Toyota 2000GT reimagined

Anyone remember the Toyota 2000GT – the rear-drive, front-engine sports coupe built in the late 1960s?

Well, with Toyota sports car fever running high among enthusiasts, a creative soul named ? ?? from Taiwan has shared this striking modern-day take on the seminal sports car at Behance.net.

The Toyota 2000GT helped take the Japanese car industry from copy-cat wannabe to bona-fide contender and this computer rendered creation will whet the appetites of the Toyota faithful already frothing over the new turbo-six Toyota Supra coupe – which we've just driven in Spain and arrives Down Under in the second half of next year.

Featuring a smooth, flowing exterior design punctuated by quasi-retro styling cues, like the tunneling brake lights and pinched tail-end, this reimagined Toyota 2000GT has a classic sports car stance.

The short front overhangs, long bonnet and pushed back passenger cell combine with big wheels and Supra-inspired double-bubble roof to give the car plenty of presence.

Indeed, there's a lot of new Toyota Supra in the design.

Now, the odds of Toyota building a reborn 2000GT would be close to zero because as we reported from the Supra launch, that vehicle would not have happened if it wasn't for BMW splitting the bill.

Masayuki Kai, the assistant to the chief engineer of the new A90 Toyota Supra project, explained to motoring.com.au that if there was no BMW Z4 "…then there is no Supra at all."

To get a business case green-lit for a project like the Toyota 2000GT, there would need to be a collaboration with another car-maker – or it would need to be based on the Z4/Supra platform.

The new Toyota Supra packs a 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder turbo-petrol engine delivering up to 250kW/500Nm. The classic 2000GT sports car had a smaller, less powerful inline six, but any potential successor would be bring more power.

Tetsuya Tada, the man in charge of Toyota's resurgent sports car program, which started with the Toyota 86 in 2012 and now includes the Supra, has consistently said the Big T's sports car goal is develop 'three brothers', and a reincarnated 2000GT is not out of the question.

Previously, it was expected the Supra would be the flagship of Toyota’s three-model sports car family, with the 86 positioned as the middle brother and a compact Mazda MX-5 rival (previewed by the Toyota S-FR concept) expected to be the third and last sports car for the current era.

Now Toyota has confirmed it will produce a million-dollar hypercar for the road, based on its Le Mans-winning TS050 racer, although it may not be available in Australia. It's not clear if this will be the 'third brother' in the sports car troika.

"Toyota is still looking at the third brother. What that is, is too early to say. Whether it's mid-engine, rear drive, front drive hasn’t been decided," a Toyota spokesperson told motoring.com.au.

If nothing else, that shows plans can change, so how would a resurrected Toyota 2000GT like this tickle your fancy? Comments are welcome in the section below.