Over the years, the Japanese auto industry has given us some incredible cars. However, one of these cars stands out to us the most. That’s why for this week’s Want we’re focusing in on the Toyota 2000GT, perhaps one of the best Japanese cars ever made.
The story of the 2000GT dates back to 1963. Motorsports was on the rise in Japan and customers started asking for more performance-oriented vehicles. But there was a problem.
After World War II, many of the major industrial centers in Japan needed to rebuild. There were also several restrictions in place that held back the production of vehicles. For the most part, domestic companies only produced trucks and other small commercial vehicles.
This gradually changed throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. However, the number of cars coming out of Japanese factories was still relatively small.
Sure, there were some sports car like the Nissan Fairlady. But for the most part, the cars were small Kei class vehicles. A supercar was completely out of the question too.
That is until the mid ’60s when Toyota took a gamble.
Working with Yamaha, Toyota built and designed the first working prototype of the 2000GT. Then in 1965 at the 12th Tokyo Motor Show, it unveiled the car to the public.
People went crazy over it and Japan’s upper class pleaded with Toyota to buy one. But this was Toyota: the car needed to be perfect before the public could have it. So it went back to the drawing board to continue to tweak the car.
During its development phase, Toyota used motorsports to build excitement for the car. The pinnacle of these events was the 1966 Speed Trials at the Yatabe High Speed Testing Course.
At that event, a 2000GT tuned by Tosco (a predecessor to TRD) took home three world records. It also captured 12 international records for speed and endurance.
After the event, Toyota knew it had the perfect road car. In 1967 it finally went on sale to the public, sold through the Toyota Store in Japan. It was at this moment the world got its first Japanese supercar.
Handing over the building to Yamaha, only 351 were ever made. But despite its low production number, it had a profound effect on the Toyota brand.
The 2000GT gained most of its international fame through James Bond though. Featured in the film You Only Live Twice, the British agent popularized the car.
Unlike the production version, the Bond version was a convertible due to Sean Connery’s inability to fit into the car. This slight change made it the rarest of all 2000GT’s since Toyota only made two of them for the film.
While not as rare, the North American version of the car is still plenty scarce. Only 62 of these cars ever made it to our shores. That’s why seeing this example for sale through Autosport Designs in Huntington Station, NY.
The car is finished in Bellatrix Yellow which makes it rarer still. Most of the 2000GT cars that were built were either Solar Red or Pegasus White.
Perhaps the thing that really makes this car stand out though is its ownership history. While it includes actor George Hamilton, it’s the stint with Robert Tkacik and Peter Starr that matters. Both Tkacik and Starr are the authorities when it comes to the 2000GT. They even helped write the book on it with Shin Yoshikawa called The Complete History of the Toyota 2000GT.
In addition to this 2000GT, Tkacik and Starr have both owned several other of these supercars in the past. They also currently run Maine Line Exotics, which is one of the few specialists for these cars in the world.
The work on the car was also done by Maine Line Exotics too. This includes a rebuild of its 2.0-liter inline-six engine and all the standard maintenance. But with just 14,000 miles on the clock, it’s still in remarkable condition.
There’s currently no price listed for this 2000GT. However, looking at other examples, we expect it to be in the neighborhood of about $800,000. That’s a far cry more than its $6,200 it went for back in ’67.
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