The 2000GT is I think one of the best looking Japanese cars ever made. First seen at the 1965 Tokyo Motorshow, it went into production in 1967. The car was a joint development between Toyota and Yamaha with styling by Count Graf Albrecht Goertz who also styled the beautiful BMW 507 and was influential in the design of the later Datsun 240Z. Yamaha developed the 2 litre straight six engine from the Toyota Crown into a proper sports car engine producing 150bhp (by converting it from a single overhead camshaft engine to a double overhead camshaft design), and were also responsible for building the car for Toyota.
The 2000GT had an X-shaped backbone chassis similar to the one in a Lotus Elan of the same vintage, and also was the first Japanese car to feature vacuum boosted disc brakes on all four wheels. Drive was through a 5 speed manual gearbox with a limited slip differential and rear wheel drive. The 2000GT also had advanced double wishbone independent suspension at each corner.
Apparently the style of the 2000GT was originally offered by Goertz to Nissan who rejected it as they felt it would be too costly to build and would therefore either be too expensive to sell in any great numbers, or not profitable. Ultimately they were proved right as Toyota only built a total of 337 2000GTs between 1967 and 1970 including two special convertibles for the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice". The main reason it failed to sell in big numbers was due to the fact that it cost more than a Jaguar E-Type and the Porsche 911 in the USA and Europe, and buyers were not prepared to spend that kind of money on a Japanese sportscar. Japanese cars in the 1960s were seen as little more than 4 wheeled jokes by buyers in Europe and the USA, so in many ways the 2000GT was ahead of it's time, as within 10 years after it's introduction the image of the Japanese car had totally changed from being seen a joke to being more reliable, better built and far better value than their foreign competitors.
Only 62 2000GTs in total were sold in the USA including 9 of the cheaper single overhead camshaft version (introduced by Toyota as a means of offering a cheaper version to stimulate sales) making them rare birds indeed in America. Hence today they are worth between $100,000-150,000 on the US classic car market.
In 1968 Carroll Shelby fielded a team of two race prepared 2000GTs (with an upgraded 200bhp version of the standard cars engine) in the 2 litre class of the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) race series. In their first year they finished second in the championship to the Porsche 911s, which was no disgrace as the Porsches were totally dominant at the time in the 2 litre class. With further development the 2000GTs might have become championship winners but Toyota pulled the plug on the 2000GT race program after only one year. AUTOart plan to release the race versions of the 2000GT which is great news as they were stunning looking cars too!
This model is to date (2005) one of the best models AUTOart have released. The brakes get maximum marks as they have a superbly realistic metallic finish. The engine and the interior are superb and the pop up headlights actually "pop up" on the model. Another nice touch (which I've only recently noticed!) is that the inner halves of the wing mounted rear view mirrors are painted black (while the outer halves of the mirrors are chromed) so that the driver would not be dazzled by reflections from them. Very thoughtful of Toyota! An excellent model of a great looking car.
