In 1967 my first wife, Emma, and I were tooling down US 220 from Martinsville (Virginia) where we lived into Greensboro (North Carolina). I don't remember the reason for the trip, but as we got into the outskirts of Greensboro we passed by Rice Motors. Several years earlier, I had spent some time with Garson Rice, the owner of the dealership, and had bought from him a beautiful little red Fiat 850 Spider. Rice had been the local Jaguar dealer for as far back as I could remember, and had begun expanding into other foreign cars, the first being Fiat. They had recently also taken on the Japanese Toyota brand, and as we passed by I spotted on the showroom floor this incredibly beautiful white sports car. I didn't know what it was and told Emma I wanted to take a better look at it, so we turned around and parked in the front parking lot.
As we entered the showroom, a salesman came up and tried to make casual conversation by saying, "Hi, is that your Chevrolet outside?" This was probably his tried and true way of greeting prospective customers, and I probably would have been nicer and continued on with the conversation, except that I was a little taken aback by being associated with a Chevrolet in the first place (I wouldn't have been caught dead in one), we had arrived in my beautiful (and obviously more expensive than a Chevrolet) Shelby Cobra (which he should have noticed), and third, if I wanted to talk with someone there, I would go see Garson Rice himself, not some lowly salesman who didn't even know what I had driven up in.
So I replied, "No, that's my 427 Cobra...", and with that, he dropped his jaw and pretty much just stared at me, I guess either because he was embarrassed to have apparently insulted us as Chevrolet owners or possibly that he actually really didn't know what a Shelby Cobra was. In either case, he just smiled and we walked on by to look at the gleaming white 2-door sports car in the middle of the showroom floor.
The car was a Toyota 2000GT. Made by Yamaha for Toyota, I was told later that at the time, it was one of only two in the country. It was exasperatingly beautiful on the outside, but the engine was even more so. I had never in my life seen such extraordinary craftsmanship in an engine. In a word, it was simply breathtaking to behold.
I went to Garson's office and he and I talked about the car. Having it on his showroom floor had brought in a lot of visitors, and he was reluctant to sell it. But he said it had been there long enough, and I was offering him something he needed, a boat that he could use as an incentive for his top salesmen to spend some relaxation time on.
We had bought the boat several years earlier from Emma's former employer, a doctor in Martinsville. It was a lot of fun, when we used it, but it was a lot of hassle hooking it up to the Thunderbird and then dragging it all the way to a nearby lake to spend only a few hours on it just a couple of times a year. The rest of the time it just sat in my grandmother's garage next door gathering dust, pretty much useless.
In addition to the boat, I was going to give him back his Fiat 850 Spider and my Ford Thunderbird, which we didn't really need anymore if we weren't going to keep the boat. All that added up to the asking price of $7495 for the car. Both of us thought we were getting a pretty good deal.
The Fiat had been a joy to drive, but after I had seen pictures of another one in the newspaper that had been in a wreck, I was horrified at how fragile the thing was. It was smashed so horribly that nobody could have survived, from a relatively minor accident. The car was so fragile in fact, that one morning, as I went out to get into mine, I was startled to find dozens of tiny little dents all over the sheet metal. What could have possibly done this, I thought? Well, it was autumn and there were oak trees in our back yard. Every year acorns would drop from the tree and cover the ground. I usually parked the Fiat in the back driveway, and it turned out that the acorns falling from the oak trees were denting the car! Acorns? Yes! I couldn't believe it. So getting rid of the thing had been in the back of my mind for awhile, and this was the perfect opportunity.
The Thunderbird was a '67 and a nice enough car. I had traded my old '66 Ford Mustang for it, but we really didn't need more than two seats, and Emma didn't drive. Plus having two cars in the family was enough. The Mustang, by the way, was the car we took across the country to visit her brother Billy at the Naval Base in San Diego. On the way back, we stopped in Las Vegas to get married the second time around.
The next day after buying the 2000GT, I went to work at the radio station (WHEE) and parked on Franklin Street just down from the station. I was met by my dear friend Hank Hedgecock who was brimming with excitement. He said, "Come here, I want to show you something!" Hank had just purchased a brand new TVR sports car and he was so thrilled to show it to me. I said it was very nice and congratulated him. Then I told him I had something to show him as well, and we walked down the street to where I had parked the Toyota. Hank's eyes lit up with a mixture of all kinds of emotions - of course he was happy for me, but I felt sorry because he was also saddened by the fact that of the two cars, mine was the much greater prize.
Years later when our twin sons were on the horizon, I talked with their mother about us needing a family sedan. There was no way we would be able to cart the two of them around in either one of the 2-seater sports cars we had at the time. So after thinking about it, I decided that we should keep the Cobra and swap the 2000GT for a nice sedan with a comfortable back seat that the children could ride around in. So, during a trip to my Aunt Edna's in Winston-Salem, we stopped by Southern Motors, the Mercedes dealership on the north side of town, and I traded the Toyota for a green Mercedes 280SEL that had been on the showroom floor.
