Toyota 2000GT spotted

[dinkel]

Concours Het Loo 2018: Toyota 2000GT, one of only 351 cars.

[PZR]

Lovely! Thank you for posting.

I drove one around Tsukuba Circuit at a big Toyota 2000GT Owners Club event back in the early 1990s. Probably about 30 cars present on the day. Made a big impression on me.

[dinkel]

And I can imagine: the proportions are so spot on.

[PZR]

The dynamics were a revelation too. The example I drove was RHD, and the ergonomics were great. Driving position was good for me.

Only thing I didn't like was the 'umbrella handle' type handbrake under the dash, but I guess they didn't have anywhere else to put it.

[P5BNij]

Anyone know how many RHD examples were built..?

This LHD one was snapped in a London street in '68...

[aeropilot]

P5BNij said:

Anyone know how many RHD examples were built..?

Most of them were RHD, as cars are RHD in Japan

Of the 351 built, only 62 were LHD.

[P5BNij]

aeropilot said:

P5BNij said:

Anyone know how many RHD examples were built..?

Most of them were RHD, as cars are RHD in Japan

Of the 351 built, only 62 were LHD.

Thanks - I should have twigged about Japan being a RHD country, my jap export Mini is RHD!

Saw a gorgeous 2000GT at the NEC a while ago, it looked so small and cute.

[vixen1700]

P5BNij said:

It does look very cool in that snap.

[mike9009]

P5BNij said:

Anyone know how many RHD examples were built..?

This LHD one was snapped in a London street in '68...

Looks lovely but I am intrigued by the cut 'n' shut Mini in the background

[aeropilot]

mike9009 said:

Looks lovely but I am intrigued by the cut 'n' shut Mini in the background

It's just a Traveller Woody with coloured rear infill panels, very common in the day, often a fake wood like finish on these rear panels. There used to be one like it that I passed on my way to school back in the early 70's..... looked bloody awful

[Boosted LS1]

Wow, what a car. I've always thought these look better then the 'E' types.

[Yertis]

aeropilot said:

Of the 351 built, only 62 were LHD.

Why so few?

[Pericoloso]

aeropilot said:

It's just a Traveller Woody with coloured rear infill panels, very common in the day, often a fake wood like finish on these rear panels. There used to be one like it that I passed on my way to school back in the early 70's..... looked bloody awful

My mother died in one...1973

[dinkel]

http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2015/03/12/316...

Silly money...

[Xaero]

Lovely looking car. I've seen 4 of them, the only one complete in the UK at some Bicester meet. The other 3 were all together in a garage in Japan. The owner of the garage said 2 of them are strictly only to be rebuilt with original parts. I suspect he still has those 2 as he couldn't get any bits so was largely relying on the owners to track bits down and essentially giving them storage space.

[aeropilot]

Yertis said:

aeropilot said:

Of the 351 built, only 62 were LHD.

Why so few?

No idea.

It was very expensive, same price point as a 911 and E-Type, even being sold at a no-profit per unit price being hand built by Yamaha, and I suppose it had done its job of changing the image of Toyota (and possibly the whole Japanese car industry)

As such you can see why they command such high prices today (featuring in a Bond movie always helps though )

[PZR]

aeropilot said:

Yertis said:

aeropilot said:

Of the 351 built, only 62 were LHD.

Why so few?

No idea.

It was very expensive, same price point as a 911 and E-Type, even being sold at a no-profit per unit price being hand built by Yamaha, and I suppose it had done its job of changing the image of Toyota (and possibly the whole Japanese car industry)

As such you can see why they command such high prices today (featuring in a Bond movie always helps though )

Never intended for volume sales. As mentioned above, conceived as something of statement of intent by Toyota and individually hand assembled/coachbuilt for them by Yamaha.

[aeropilot]

PZR said:

aeropilot said:

Yertis said:

aeropilot said:

Of the 351 built, only 62 were LHD.

Why so few?

No idea.

It was very expensive, same price point as a 911 and E-Type, even being sold at a no-profit per unit price being hand built by Yamaha, and I suppose it had done its job of changing the image of Toyota (and possibly the whole Japanese car industry)

As such you can see why they command such high prices today (featuring in a Bond movie always helps though )

Never intended for volume sales. As mentioned above, conceived as something of statement of intent by Toyota and individually hand assembled/coachbuilt for them by Yamaha.

Actually, IIRC, it wasn't actually conceived by Toyota, it was conceived and designed by Yamaha, who originally offered the concept to Nissan, who declined interest, whereby Yamaha then offered it to Toyota who accepted it, but insisted on a restyle by one of their own Toyota stylists.
The car is much more Yamaha than Toyota.

[Sardonicus]

1st one I ever see was in this Bond flick as a kid Too low to be practical but this looks tough

Edited by Sardonicus on Friday 31st August 11:03

[PZR]

aeropilot said:

PZR said:

aeropilot said:

Yertis said:

aeropilot said:

Of the 351 built, only 62 were LHD.

Why so few?

No idea.

It was very expensive, same price point as a 911 and E-Type, even being sold at a no-profit per unit price being hand built by Yamaha, and I suppose it had done its job of changing the image of Toyota (and possibly the whole Japanese car industry)

As such you can see why they command such high prices today (featuring in a Bond movie always helps though )

Never intended for volume sales. As mentioned above, conceived as something of statement of intent by Toyota and individually hand assembled/coachbuilt for them by Yamaha.

Actually, IIRC, it wasn't actually conceived by Toyota, it was conceived and designed by Yamaha, who originally offered the concept to Nissan, who declined interest, whereby Yamaha then offered it to Toyota who accepted it, but insisted on a restyle by one of their own Toyota stylists.
The car is much more Yamaha than Toyota.

No, I think you're confusing it with the Project A550X, which was built by Yamaha for Nissan. When Nissan dropped it Yamaha showed it to Toyota as an example of what they could do, but what would become the Toyota 2000GT had already been conceived by Toyota before they approached Yamaha.

In the summer of 1964 Toyota appointed their factory racing manager Jiro Kawano to head 'Project 280A', and Kawano assembled a small team from Toyota to work with him. Shinichi Yamazaki (chassis & suspension), Hidemasa Takagi (engine development), Satoru Nozaki (designer/styling), Shihomi Hosoya (development driver & assistant designer) and Eizo Matsuda (test driver/development engineer) were his key five. By November of 1964 the team had laid out detailed engineering plans and come up with a 1/5 scale model of Nozaki's body design. In December they saw the A550X for the first time when Yamaha showed it to them as an example of what they could achieve (Yamaha's abilities in this field being somewhat little known at the time). The Toyota team were greatly encouraged to see the A550X, and it convinced them that Yamaha was the most suitable partner for the Toyota 280A project.

In January 1965 Nozaki, Takagi and Yamazaki upped sticks from Toyota and moved to the Yamaha facility at Hamamatsu whilst the other members of the core Toyota team stayed at Toyota in Aichi. There's certainly a lot of Yamaha in the car, but it would not have existed - or even looked/worked the way it did - without being a Toyota.

The Japanese auto and motorcycle industries of this period are a very interesting subject.