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- Wayback Wheels -
Vintage Car Talk
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- Wayback Wheels
- By Aaron Neilly
- A First for a Japanese Automaker.
- Some time in the early 1960s,
protégé of industrial automotive designer Raymond
Loewy (mentioned in the previous edition of Wayback Wheels),
Albrecht Goertz had an idea.
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- Goertz had already designed
the stylish BMW 507 roadster and was now trying to appeal to
the rapidly growing Japanese automakers by collaborating with
Yamaha and designing a powerful and attractive sports car to
compete with European rivals.
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- The design of this new car was
classic and looked like no car ever before. Its low slung, streamlined
body was entirely crafted of aluminum, the roof sat at only 45.7
inches high and the front of the car featured hideaway headlights
and acrylic plastic lenses housing large driving lights. This
wasn't your conventional Japanese car.
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- Goertz had initially presented
this prototype to Nissan (Datsun at the time), but executives
decided that car was too futuristic and turned it down. He then
went to Toyota, a company (at the time) notorious for building,
well, boring cars that focused on practicality and nothing else.
Toyota, however, was a business partner with Yamaha, and decided
the unique car would give a much needed boost to the company
image.
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- A Toyota prototype was produced,
and given the name the 2000GT. This vehicle was unveiled at the
1965 Tokyo auto show, and drew an incredible response, prompting
Toyota to build it. Yamaha decided to use Toyota mechanical parts
underneath the car's hand-built skin, and went to Toyota’s
then top-of the-line car, the Crown.
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- They used the block of the Crown’s
reliable 2.0 litre inline six engine, and designed a dual overhead
camshaft cylinder head, breathing through triple Solex carburetors.
The end result was about 150 horsepower, plenty of performance
for a car that weighed just over a ton. Top speed was about 135
miles per hour. The transmission was a five-speed manual, linked
to a limited slip differential, and the car featured four-wheel
disc brakes, a first for the Japanese.
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- The interior was well appointed,
although many complained of it being too small. Toyota produced
two convertible 2000GTs for the 1967 James Bond movie You Only
Live Twice simply because Sean Connery was too tall to
fit in the coupe version of the car. One of these cars is in
the Toyota world headquarters on display.
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- Production ceased in 1970 after
only 351 units had been produced. These cars have very high auction
prices, but parts availability is a serious issue, preventing
most of these cars from being driven often.
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- On a somewhat ironic note, likely
realizing their mistake, Datsun contacted Albrecht Goertz after
the debut of the 200GT, to assist in the design of a two-
seater sports car that some of you may recall - the legendary
Datsun 240Z. Although this is probably considered the first Japanese
sports car by most,
it was actually a lucky attempt to regain lost ground.
Happy motoring! Next issue we'll look at removing your classic
vehicle from winter storage and making sure it is ready for summertime
enjoyment.
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