The garage life that everyone envies
The biggest dream for car enthusiasts is to acquire the famous cars they have admired since childhood as an adult. The owner was able to fulfill such a dream and has two Toyota 2000GTs lined up in his garage. What is the story behind this fateful encounter?
The 2000GT, a car he has always admired
What is the biggest dream for car lovers? I think it would have to be to have the famous car that I admired when I was a child, when I grew up.
I too have loved cars (or rather miniature cars) since I was little. When I was in kindergarten, I admired my uncle’s Nissan ‘Sunny Coupe’ and Toyota ‘Celica’. Eventually, I discovered that there were all kinds of cars in the world, and my number of dreams exploded. The final stage was the supercar boom when I was in primary school. The Lamborghini Countach and Ferrari 512BB (Berlinetta Boxer) descended deep into my heart.
When I later acquired both cars and lined them up in the warehouse, I thanked God from the bottom of my heart that my dream had come true. Since then, I have been able to enjoy the “dream sequence” with some leeway (in other words, a bit boring).
Mr H, a member of the supercar boom generation, has also admired the Toyota 2000GT since he was a child. As a child, he used to draw pictures of the 2000GT all the time, and he hated Hayato Peterson, who drove a 2000GT in the comic ‘Wolf of the Circuit’. Perhaps that’s why I liked the earlier models.
It takes time to realize a dream (that’s why it’s a dream), and Mr H had no idea that he would ever become a 2000GT owner. After graduating from a local high school, he went to Tokyo and became an office worker. One day, he saw a 2000GT sitting out in the rain at a nearby dealer. The price tag was 8 million yen. Even at 8 million yen, it was out of reach for Mr H at the time, and he was too scared to buy it.
“Good cars” go to people with strong feelings
Thirty years have passed since then. After returning to his hometown, Mr H was a car enthusiast and enjoyed various models to the extent that he could afford them. However, the 2000GT of his dreams quickly became a luxury item. It was no longer something you could buy at a car shop. Just when I was about to give up, I found out that there was a well-made replica in Aichi Prefecture. It was the R3000GT from Rocky Auto. If I could do my best, I might be able to buy one. ……
I chose an automatic with a 2JZ engine. I wanted to use it daily. The fact that it was an early model design, which I love, was also a key point. Mr H was happy to have the style he had always wanted. Rocky Auto had a real early model, but it had already been sold, and having got the 3000GT, he had given up in a good way and began to think that the real thing was more out of reach. That’s when …….
“If it’s a late model, it might come in soon. ……”
Mr H felt doomed. He had not given up. His desire to buy one flared up even more than before. And he was convinced that the reason he had been led to this shop in search of a 3000GT was to find the real thing.
He did everything in his power to finance the purchase and succeeded in acquiring a white late-model. With an R3000GT with an early-model face for everyday use and a genuine late-model 2000GT next to it in the garage, he has completed a garage line-up that any car enthusiast would be envious of.
“I feel like I’m in charge of a world heritage”
But Mr H’s good fortune continued. A short time after the two cars had been assembled, he spotted an unbelievable tip on Carsensor: a shop in Tokyo was selling an early 2000GT. A shop in Tokyo had listed an early model 2000GT for a negotiated price. Mr H rarely visits used car search websites, but that day, for some reason, he was searching for a 2000GT. It was later discovered that the shop had intended to list the car for a few days only.
Not wanting to stay put, Mr H called the shop. She asked them to let her go and have a look. The shop seemed to be in a hurry. In the case of this type of model, many cold callers and enthusiasts are trying to identify the individual pieces, and we can’t afford to deal with them every time. Besides, it is an expensive model that has become a global collector’s item. It is not always possible to guarantee that individual information such as VIN and location will not be misused. The shop also needs to determine whether the customer is ready to buy the car before showing it to them. But Mr H lived 500 km away from Tokyo. There are limited ways to check. The shop told him intending to get him to give up.
“If you are willing to buy it, please put in the deposit immediately. Come and see it and if you don’t like it, we will refund your money.”
Mr H immediately wired the amount as he was told. The shop was surprised and arranged to have a look at it. What he found there was the very car he had seen at Rocky Auto before. It had been finished more beautifully, but some of the characteristic points were still there. Feeling a sense of destiny, Mr H decided to buy the earlier model as well.
All this has happened over the past two years or so, Mr H himself replies in front of the garage with the three cars.
“I still feel like I’m dreaming.”
Of course, since he bought all these models at once, he must have a lot of assets, and I didn’t ask him how he financed the purchase, nor do I need to. The only thing I can say is that good cars marry people who have strong feelings for them.
“You know, a world heritage, I feel like I’m in charge of it now. So I feel like I have to treat it with as much care as possible and enjoy the preparations for passing it on to the next person. It’s more of a responsibility than happiness.”
Mr H smiled like a boy as he said this.
translated by DeepL