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So which is nicer looking, 2000GT or 240Z?


Guest RCNSC

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Guest RCNSC

You've gotta give it to the 240Z, its a DAMN good looking car. The lines are very clean, elegant and shapely and its design has really held up over the course of time.....

 

Now for the Toyota 2000GT. It was first shown at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show. It features an I6 with 3 Mikuni/Solex carbs producing 150HP. It features a 160MPH speedo, and a 7K redline (sound familiar?) A competition model was also made, with 200HP.

 

It was sold amongst 911s and ETypes of the era and sold for roughly $6600 U.S.

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NOW what if Toyota had produced as many 2000GTs as 240Zs and they were similar in value... which would you own? (think of the hybrid possibilities, 2JZ 2000GT :))

 

I'll take mine in white please. Man I love that car.

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Guest subdermal

I can't say the 2000GT does anything for me. The profile is very nice; I'll give it that. But the semi-square running lights, triangular popups, awkward bumpers, and flared-sidelight(turn signal?) pod-thingies all add up to "ugly" IMO.

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Guest RCNSC
id go with the 2000gt just because Ive owned a lot of zs and would like to try something new, but familiar. Name the only non european car James Bond ever drove....

 

Uh.. a custom one of three 1967 2000GT spider?

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RCNSC

 

You like this car comparison thing I can see, at least you pick interesting cars.

Lets face it the 2000GT was Japan's first serious attempt at taking on, Ferrari in particular, at producing high speed supercars.

As your pictures show it came with the wood grain dash, full instrumentation large three spoke steering wheel.

But when you start commissioning limited production Yamaha twin cam head for what was to become their staple 6cyl sedan motor and alloy wheels that weren't common in those days made it an expensive exotic in its day.

If you compare the stats for 60s Ferraris and a 240Z, I would be inclined to say that it too leaned heavily on PininFarina style which is why when you look back now they are seen as having a classic lasting style.

 

The side profile of a 2000GT is very swelte but the large driving lights definitely spoilt the front, the twin central exhaust exit was very E Type Jaguar.

 

Maybe that should be your next comparison Z vs E Type it was the one most used when the Z was released. Neil

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Guest RCNSC

Well I thought it'd be a good comparo and give people a little more imsight on this Japanese classic.

 

I've always thought the 240Z resembled the 2000GT a lot closer than the XKE. Both Japanese, both have that gorgeous shape, both feature similar instrumentation and positioning as well as many design cues such as the service hatches, the front turn signals, similar roof shape and engine layouts.

 

The XKE is a gorgeous car as well but I think the 2000GT is a better looking car and more closely tied to the 240Z.

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Guest bastaad525

Opel GT's are beatiful cars, and another one of my personal 'dream cars' that I would love to own given the chance... I've actually come across a few and had almost bought them but none of them really seemed to be in the kind of shape that I wanted to deal with (though why this standard didn't apply when I found my 240z as a gutted, 13 year abandoned hulk is kinda baffling!! :shock: ). Maybe one day....

 

 

It's been said many times that the Z really was a very blatant and purposeful copy of the 2000GT... the similiarities are hard to deny, and Toyota's having come out 4-5 years earlier.... I do think in the end the Z did come out looking better for it, but I would never say I dont like the 2000GT.

 

Can someone clarify something for me... to this point I have always been under the impression that the 2000GT was the first true japanese sports car ever made... I just want to be sure if that is true or not? Though I will often say to my honda-loving friends that the Z was the first import sports car just to shut them up when they try to preach how their cars are so great (like any of them would know what the 2000GT is anyways...). I guess the Z was the first mass-produced japanese sports car?

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I really like the styling of my Z's, but if given a choice I would definitely trade it in on a 2000GT. The lines, while similar to the Z's, are different enough to give it a much more exotic look. The lower stance is nice too, much better for Darwin Award-esque speed runs on deserted roads. My next choice for a hybrid cantidate would be the Volvo P-1800. Very original looking cars as well.

p1800-front.jpg

 

p1800-achter.jpg

 

 

Mike

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If I remember right the two cars were designed by the same guy, were they not?

He also did a BMW open type sports car. A German dude.

 

I would take that third car because nobody here loves it, I feel sorry for it. :roll:

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Guest RCNSC

Yea, responsible for the 507...

 

I can't remember Germanic names well... but we're on the information superhighway if someone wants to look it up.

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Not sure if I'm spelling it right, but I think his name was Albecht Goertz. He had a lawsuit against Nissan for the Z, which wasn't really designed by him, but by Nissan engineers that had studied under him. They eventually settled out of court if I remember correctly, with Nissan still maintaining that they designed the Z, but that the german dude had showed them how to design it. I have a book with pictures of some of the original concepts for the Z, one of which was actually named the 2000 GT. Looks almost identical to the Toyota 2000 GT, and was made some time in 1964. So it actually looks as though the 2000GT is a spin off of a cancelled development project by Nissan. You'd think Toyota would have at least changed the name.....

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Guest RCNSC

The way I've heard the story is that guy took the idea to Nissan and Toyota and Nissan declined seeing no market for it. After the 2000GT's release they started developing the S30.....

 

I read it on the internet, so who knows how valid that is.. but whatever.

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Hi Mike,

 

My old magazine quote,''It is to nitpick to suggest that the Zcars designer, Albrecht Goertz,had earlier worked on a Datsun project (rejected) that was built by Yamaha,and that Yamaha was well prepared when Toyota presented its brief for a 2 seater coupe. It may be that the 2000GT and the 240Z are cousins but that hardly matters."

After its debut at the 1965 Tokyo motor show only 337 cars were built out of a projected 1000 with 54 cars sent to the USA and one gorgeous factory convertible, which I haven't found in my old mags yet, makes it what Toyota wanted in the long run, a rare and expensive classic GT.

 

Now what about all those old Ferraris. Neil

 

For more explaination of Goertz - http://www.autoswalk.com/datsun240z.html

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