1965 Gordon-Keeble

• No. 55 of 99 built

• Designed by Giugiaro at Bertone, powered by Chevy 5.4 Litre V8 yet quintessentially English

• Known ownership history back to new

• Recent mechanical recommissioning

Model History

The story of Gordon-Keeble begins in 1959 when a US pilot, Rick Nielsen, based at RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, approached Jim Keeble, an automotive engineer in Ipswich and asked him if he could fit his 4.6 Litre small-block Chevrolet V8 into a Peerless GT.

Jim agreed but felt it would be best to do the work at the Peerless factory in Slough. This drew the attention of the Managing Director of Peerless, John Gordon. Peerless weren’t doing too well at the time and the idea of an exciting  new project appealed to Gordon. He asked Keeble to effectively design a new car to accommodate Nielsen’s V8 engine.

Keeble designed a square tubular space frame chassis with a de Dion rear axle using Watts linkage. In the meantime John Gordon had approached the Italian design house, Bertone, to see if they would be interested in designing the body. They agreed but it clearly wasn’t top of their list of priorities because they assigned the job to one of the new boys, a 22 year old by the name of Giorgetto Giugiaro!

A steel prototype body was finished in time to unveil what had become known as the Gordon G.T. at the Geneva Salon in March 1960, where Autocar described it as “One of the most interesting cars at the Geneva Show.”

After the success in Geneva a supply of engines was the next pressing issue. John Gordon was friends with Zora Arkus Duntov, who was Director of High Performance Vehicles at Chevrolet and would become known as the “Father of the Corvette”. He was very impressed by the car, proclaiming it to be faster quicker than his Corvette! The car also impressed Ed Cole who was a very ‘big wig’ at General Motors, who as a result agreed to supply the new 300bhp, 327ci small block V8 that was destined for the Corvette. This would be the first time a non-GM product would receive these engines.

Despite all this early success, raising funds for the project would prove to be very difficult and it wouldn’t be until 1964 when production could start. Now called Gordon-Keeble, the car was assembled in Southampton and the body was now glass fibre to save on the huge cost of tooling up for pressed steel panels. John Gordon had left the company by now and took with him the original badging for the Gordon G.T. During a promotional photoshoot, the local pet tortoise wondered onto the scene and one of the crew put the tortoise on the bonnet where the badge would have gone, the irony being the slow animal being on one of the fastest cars of its time. This silly joke actually led to the new badge being a tortoise on a yellow background with the laurel wreath, traditionally given to race winners. Some say the yellow background is a result of the tortoise relieving itself on the car!

Road tests were extremely positive but sadly the timing of the launch meant that production was plagued by regular strikes at suppliers and continued funding issues. IN May 1965 after 82 cars had been built the company went in to liquidation. Despite being bought by one of the marques concessionaires who managed to refinance the business and build 17 more cars, the doors closed for good just a year later. 99 cars in total had been built with another being built up from spares four years later.

Today 90 cars are known to still exist and the marque has accrued a dedicated following and a very active owners club. After the collapse of the company one man dedicated his life to maintaining and improving these fabulous cars. His name was Ernie Knott and he would go on to found the Gordon-Keeble Owners Club in 1970. Ernie helped source parts, make parts and service the cars, most importantly though, he made some much needed upgrades, many of which were destined for the GK2, what would have been the next generation Gordon-Keeble, had the company survived. The upgrades included: Rack and pinion steering, often power assisted, front suspension upgrades, automatic transmission conversions, leather interior, improved fresh air ventilation system and wider wheels.

 Car Offered

The Gordon-Keeble for sale with Wrightson Automotive is chassis number 55. First registered in January 1965, the first owner was listed as Derek Parker Bowles, the future Father-in-Law of Queen Camilla. Research points towards the car being originally Green with, most likely, a Black interior. In 1969 the car was sold to a Mr. Charles of Crawley, near Winchester. In 1971, a Mr. Frank Sharratt owned the car in London. In 1972 the Gordon-Keeble returned to Hampshire and was recorded as being owned by a Mr. Anthony Croucher who lived in Liss. Mr. Croucher would keep the G-K until 1978 and it was during his ownership that the car was restored by Keewest, who repainted it Siena Brown with Bedford cord interior. The next owner, Bob Gathercole , who acquired the car in ’78, only had the car for five years at which point he sold it to Gordon Proctor of Groombridge.

The club described Mr. Proctor as a “larger than life” character and it is thought that at one time he had about 5 Gordon-Keebles and allegedly, ‘55’ was the best. Mr. Proctor would go on to own this wonderful example until 2008 at which point it was bought by a gentleman in Germany and there it would stay, doing various rallies and toys until the current owner bought it. At some point the car was painted red but it is unclear as to when.

Whilst in Germany the car took part in various tours and rallies, which always bodes well, as the owners of cars that do such events keep them very well maintained as a result. In fact it is known that the engine was rebuilt at some point during its time in Germany. In 2015 the car was for sale with a dealer before more recently, coming back to the UK with the current owner.

The current owner, a fastidious owner and collector of Bentleys and Rolls-Royces, took the car to a fantastic engineer called Graham Millard who looks after Aston Martins, Pre-War racing cars and everything in between. To those who know him, he is the go-to guy. The brief was to check the car over, make sure everything works and sort anything that needs any attention. A hefty but worthy invoice later and the car is working and driving beautifully. Enquiries with the Gordon-Keeble Owners Club have confirmed that Chassis 55 has had nearly all of the Ernie Knott upgrades including power assisted rack and pinion steering, through flow ventilation, extractor grilles, modified heater, negative earth wiring and stainless steel fuel tanks.

Today the car presents very well indeed. This is not a show or concours car, there are some imperfections but the pricing reflects this. More importantly, our mechanic has confirmed it would comfortably go through an MOT and the author can confirm that the Gordon-Keeble drives extremely well. The V8 rumble gives it a naughty air but on the move it is civilised and incredibly tractable. The flexibility of that engine means it can pull from 20mph in top gear all the way to the top speed of 140mph! Some turn their nose up at fibre glass cars but it makes such a difference in terms of weight on the road, the car is agile and turns in with the poise of a much smaller and sportier motor car. It is such a complete car. British built, Italian designed, V8 powered and extremely rare. To top it all off, this fabulous Gordon-Keeble is priced extremely keenly and offers the next owner a rare opportunity to acquire one of these fascinating motor cars and join a very exclusive club.

SOLD