This gorgeous Toyota 2000GT just cost someone £700,000

Toyota didn’t build many 2000GTs. Just 351 over three years. Of those a piffling 62 were left-hookers destined for the USA. This one, chassis #10100, is one of those 62. And as if its rareness doesn’t make it special enough, its first owner was none other than a chap called Otto Linton – legendary American racing driver turned Toyota dealer.

Linton kept the ‘Solar Red’ 2000GT for 30 years before moving it on. In the late 2000s it was acquired and then restored by Maine Line Exotics – a 2000GT specialist that has worked on 53 of the USA’s 62 cars since the mid-1970s. After passing through a couple more hands it eventually ended up in RM Sotheby’s Elkhart Collection auction with a guide price of $700,000 to $850,000.

The winning bid was $912,500 – or just under £700,000. Which is a lot of money. But then the 2000 GT is a special thing. Because there are so few they don’t come up for sale often, especially in this condition. Prettiest Japanese car ever made? Quite possibly.