Here's Why The Toyota 2000GT Was Way Cooler Than You Remember

Could a 1960s sports car driven by James Bond, raced by Carroll Shelby, and now worth a million dollars ever not be cool? Well, yes. It may seem strange today, but there are only 351 examples of the achingly beautiful Toyota 2000GT because that's all the Japanese company could sell. It wasn't intentionally limited but was hampered by a high price and an international market yet to embrace the products of post-war Japan. At $6,611, it was more expensive than rivals like the Jaguar E-Type and Porsche 911.

The story of the Toyota 2000GT began in the mid-1960s, as the company sought to show a nation so freshly enamored by motorsport that one of its national automakers could create something special. Toyota aimed to create a flagship sports car to showcase the automotive technologies and manufacturing know-how it had gained in the wake of World War II.

The company set its sights on a practical, high-performance coupe that would marry beautiful design with an ability to compete on the race track. The seeds of the 2000GT's design were sown by a design study created by Albrecht Goertz and rejected by rival Japanese firm Nissan before being adopted by Toyota.

Built by Yamaha, the 2000GT arrived as a concept at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show.

Toyota put the 2000GT into production in May 1967. It featured a swooping and aerodynamic body that stood just 45.7 inches tall — remember how a Ford GT40 is famously 40 inches — and sat atop a backbone chassis inspired by the Lotus Elan. It featured double-wishbone independent suspension all around and, as a first for any Japanese car, disc brakes behind every wheel.

The 2000GT was powered by a straight-six, 2.0-liter engine produced by Yamaha with an output of 148 horsepower at 6,600 rpm. This was enough to see the car sprint to 60 mph in 8.4 seconds and hit a top speed of 137 mph. These are modest figures by today's standards but with some tuning from Tosco (now Toyota Racing Development), a prototype set 13 international speed and endurance records, including hitting an average speed of 128.76 mph over a 72-hour drive on a banked circuit.

The car caught the attention of Carroll Shelby, who prepared three 2000GTs for competition in the Sports Car Club of America. These cars produced 200 horsepower and benefited from upgraded suspension and tires. Competing against the Porsche 911, the Toyota earned Shelby's drivers second and third in the 1968 SCCA C-Production championship. The first of these cars sold at auction in 2022 for $2,535,000, making it the most expensive Japanese car of all time.

As Toyota put the final touches to its Jaguar E-Type rival, producers for the 1966 James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice" got in touch. They wanted Bond to drive the 2000GT, but since Sean Connery stood at 6'2", the compact sports car needed to have its roof removed. Ensuring producers didn't ditch the 2000GT for another brand, Toyota made two purpose-built convertibles for the movie. One still survives. It was discovered in Hawaii in 1977 by a Toyota employee and shipped back to Japan, where it was restored and is now one of the most valuable vehicles held by the Toyota Museum.

The fate of the second Bond 2000GT is less clear. Toyota's UK magazine said in 2021 that, at some point in the 1970s, the car was "reported to be wrecked, although the company who was tasked to dispose of [it was] rumoured to have sold it to a private buyer."

This wouldn't be the first time a famous Bond car went missing. A gadget-packed Aston Martin DB5 used by Bond in the 1964 movie "Goldfinger" was stolen from a Florida aircraft hangar in 1997 before being found in the Middle East in 2021.

Toyota introduced a minor model year update for 1969, which reduced the size of the driving lights and added air conditioning to the options list. A three-speed automatic gearbox was also made available as an alternative to the five-speed manual transmission, says Toyota, but this was the 2000GT's one and only model year update. Production ended in 1970 with just 351 examples produced, plus the two James Bond convertibles.

Since Japan is one of the few countries to drive on the left — along with the UK, Australia, and South Africa, among a handful of others — left-hand-drive 2000GTs are considerably rarer, with just 62 examples exported to the American market.

Despite selling in very small numbers when new, the Toyota 2000GT has become a highly desirable classic car and among the most valuable Japanese cars of all time. One example is for sale at the time of writing, available in Germany and priced at €790,000 ($834,000). According to data collected by Classic.com, the 2000GT has an average sale price of $1m, with just 10 examples sold in the last four years. The most recent to sell at auction made £799,000 at a Bonhams sale held during the Goodwood Revival in September 2023. That very car is pictured at the top of this article, where it was awarded Best in Show at the 2022 London Concours.