This was achieved with bread and butter cars, but without a hint of sex appeal. Eiji Toyoda, the great godfather behind the company, was busy setting quality standards that other manufacturers should fear. But what #kaizen and #kanban is all about, I’ll bore you with when the Toyota Carina is featured here. Let’s get back to business. The first draft came from #Yamaha. They already had experience with the development of sports cars.

For #Nissan they had developed the beautiful #Sylvia, whose design came from the German Count Goertz. The A550X project was also created for Nissan, but this led to disagreements between Nissan and Yamaha. By the way, the A550X looks remarkably similar to the later 240Z. So Toyota came just in time, the birth of the 280 A Project – and costs didn’t matter for Toyota. It was clear to Toyota that the car would not be financially successful. But that was not the point. It was a flamboyant addition to the fleet.⁠

Who was responsible for the design of the 2000GT was kept secret for a long time. At Toyota, a car was seen as the result of a collaborative effort. And yet we know today that a man named Satoru Nozaki was essentially responsible for the design. He must have loved the #Jaguar #E-Type. In addition to conservative elements, there were many new ideas, such as the polished steel inlays around the rear lights. At the front you can see design elements of the smaller Toyota Sports 800.

With the 2000GT, Toyota also achieved a marketing stunt. In the James #Bond “You only Live Twice” Sean #Connery drove a 2000GT. But without a roof, allegedly Connery didn’t fit in the car otherwise. I suppose that’s nonsense. Between 1967 and 1970 only 351 cars have been made, making this one of the rarest and most expensive Japanese classics cars around⁠. ⁠

Der Beitrag A Japanese Icon! erschien zuerst auf petrolpunx.