The first chance I had, we took the car out for a drive through the local countryside. It was nearing autumn when the trees begin to change colors, so I suggested we drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. A little less than a mile before we got to the Parkway, I noticed a state police car in my rear view mirror. I hadn't been speeding or breaking any laws, so when he turned his lights on to pull me over, I had no idea what was going on. We stopped and the officer walked up to my window and I asked him why he had pulled me over. He was very apologetic and said, "I just wanted to get a better look at your car." HA! I told him a little about it and he thanked me and went on his way. What a remarkable moment that was!
All of this is because of the story I came across this morning on my tiny little smartphone about an auction where an identical Toyota 2000GT to mine was sold last year. It was yellow, and mine was white, but other than that, they were probably identical. The story gives some numbers that I don't remember seeing before. It seems there were only 62 of the left-hand-drive version of the car imported into the US market out of a total of just 351 that Toyota ever made. That makes it even more plausible that there were only 2 in the country when I bought mine. And if mine was one of the first imported, Rice Motors would easily have been one of the biggest dealers for Toyota to add to their dealership ranks.
I also know that some of the first cars imported to the States didn't have the Toyota nameplate. I don't know exactly why, but apparently in the rush to import the car into the States, somehow they forgot to attach the Toyota nameplate. At some time after that, the cars started appearing with the name Toyota, but on mine there was no indication of the brand. The reason I remember this so vividly is because of the laughable story that one time when I had parked the car outside the radio station, and the parking meter was expired. We would always wait until the very last second to plug a nickel into the parking meter to get another hour because putting in a second nickle before the time ran out didn't give you any more time, it only pushed the timer back up to the 60 minute maximum, so waiting until the last minute was the accepted procedure.
All of this is because of the story I came across this morning on my tiny little smartphone about an auction where an identical Toyota 2000GT to mine was sold last year. It was yellow, and mine was white, but other than that, they were probably identical. The story gives some numbers that I don't remember seeing before. It seems there were only 62 of the left-hand-drive version of the car imported into the US market out of a total of just 351 that Toyota ever made. That makes it even more plausible that there were only 2 in the country when I bought mine. And if mine was one of the first imported, Rice Motors would easily have been one of the biggest dealers for Toyota to add to their dealership ranks.
I also know that some of the first cars imported to the States didn't have the Toyota nameplate. I don't know exactly why, but apparently in the rush to import the car into the States, somehow they forgot to attach the Toyota nameplate. At some time after that, the cars started appearing with the name Toyota, but on mine there was no indication of the brand. The reason I remember this so vividly is because of the laughable story that one time when I had parked the car outside the radio station, and the parking meter was expired. We would always wait until the very last second to plug a nickel into the parking meter to get another hour because putting in a second nickle before the time ran out didn't give you any more time, it only pushed the timer back up to the 60 minute maximum, so waiting until the last minute was the accepted procedure.
So, one day as I watched the meter expire through the front window, and just as I was about to reach into my pocket to take out another nickle and go outside and "feed the meter", a police officer walked up to the meter from down the street and got out his ticket book. I started to rush out, but stopped. Sure, sometimes you could argue your way out of a ticket and sometimes you couldn't, but at that moment it hit me that there was something special about the 2000GT. It had no mention of the name, Toyota, on it. I waited to see what would happen when the officer needed to fill in the blank for the brand name of the car.
Several of us watched as the police officer took out his pen and ticket book and started walking around the car. The first thing he needed to do was to write down the name of the car on the ticket. He looked up and down the left side of the car, and then he walked around to the back. Still holding his ticket book, he walked around to the right side of the car, and then finally back to the front again. He was exasperated! There was simply no sign of a name for the car. And he had no idea what it was! Nowhere on the car was the name, Toyota, or anything else, and he couldn't write the ticket without knowing what kind of car it was!
He gave up, closed his ticket book and proceeded to walk further on up the street. We waited until he was out of sight, and then laughed so hard you could have heard us across the street. It was probably one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen in my life. What a joy to be able to share it now.
In April 2013, an original Toyota 2000GT, exactly like mine except for the color, sold at RM Auctions for 1.15 million dollars:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/go/news/auctions/go-news-auctions-1967-toyota-2000gt-brings-record-price
Wow! Brings tears to my eyes now.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Update August 17, 2018
I was reading an article this morning about the 2000GT in Road & Track and the two custom made convertible (roadster) versions that were made for the 1967 Bond movie "You Only Live Twice". The article says, "most 2000GTs were white or red, but the car looked spectacular in yellow as well. A nice hardtop is easily a $2 million investment today."
