The Toyota Origin Was A 2JZ-Powered JDM Oddity

Usually, when a manufacturer hits a significant production milestone, it’ll put out a flashy press release or maybe a special edition version of one of its existing cars with some new trim bits to celebrate. Rarely would one produce a whole new model for such an occasion, but Toyota once did just that.

This is the Toyota Origin, built in 2000 especially to celebrate the Japanese manufacturer producing 100 million cars in its home country. Granted, it wasn’t a car built especially from the ground up - using the humble (read also, dull) Progrès saloon as a base - but it was far from a boring affair.

Toyota’s idea was to pay tribute to one of the key cars in its history, its very first full-scale production car - the RS series Toyopet Crown. With a plan for just 1,000 Origins to be made, production was handed over to the same people working staff that handbuilt the flagship Toyota Century.

Although the chassis of the Progrès remained, the bodywork was completely different. The front of the car received a chrome-filled makeover complete with round headlights and ‘Toyota’ lettering across the front in place of a more modern badge. There was more chrome at the back and thin, upright taillights sitting on boxy wheel arch extensions.

The roofline was a little more rounded for a throwback look, while chrome wheels with gold touches were fitted. Notice something a little odd about the doors too? Well, just like the original Crown, the Origin had suicide doors. Toyota missed no detail.

The interior was much less of a throwback, although it did get leather seats and new wood inserts across the dash and on the gear selector which wouldn’t look completely out of place in a car from the ‘60s. Less so the LCD infotainment display sat on the dashboard.

Mechanically, nothing was changed over the Progrès - meaning that yes, the Toyota Origin was rear-driven and powered by a 2JZ, albeit the naturally-aspirated GE. This was good for 212bhp and 217lb ft of torque.

Toyota never officially published performance figures but given its (at the time) hefty 1,560kg kerb weight and CVT gearbox, we’d expect it to be leisurely at best. In case you somehow overstepped the limits of its performance, it was good to know the Origin had then-cutting-edge safety tech like ABS, curtain airbags and ‘Brake Assist’ - which would apply additional pressure should the car detect an emergency stop happening.

In the end, Toyota Origin production tipped slightly over the original plan with 1,073 made. We can’t find official figures to be 100 per cent certain, but that almost certainly makes it the rarest car to ever have a 2JZ engine.

Despite the scarcity, it’s not too hard to find one for sale in Japan (at least at the time of writing). Pricing is a bit all over the place - ranging from around £7,000 for a baggy example to £25,000 for concourse-spec cars. For our money, we’d go for this example at 3,373,000 yen (approx. £18,000 at the time of writing).