Superlatives are all too often abused in the car world, but in the case of the Toyota 2000GT the praise is fully justified—and then some.

The most significant, coveted, extraordinary, beautiful… All can surely be applied to such an astonishing machine.

Small wonder that this masterpiece of high-performance chic forms the centrepiece of The Degenève Collection, a showcase curated by one of Europe’s longest-serving Toyota dealers.

A collaboration between Toyota and Yamaha, the 2000GT was unveiled at the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show before going on sale in May 1967.

Conceived to demonstrate that Japan could rival the best Europe had to offer, Toyota had its sights firmly set on Jaguar and Porsche, while the 2000GT’s backbone chassis pays obvious homage to Lotus.

Beneath the sleek bonnet, there was a 148 horsepower 1,988 cc twin-cam straight-six fed via triple Mikuni-Solex twin-choke carburettors.

There were independent double-wishbone suspension and disc brakes all round, plus a five-speed...