Take one look at the lines of the 1967 Toyota 2000GT and you’ll immediately know that it was inspired by the Jaguar E-Type, considered the sexiest, most iconic British car ever built. The 2000GT was designed by Albrecht Goertz, who went on to create the Nissan Fairlady, known in the United States as Datsun 240Z.
If you had any previous doubts about the collectability of Japanese automotive classics, consider the meticulously restored Solar Red 1967 Toyota 2000GT available now on eBay with a Buy-It-Now price of $999,500. Does that sound like a high price? Well, consider that a similar 1967 Toyota 2000GT sold at a RM Sothebys auction in 2013 for a whopping $1,155,000.
The 2000GT is a proper sports car, with four-wheel independent suspension and four-wheel disc brakes. It held its own against the competition at the time of its release and drew rave reviews. Yet only about 350 2000GTs were produced.
Toyota developed the coupe in conjunction with Yamaha. Triple side-draft carburetors fed the DOHC two-liter inline six-cylinder engine, which was mated to a five-speed manual transmission, in a time when five-speed transmissions were relatively rare. The straight six produced a healthy 150 horsepower, propelling the 2000GT to a top speed of more than 135 miles per hour.
Bond’s Japanese Getaway Car
No movie franchise has introduced more exotic cars to the masses than James Bond. The most notable of course is, being the Aston Martin DB5. While most of 007’s cars have been European, there is one drool-worthy exception: the Toyota 2000GT.
In 1967’s You Only Live Twice, James Bond was preventing yet another nuclear war while chasing wayward spacecraft in Japan. Movie-goers encountered the 2000GT somewhere between Bond’s faux marriage to Kissy Suzuki and his epic battle with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the mastermind of SPECTRE and inspiration for Doctor Evil.
I snapped this picture of a 2000GT at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. At the time, I thought, “What’s a Jag E-Type Jag doing in the middle of the Toyota booth?”
The stunning red 2000GT currently listed on eBay is one of about 60 left-hand-drive vehicles produced. The car spent most of its life in Switzerland, where it found its way into the Emil Frey Collection, a full-service classics company running since 1924. A frame-off restoration was completed in 1993. Further restoration work, including an engine overhaul, was performed by Roos Engineering, also based in Switzerland. The 1967 2000GT is now being offered on eBay by Motorcars International of Springfield, Mo.
In 2013, Sothebys wrote: “As its wonders have begun to achieve recognition in recent years, surviving examples have become highly sought-after, and today, the 2000GT is universally described as the most collectible, desirable, and valuable Japanese automobile ever produced.”
See Xenon Light Bulbs for Toyota 2000GT for sale on eBay.
