Toyota got its start in the sports car market with a tiny 2 cylinder model called the Sports 800 in 1964. It featured an 800cc engine that produced 45hp, the curb weight was under 1300lbs. But in 1965 Toyota created a winner with the 2000GT. Powered by a 150hp Twin-Cam inline 6 cylinder engine that displaced a mere 2 liters, Toyota proved that they could build a real performance car. It featured fully independent suspension, rack and pinion steering, and power disc brakes all the way around. The car could hit 60mph in ten seconds flat run the 1/4 mile in just over 16 seconds and had a top speed of 128mph. The styling is very clean and reminiscent of a Jaguar E type with the long hood and the driver sitting nearly over the rear wheels. It is rumored that the same people that designed the 2000GT went on to work at Datsun to design the highly popular 240Z. A convertible 2000GT was featured in the James Bond movie "You only Live Twice", there were 2 convertibles produced for the movie of which only one is still known to exist. The 2000GT is the only Japanese car to have a true car collector following with nice models selling for over $100,000 these days due to very limited production numbers.

The popularity of the 2000GT led to Toyota creating the Celica which debuted in 1971 and was priced affordably so that almost anyone could experience Toyota performance themselves. Now over 30 years later the Celica is still an affordable performance car. Toyota went back to their roots in 1979 with the Celica Supra which was built on a lengthened Celica chassis, it featured an inline 6 cylinder engine and disc brakes all around. This first Celica Supra was soon replaced in 1982 by an even more superior model that brought back the fully independent suspension and a Twin-Cam inline 2.8 liter 6 cylinder engine. The Celica Supra eventually became the Supra when the Celica model switched to a front wheel drive in 1986. The Supra continued to get refinements over the years, arguably the best yet is the 4th generation model which was Sold in the U.S. from 1993-1998. The top of the line model featured a twin turbo 3 liter inline 6 that produced over 320hp, which was mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox driving the rear wheels as always. Hardtop models produced 1G of road holding and accelerated to 60 mph in well under 5 seconds.

HKS tipped their hat to the car that started it all by creating a specially tuned 4th generation Supra called the 3000GT. There is rumor of Toyota producing the Supra once again, but it will likely be powered by a V8 engine which has caused some enthusiasts to cry foul. Only time will tell if Toyota can once again pay homage to the 2000GT that they created nearly 40 years ago.