Toyota 2000GT production never happened in a Toyota plant. Yamaha built every car under contract, by hand, from 1967 to 1970. When the line stopped, the total stood at just 351 cars.

The car had a twin-cam six and, by one auction house’s figure, a top speed of 135 mph. However, the badge on the nose tells only half the story, because Yamaha did far more than bolt it together.

Here is how Toyota and Yamaha made the car, what went into it, and where the 351 cars went. Where sources disagree, we say so.

Toyota 2000GT production at Yamaha

Toyota partnered with Yamaha in January 1965. It needed a partner for prototype testing and manufacturing, and Yamaha took on both jobs. As a result, the 2000GT would be entirely assembled and finished by hand at Yamaha, according to Curbside Classic’s history of the car.

The Revs Institute’s automotive archive goes further. It says Yamaha developed and built the 2000GT for Toyota, and that the car took its inspiration from Yamaha’s own A550X prototype. Yamaha finished the first car in August 1965. Then Toyota showed it at the Tokyo Motor Show that October.

Series production started in earnest in May 1967. According to the Revs archive, a good month could turn out as many as 14 hand-built cars. Even at that pace, the yearly totals stayed low.

How many were built

The production run ended in August 1970. By then, the total was small. RM Sotheby’s catalog for a 1967 car states that “when production came to a close in 1970, just 351 examples had been built.”

That total covers every version. Wikipedia’s 2000GT entry breaks it down as 233 MF10 cars, 109 MF10L cars and nine MF12L cars, which adds up to 351. RM Sotheby’s also confirms the first figure, describing its car as one of 233 Japanese-market 2000GTs.

The nine MF12 cars were different underneath. Instead of the twin-cam six, the Revs archive says they used a single-overhead-camshaft engine. As a result, they are the rarest version of a car that was already rare.

The engine and the numbers

The heart of the car came from Toyota’s Crown sedan. RM Sotheby’s explains that Yamaha took the Crown’s inline six and gave it new double overhead camshafts. That work brought output to 150 hp.

According to the Revs archive, the twin-cam six displaced 1,988cc and made its 150 hp at 6,600 rpm. It drove through a five-speed manual gearbox. Curbside Classic notes that Yamaha’s version of the engine carried its own code, 3M, because it differed so much from the base M block.

Performance matched the specs. RM Sotheby’s lists a top speed of 135 mph. Also, in October 1966, a specially prepared car set thirteen world records in a 72-hour run at Japan’s Yatabe high-speed course, the Revs archive records.

Racing, Bond and America

The 2000GT earned its reputation on track, too. The Revs archive says the competition car finished third in the 1966 Japanese Grand Prix. Later, it won the 1967 24 Hours of Fuji and the Fuji 1000 km.

Then came the movies. The car appeared in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice. For the film, the roofs came off two prototypes to create two open “Spider” cars. One later turned up in Hawaii and went back to Japan, and it now sits in the Toyota Museum, according to the Revs archive.

Few cars came to the United States. Curbside Classic says the most often quoted left-hand-drive total is 109, and about 65 of those sold in the U.S. Meanwhile, Road & Track reviewed the car favorably in its June 1967 issue. RM Sotheby’s puts the price at over $7,000 in 1967. By comparison, Curbside Classic gives the car’s Japanese launch price as ¥2.38 million.

What one has sold for

With only 351 built, auction results show what that rarity means in money. RM Sotheby’s offered chassis MF10-10158 as Lot 238 at its Petersen Automotive Museum auction. Yamaha completed that car on 27 November 1967 in right-hand drive for Japan, and it was the 98th of the 233 Japanese-market cars.

The car spent most of its life in Japan before its import to the U.S. in 2013. It then appeared in the Petersen’s exhibit “The Roots of Monozukuri.” At that RM Sotheby’s sale, the 1967 Toyota 2000GT sold for $511,000.

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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.