Crazy Car Project's Electric Toyota 2000GT SEV

Back in 2007, Autoweek contributor Murilee Martin and I were wandering around the Monterey Historics. He commented, “I wonder if they have a 2000GT here. I've never seen one.”

“Come with me,” I answered, offering no clue to the sight that awaited him.

We walked around the infield to the Toyota display. As we 'rounded the bend, somewhere around 20 examples of the ultra-rare, delicious-with-side-of-delectable stab at ‘60s supercardom came into view. Murilee was verily agog, and with good reason. It's an icon of Japanese motoring — imagine if Chevrolet had only built 351 '63 ‘Vettes. Or if Aston Martin had only constructed 645 William Towns Lagondas. Perhaps the second statistic isn't exactly the most sterling example. Regardless, you get the picture.

While its performance numbers seem downright modest today, especially compared to Detroit and Maranello's contemporary fire-breathers, the 2000GT put the world on notice that the Japanese could do a sports car as well as anyone. Indeed, when the 2000GT set thirteen speed and endurance records in the fall of 1966, Porsche hauled out the vaunted 911R to answer the call.

So what of the machine before you? It's an electric 2000GT which just made its debut at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Some may call yanking the Yamaha-massaged SOHC straight six -- nearly as unique as the car itself -- from the engine bay and swapping in an electric powertrain an especially egregious act of automotive blasphemy. There's some merit to that argument, to be sure. On the other hand, would you look at it? It's like a perfectly-rendered anime rendition of its former self.

The first vehicle to emerge from Japan's Crazy Car Project, the electrified classic was constructed with input from Toyota, as well as industry heavies Panasonic, JBL and Gentex. Crazy Car Project refers to it as the 2000GT SEV, for Solar Electric Vehicle, owing to the blackout hood covered in photovoltaic cells. We can't imagine that they add all that much juice to the proceedings, but the color scheme strikes just the right balance between retro and modern, as does the wheel choice. Even the alcantara interior -- a hit-or-miss choice on many a resto-mod car -- looks fantastic. It's a machine that'd be easy to hate were the execution not so utterly fabulous. But in this particular case, it's so crazy that it actually does work.

By Davey G. Johnson