We finally have... "a winnah, f-f-folks!"
In 1969, I was living in SW MI and one of the jobs my dad had was doing an inventory system for the local Toyota dealership. They had a white Toyota 2000GT in the showroom. Now, this was such a small dealership, they only had room for
one car in the showroom, everything else was out on the lot. That 2000GT drew more people into the showroom than any car I have ever seen. There were mechanics from domestic dealerships who would come in on their lunch hours & ask to see 'under the hood.' Then they would get down on all-fours & look under the back & front. Considering you could buy an XK-E for less $$, this thing did its job, to inform people this Japanese co. was capable of building something besides Land Cruisers, Corollas, and Coronas. We had bought a new '67 Corona 4 dr. and my parents were so happy w/it they bought a '69 Crown, which was comparable to today's Lexus. It had a SOHC inline 6 & a manual 4-speed. The throws were a bit long, not any worse than a Muncie M23, and it handled well given the large 'standard' body size domestic cars of the day. That motor is what became a DOHC for the 2000GT.
Now, who built the car, who modded the SOHC 6 motor? Toyota, right? Nope!
Yamaha designed the conversion to DOHC from a production SOHC, and they also did the manufacturing of what would today be referred to as a
boutique car. Kar Kraft, Holman & Moody, Cars & Concepts, American Sunroof Corp. (ASC), Carroll Shelby, and others all built limited-production cars for Detroit. They started w/a stock body & running gear which was then heavily modded to meet the company's desires. Yamaha built the entire car using some Toyota parts, quite a bit different!
Yamaha did it for Toyota, including much of the development work. One story goes that this was a design that had been shopped-around by the designer who was well-known in the industry, and who had other successful designs to his credit. Datsun considered building it, but backed-out at the last minute. Evidently, they had cold feet, because they later went to the same designer and had him do another car for them that the did take to market a few years later, they called it the 240Z.
The apparent truth is close to that but it was an inside design job, as this article reveals.
http://commanderbond.net/11802/the-cbn-james-bond-toyota-2000gt-story.html
So, this rare Toyota, built to showcase the design and manufacturing prowess of its parent company, more-rare than the Bugatti Veryon, was actually developed and manufactured for them by
Yamaha.
I'll never forget entering my friend's Ft. Lauderdale shop and seeing
two of them waiting for mechanical work. They were surrounded by his other customers' cars, a Lamborghini w/< 4K mi. on it, the owner burned-out the clutch and was asking for a warranty repair from the dealership, and my friend was asked by the dealer and the distributor to look for signs of abuse. That V-12 was sitting on a cradle next to the car. Then there was the Porsche Turbo, the Aston Martin Lagonda (one of the meanest 4-dr. cars ever put onto the road) and the 2000GT pair, all waiting their turns. That day I got to ride in the Porsche and the Aston Martin.
For the era, the Toyota 2000GT was the epitome of the Japanese auto industry, and are rarely seen today. You can always see James Bond's Japanese Secret Service contact drive one of two convertibles ever built, in
You Only Live Twice. Did you know James Bond was married? See the movie.
Interestingly, the bad guys chasing James riding in the 2000GT were driving the car my parents bought, and the bad guys' car's engine (Toyota Crown) was the starting point for the 2000GT. One of the great James Bond stunts occurs when the bad guys meet a Chinook helicopter.
http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/features/octane_features/231369/you_only_live_twice.html