota vice president of Technical and Regulatory Affairs Fumiaki Kobayashi and Car and Driver journalist Aaron Robinson, the car took the salt flats in 2004. It set a speed of 130.794mph, becoming the fastest hybrid production car (albeit, without much contest) at the time.

Since then, the Prius spent most of its life in Torrance, California, where the Toyota USA Museum was before it was shipped to Texas.

It’ll be a sad end when the Toyota does find itself turned into recycled metal, as it’s an interesting showpiece. Perhaps worse still though, another car from the museum - a mint-looking 1978 Cressida - is also set for the same fate. Though details on this particular Cressida are scarce, it’s evident that it has been road-registered at some stage, making Toyota’s decision to scrap it a mind-boggling one.

Toyota hasn’t publicly commented but it’s unlikely a U-turn will be made on the crushing at this stage, and there’s every chance that by the time we’re publishing, both cars have already been cubed. Let’s hope there’s still a chance, though.