Three-quarter front view of a 1967, Toyota 2000GT on display in the Paddock Area of the 2019 London Classic Car Show.
The Toyota 2000GT is a limited-production, front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-seat, hardtop coupé grand tourer designed by Toyota in collaboration with Yamaha. First displayed to the public at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1965, the 2000GT was manufactured under contract by Yamaha between 1967 and 1970. In Japan, it was exclusive to Toyota's Japanese retail sales channel called Toyota Store. The 2000GT revolutionized the automotive world's view of Japan, then viewed as a producer of imitative and stodgily practical vehicles. As a sleek, high-performance fastback, it demonstrated its auto makers could produce a sports car to rival the better marques of Europe. Reviewing a pre-production 2000GT in 1967, Road & Track magazine summed up the car as "one of the most exciting and enjoyable cars we've driven", and compared it favorably to the Porsche 911. Today, the 2000GT is seen as the first seriously collectible Japanese car and its first supercar. Examples of the 2000GT have sold at auction for as much as US$1,200, 2000GT design is widely considered a classic among 1960s gran turismos. Nozaki's bodywork was inspired by the E-type Jaguar.[3] Its smoothly flowing bodywork was executed in aluminium and featured pop-up headlights above large plexiglass covered driving lamps flanking the grille similar to those on the Toyota Sports 800. Bumpers were minimal, and the car was extremely low, just 116 cm ( in) to the highest point of the roof. Despite a custom open-top version built for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, a factory-produced convertible was never offered. The interior offered comfortable, if cramped, accommodation and luxury touches such as a rosewood-veneer dashboard and auto-seeking radio tuner. Road & Track was impressed, considering the interior suited to a "luxurious GT" and calling the 2000GT an impressive car "in which to sit or ride - or simply admire." In 1969, the front was modified slightly, making the driving lamps smaller and changing
Size: 5127px × 3533px
Location: ExCel London, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock,
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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