Update October 30, 2020
Several of us watched as the police officer took out his pen and ticket book and started walking around the car. The first thing he needed to do was to write down the name of the car on the ticket. He looked up and down the left side of the car, and then he walked around to the back. Still holding his ticket book, he walked around to the right side of the car, and then finally back to the front again. He was exasperated! There was simply no sign of a name for the car. And he had no idea what it was! Nowhere on the car was the name, Toyota, or anything else, and he couldn't write the ticket without knowing what kind of car it was!
He gave up, closed his ticket book and proceeded to walk further on up the street. We waited until he was out of sight, and then laughed so hard you could have heard us across the street. It was probably one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen in my life. What a joy to be able to share it now.
In April 2013, an original Toyota 2000GT, exactly like mine except for the color, sold at RM Auctions for 1.15 million dollars:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/go/news/auctions/go-news-auctions-1967-toyota-2000gt-brings-record-price
Wow! Brings tears to my eyes now.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Update August 17, 2018
I was reading an article this morning about the 2000GT in Road & Track and the two custom made convertible (roadster) versions that were made for the 1967 Bond movie "You Only Live Twice". The article says, "most 2000GTs were white or red, but the car looked spectacular in yellow as well. A nice hardtop is easily a $2 million investment today."
Today I found a delightful article in an Australian magazine (www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au) about the 2000GT. I was looking for anyone who might have the owner's manual for the car since I thought mine was one of the funniest pamphlets I had ever had the pleasure of reading. The article mentions some of the wacky instructions:
"The owner's manual is a gem of demolished English - something you would expect from your latest Chinese made electrical appliance, but not from a car costing more than an E-Type Jag. An example, dealing with wheel changing: "To loosen the hub nuts instal (sic) the hub nut wrench to the hub nut and then drive out the hub nut wrench with the hummer in the tool set, carefully damaging theand disc wheel. Caution. Right-side hub nut is left-handred (sic) and left-side hub nut is right-handred (sic), therefore to loosen the hub nut turn the hub nut forward of the car."
"There are others, too. Like the instruction for back window de-icing. This reads: 'Caution. Off the switch as soon as removing the blur.'"
The only other thing in the article I wanted to point out is that, in my experience, yes the gears were not well suited for driving, but in my car, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd were really tight together and 4th and 5th were, well, waaaaaay over on the other side of town. And with the Yamaha engine not coming on until nearly 4,000 rpm, there was a monstrous dead space between 3rd and 4th and not the "great gap" from first to second as the author in the article stated. However, somewhere I read that there were several different gear ratios available, so mine might have been different from his.
Oh, one more thing. The cable for my car's parking brake snapped and I ordered a new one from the dealer. I waited and waited for it to arrive and, finally, 13 months later, I got a call from Rice Toyota to bring the car down to Greensboro as the replacement cable had finally arrived. Thank God it wasn't a major part!
Update November 24, 2020
A few months ago I began working for Sports Car Digest and last month I was assigned the delightful task of writing an article about the 2000GT. What a fantastic deal! I get paid for writing about one of my favorite cars! Anyway, the article is at this link and please take a look and send it to any friends so my Google rankings are nudged up a little higher. I'm not sure what good that will do, but humor me anyway, okay?
The link to my article is here: https://sportscardigest.com/toyota-2000gt/
Thanks!
Update November 28, 2020
I updated some of the paragraphs above to include the mentioning of the broken brake cable that I hadn't mentioned earlier after looking on the internet for a 2000GT owner's or fan club and discovering the Toyota 2000GT (MF10) 1967 Appreciation Group on Facebook. The group has 370 members (up from 369 I suppose after I joined it) and I related this section of my blog to the group.
A nice reply from:
Lapere Stefaan
great story 🙂
And the website owner who kindly allowed me in as a new member:
Luc Aellen
Can you remember the chassis number ?
Have you got some pictures to share ?
Rick Shultz
No, nothing. I'm sorry to say that after several moves and an unpleasant divorce, I lost all the paperwork and pictures. I don't know how far records go back with the Virginia DMV but it would probably be possible to find the info. Sorry! 😌
Rick Shultz
I've written the Virginia Dept. of Motor Vehicles a note on their Facebook page asking if they can furnish me the VIN number for my car. (All the listed official site links are bad). Whether their records go back that far, I don't know, or if they would even bother trying to find the information, but it's worth a try anyway.
I did have one more short story to tell about my experience with the car. After owning it for some time, the emergency brake cable snapped. I contacted Rice Motors to get a replacement installed (under warranty, of course). They ordered the cable, and I waited and waited, and called, and they assured me the cable was on order and would be received soon. After 13 months, the cable finally arrived and Rice installed it. I have no idea why it took so long, but am very thankful it wasn't something that would have kept me from being able to drive the car. It was just more of an inconvenience, since my employer at the time was located on a rather steep hill and parking at the nearest spaces that didn't require the emergency brake was a lot further than I liked, but I it was worth the walk to make sure the car didn't pop out of gear parked on the incline.
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