A $2.5M sale is more than a record for the 2000GT. It's Toyota's revenge.

[Hagerty]

When the hammer fell on this 1967 Toyota 2000GT at the Gooding & Company auction at Amelia, it shattered two records. First, at a selling price of $2,535,000, it became the first Japanese car to break the $2M mark at auction; second, it established a new high-water mark as the most expensive Japanese car of all time.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profiles/a-2-5m-sale-is-more-than-a-record-for-the-2000gt-its-toyo...

[wdb]

This is the first I've heard of the Shelby/Brock rivalry over these cars. Fascinating stuff!

[Gary_Bechtold]

Pretty cool story. I also did not know of the Brock & Shelby rivalry.

[BrendanMc]

For those unfamiliar with the Shelby/Brock rivalry, I'll add that the actual transporter truck used for these runs out to Eastern SCCA races (a Hino truck, of course) is owned by Adam Carolla, and has been restored. There's a BRE Roadster to go with it. It's a cool truck: Max Balchowsky swapped a Cadillac engine into it, though that's long gone and it's LS-powered now.

[fueledbymetal]

Wow, I too had no idea about this back story! Incredible! Well worth the price 🍺

[alow]

Part of the GT2000 halo undoubtedly came from it's appearance in 007 You Only Live Twice, with the lovely Akiko Wakabayashi driving.

[BrendanMc]

Absolutely. Here's a shot of the one that's in private hands (there were two for the movie, Toyota has the other one). It belongs to the president of the Toyota 2000GT club of Japan, and he actually drives it around sometimes.

[DougL]

I do admire the 2000 GT. It's a very pretty little car and was very modern in its day. But, let's be realistic, it never was a challenge to the top sports cars of the day. It was very expensive, more than a Jaguar or Porsche of the day. It only had 150 hp. Certainly adequate but nothing to brag about in 1967 when you could get 425 hp in a Corvette. And they only build something like 351 cars. Too expensive, not fast enough and not really available. That is why it was not a success. Of course, that low production is why one of them just sold for 2.5 mil.

[Turbo4Joe]

Its nice to see that Toyota once made some very cool Sports cars.
Now Toyota just clogs our highways with boring, roadgoing appliances.
(Typically occupied by THE worst 'drivers'... (if you can call them that)
They even had BMW develop their new Halo car....the Supra for them!
...SMH

[Soggytom]

Tangent time! Am I the only one to notice a lot of design similarities between the 2000GT and the 240Z? Specifically, the window shapes and the hood/side access panel design? I know Goetz was involved in the 240Z design, and I remember some story about him being consulted for the Toyota, but his design being rejected, so it was recycled for the Nissan. But did Toyota run with it anyway? Tangent over. Carry on.