"Japanese cars aren’t supposed to be beautiful are they? They’re meant to be functional and affordable, the sort of machines that have been designed and built by scientists and doctors rather than artists. 50 years ago there was a "
Toyota 2000GT
The Toyota 2000GT just may be the most beautiful Japanese car ever made.
Styling alone, credited to various folk from inhouse Toyota man Satoru Nozaki and jobbing German pensman Albrecht Goertz, is classic. It’s all swooping, diving, sweeping lines in aluminium, complemented by an acreage of plexiglass on the lamps and in the rear end. There are hardly any nods to fenderage – and the low, long stance recalls all the high point of Italianate car design.
The interior has a million superb touches – rosewood-veneer dashboard and an auto-seeking radio tuner. You might have lusted after a convertible number like the one that featured in Bond epic You Only Live Twice – but you would have been disappointed. Only a hardtop was available to your average discerning punter.
The straight six was a doozy too – and could push you to well over 130MPH – but it wasn’t so much about performance this car. it was all about just how utterly lovely it looked.
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