By the mid-1960s, the burgeoning Japanese auto industry had become adept at producing small-displacement, economical cars, but struggled to gain respectability as a sports car manufacturer. That would change with the development of the Toyota 2000 GT, which brought divergent companies together to build, in limited numbers, a beautiful grand tourer.

The idea began with Yamaha, which was eager to increase its business as an engineering firm and boutique constructor. In the early 1960s, it began working with Nissan on a prototype called the A550X, before the Japanese automaker canceled the project. Having successfully demonstrated the ability to build a finished test mule, they approached Nissan’s competitor Toyota, which was looking to move beyond its image of building simple economy cars.

Toyota was the largest and most conservative of the Japanese automakers and insisted upon using an in-house designer named Satoru Nozaki for the body design. Nozaki took inspiration from the Jaguar E-Type, sculpting compound curves for each body panel. The inclusion of pop-up headlights and covered driving lights was a modern touch that created a clean front-end appearance. In constructing these complex bodies, Yamaha utilized wooden bucks to form individually numbered aluminum panels, and each car was hand assembled in Japan.

Underneath its gorgeous skin was more British sports car inspiration, as the 2000 GT used a steel backbone-style frame and four-wheel independent suspension inspired by the Lotus Elan. The body hung over a central chassis beam, allowing for a drop-down effect that resulted in an overall height of only 45". The engine paired a two-liter, six-cylinder block from the Toyota Crown sedan with an aluminum, twin-cam, hemispherical head designed by Yamaha. Equipped with three sidedraft carburetors, finely tuned for maximum performance, this smooth straight six developed 150 bhp at 6,600 rpm. Its sub-2,500-pound weight allowed the car to sprint from 0–60 mph in 10 seconds, and on to a 137 mph top speed.

Interior appointments were unusually luxurious for a freshman-effort sports car and featured a full-gauge package, mahogany steering wheel, signal-seeking radio, and gorgeous rosewood veneer dashboard sourced from Yamaha, the piano company. The 2000 GT’s place in popular culture was assured with the inclusion of a custom-built, open-top variant in the 1967 James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice, joining an exclusive cadre of cars to have been driven by the fictional British secret service agent.

With the 2000 GT, Toyota accomplished its original objective: to establish a presence on the world’s automotive stage. Though Toyota had initially set sales goals of 1,000 cars per year, the high costs of building the handmade exotics brought the project to a close after just 351 were built, with only about 60 having been sent to the US as new cars. So scarce were the 2000 GTs that most American dealers fortunate enough to be on the allocation list were sent only one car each. It is certain that they attracted curious enthusiasts to Toyota dealerships and undoubtedly drove sales of all Toyota models at a critical time in the company’s expansion into foreign markets. Some of the massive success Toyota has enjoyed in the decades since, may be traced back to these few, magnificent, individually hand-built cars.

The early production 2000 GT offered here, chassis 10045, was built in July 1967, and was given special internal numbering as only the third left-hand-drive example built. The 45th 2000 GT completed, it was finished in Solar Red, with the black vinyl interior common to all production 2000 GTs. Originally delivered to the Toyota dealer in Fort Worth, Texas, and likely among the first to arrive on American shores, it was delivered to its first owner, local resident James Minton, soon thereafter.

In 1977, the 2000 GT was purchased by Japanese car enthusiast Frank Takemoto who, amazingly, would retain ownership for the next 45 years. Showing less than 41,000 miles, the 2000 GT is unrestored and appears quite original and intact throughout, retaining its original black vinyl interior, Mikuni-Solex carburetors, and magnesium wheels. The Toyota has not been road registered since 1993, and has not been run in several years; rather, it was quietly kept out of public view in a Southern California garage until earlier this year, making for a most exciting and important find.

Notably, it is offered with its rarely seen, original tool kit and still wears the six-digit California license plate that it was assigned in 1977, according to paperwork on file. Unknown for decades to 2000 GT historians, 10045 is one of the very last off-the-grid 2000 GTs remaining to emerge from hiding, and its appearance represents an exciting opportunity for any enthusiast of the rarest and most beautiful sports cars of all time.