1967 Toyota 2000GT

While NSX devotees continue to explain why their car should be accepted as a “real” supercar, Toyota 2000GT owners need make no such excuses

by Donald Osborne

Toyota’s 2000GT is widely acclaimed as the first Japanese car to be taken seriously by Western critics—the country’s first “supercar.” The model marked Japan’s rise away from dull derivative models toward the highly competitive position it enjoys today.

The 2000GT was originally penned by Albrecht Goertz (creator of the BMW 507) for Nissan, who were hungrily looking at the burgeoning American sports car market, but when accountants vetoed the car on the grounds of cost, Yamaha (who developed the engine) persuaded Toyota to pick up the project.

The 2000GT debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1965, but the first cars didn’t reach owners until 1967. The model ran until 1970, but in the end just 337 2000GTs were built, thanks to a price tag ($7,150 in the U.S. in 1967) that towered above even the Jaguar E-type ($5,580) and Porsche 911 ($5,990).

If the eye was wooed by the aluminum body, the heart was won by the twin-cam engine packed with the...