(Auto) A Toyota Shelby 2000GT with a lot of history is auctioned

[Askor lml]

If I told you that Carroll Shelby worked with Toyota, you wouldn't believe me, but he did, and this model that will be auctioned is proof of that. At the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, Gooding & Co will be offering a 1967 Toyota 2000GT, chassis number MF10-100001, for sale. And his story is very special.

This was the first production model with a serial number to roll off the Toyota line in Japan, destined for Carroll Shelby's California shop for development to compete in the 1968 SCCA Championship in the C class. Toyota was building its name in the East, but wanted to gain prestige against competitors such as Alfa Romeo, Datsun, Lotus, Nissan and Porsche, among others.

Your racing story

This is one of three cars the Shelby development team put together for the series, where driver Davey Jordan drove the MF10-100001 to fourth place in that year's championship, and teammate Scooter Patrick finished third behind the two Porsche 911s of the Vasek Polak dealer team.

These results are not bad at all for a vehicle that participates for the first time in a category, but we already know that the Japanese take things very seriously, and particularly in Toyota it was an all or nothing, so since they did not come out champions after the great investment they made, they withdrew from the competition. Toyota dropped the series at the end of 1968 and ceased production of the 2000GT in 1970.

Gooding & Co auction house claims this unit has been with the same family since 1980, making appearances at shows like Monterey Historics and the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

What will its price be?

The Toyota 2000GT is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful Japanese cars in history, and if we add to that its history in motorsports and the fact that it was under the hand of none other than Carroll Shelby, we might think that its sale price may be record.

Today, the 1989 Mazda 767B with four Wankel engines that won its class at Le Mans holds the record for the most expensive Japanese car sold at auction, at $1.75 million. The auction house hasn't yet provided a pre-sale estimate for the 2000GT, but it wouldn't be surprising if it tops that number and we have a new record.

News brought byhttp://noticias.autocosmos.com.ve/