And, goodness me, those looks. Big foglights flank a low slot of a grille; they'd have been the headlights had not legislation insisted they were higher, which is why a pair of pop-up lights hides higher in the curvy front wings. The bonnet is long, the doors' lower edges curve almost from the bottom of the sills in an arc past the rear wheel arches. Paired round lights terminate the fastback tail. Note the lack of rain gutters (very modern) and the way the rear side windows taper to a point.
The style has sometimes been credited to Albrecht Goertz, shaper of the BMW 507 before the Toyota and the Datsun 240Z after it, but that's because Toyota had the opportunity, not taken, to develop the shape drawn by Goertz for a rival, and canned, Nissan project which had also used Yamaha's technical expertise. In fact, the designer was Toyota's own Satoru Nozaki.
On my first 2000GT drive, I was accompanied by Hirokazu Koga, Toyota's engineer for 'Europeanisation' of the company's cars and a grade-A car nut. He drove first, and the 4,000rpm limit was instant history as he sensed what was clearly a very fit engine. Then I had a go, sitting low and snug behind the height-adjustable steering wheel (very modern, again), the wood-veneered dashboard, the long bonnet. It got very warm, very quickly (no air-con, very un-modern), but Koga-san thought the temperature very pleasant as the straight-six thrummed its deep, smooth note. The gear change and controls were precise in the way we have grown to expect from Japan, the steering and handling were, well, like that of a smaller E-type.
Six years later, I was at a Toyota press event. A couple of GT86s, modified with factory-sanctioned tuning bits, were ours to hurl around the Parc Motor test track near Barcelona. And, unexpectedly, there was a 2000GT for us to try if we promised to be careful with a car whose value had already travelled halfway to the heavens. It was red, like the Louwman car. Was it the same car? No, I was told, just exactly the same.