2000 TOYOTA GT
Nissan invited Yamaha to design a sports car and then rejected the idea. Toyota, however, jumped at the project
How and why the stunning 2000GT two-seat hatchback became so influential is a story almost as fascinating as the car itself.
In the early 1960s, the automobile industry in Japan wasn’t taken seriously outside its home market. Most of the cars and trucks being built there were odd-looking knockoffs of British vehicles and not considered worthy of export to Europe or North America. The few that did make it to our shores from the Far East didn’t worry — certainly didn’t impress — the Detroit-based domestic builders, who feared only Volkswagen as a threat to their outright market supremacy.
In the meantime, some of the major producers from Japan planned nothing less than a rapid expansion throughout the globe. One such company was Nissan, which originally exported its products under the Datsun label. Feeling the need for some type of image-enhancing centrepiece, the company invited Yamaha in 1963 to create a high-performance grand touring coupe.
Yamaha, in turn, commissioned German-born stylist Count Albrecht Goertz, a man who had previously penned BMW’s low-volume and expensive 503 coupes and 507 roadsters back in the mid1950s. However, when Nissan executives rejected the initial mock-ups, including a Lotus Elan-inspired chassis wrapped in a seductive aluminum body, Yamaha offered it to Toyota. The company jumped at the project, despite the fact that the car would be far more expensive than anything else in the lineup. The new car would, however, make an ideal corporate flagship, showing that Toyota could compete on a much broader scale than anyone had previously imagined. Interestingly, Nissan later hired Goertz to design the similarly shaped and hugely successful 240Z sports machine.
Goertz’s ahead-of-the-time design for the Toyota borrowed elements from a number of existing sports cars, including Ferrari and Jaguar. It also featured small compartments behind the front wheels that held the battery and air filter. The interior was finished in genuine rosewood that covered the instrument panel and floor console (the steering wheel was also made of wood).
Perhaps the most unusual part of the car was its two sets of headlamps. One pair bordered the grille while another could be made to pop up from each fender. In this way, the car could meet minimum North American height restrictions for headlights.
The car’s 2.0-litre inline six-cylinder engine was adapted from Toyota’s Crown sedan, but was fitted with a Yamaha-designed double-overhead-cam valve train and three carburetors. In street form, the powerplant made 150 horsepower and produced zero-to-60-mph (96 km/h) times of 8.5 seconds. Top speed was close to 140 mph (225 km/h). On the very few full-race versions, the motors were coaxed to 200 horses.
A close-ratio five-speed manual transmission was standard, but a limited number were fitted with three-speed automatics.
Christened the 2000GT (for its nearly-2,000-cubic-centimeter — 2.0-litre — engine displacement), the sporty Toyota caused a sensation when first viewed at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show.
But production problems resulted in a two-year delay before the initial batch of cars rolled off Yamaha’s assembly lines. By this time, most movie buffs had viewed a special oneoff convertible version of the car that took centre stage in the James Bond 007 flick “You Only Live Twice.”
If the 2000GT’s looks produced slack jaws, then so did its exorbitant price tag. At more than $7,000, the Toyota was far pricier than the Jaguar XKE and the Chevrolet Corvette and was much more than most Japanese buyers could afford. There were also few tire kickers on this side of the Pacific Ocean willing to risk that kind of money on a basically unknown and untried car company.
It didn’t really seem to matter to the top dogs at Toyota, who were basking in the 2000GT’s new-found status. In Japan, the car had become a successful competition racer in addition to setting a number of high-speed endurance records. In the United States, AC Cobra boss Carroll Shelby also fielded a team of two 2000GTs during the 1968 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) season, finishing second behind Porsche.
In 1970, after a run of a mere 337 vehicles (only 54 shipped to North America), Toyota ceased all 2000GT production.
By that time, the point had been well and truly driven home. The 2000GT allowed Toyota to solidify an image of high style and world-class quality that has helped it flourish the world over.
Malcolm Gunn is a feature writer with Wheelbase Media. He can be reached on the Web at www. theoctanelounge.com by clicking the contact link. Wheelbase supplies automotive news and features to newspapers across North America.