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HOME WORKSHOP DRUMS Gear & Engine Oil XL30, XXL40, GP50, XL20w/501964 Gordon-Keeble GK1
PHOTOGRAPHYRichardGunn
THANKS TO David Yeomans for
the loan of the car used and for
additional facts.
Anglo-Italian
surpriseThe 50-year-old Gordon-Keeble combines Bertone style
with a Chevrolet V8 engine for genuine 145mph potential
H
alf a century ago this month one of
the most exclusive and intriguing GT
cars of the 1960s was launched. A
145mph rocket which ought to have
been a world-beater, but which was thwarted by
fate. And we’re behind the wheel to find out what
these V8-engined rarities have to offer today.
The Bertone-styled body is beguiling – it’s hard
to believe at first that it’s a glassfibre bodyshell
over a steel spaceframe. No Reliant Scimitar
comparisons, please; this is far more elegant and
is impeccably finished. Slip inside the car and this
impression is reinforced – lots of 1960s quilted
PVC, shapely bucket seats, a wood-rimmed wheel,
and a bank of properly labelled toggle switches
make you feel you’re in a quality product.
It’s well thought-out – not only is there space for
four people plus luggage, but the slim pillars and
huge glass area mean that visibility is superb. Like
that other celebrated 1960s Anglo-Italian hybrid,
the Jensen Interceptor, the GK1 feels like far more
than a Corvette engined special – and yet only
100 examples left the redundant aircraft hangar at
Southampton Airport in which they were built over
a two year period.
There’s a distinctly masculine and hairy-chested
feel to the GK1’s controls and you’re always aware
of the 300bhp going through the rear wheels. Yet
absolute power does not corrupt – when cruising,
it’s as docile as big saloons of the era.
Wind noise is noticeable at high speed, but
frankly you’re having so much fun you don’t care.
That Chevrolet heart has the uneven throb that
only American V8s seem to have – it encourages
you to press on, though you need to keep your
eye on that Jaeger speedo if you succumb.
And that’s because in any gear the Gordon-
Keeble is a veritable hare – there’s more power
than you know what to do with, and there’s
instant torque to deliver sledgehammer throttle
control. It’s hard to avoid being shoved back into
your seat at anything more than half throttle. If
you use the full rev range, first gear takes you
to 70mph, second to 90mph, third to 103mph
and fourth to a maximum speed of 145mph. The
gearlever has a short, weighty yet decisive throw.
It’s a notchy gearbox, but not unpleasant in any
way. The clutch is very heavy, and while it bites
near the top, it needs a hefty shove from your left
leg to release. This reassures you the drivetrain can
handle the grunt. It’s matched by a confidence in
the steering, too.
There’s some play that you’d expect to find in
cars with steering boxes, but it’s easy to control.
It can be heavy at low speeds but it’s nicely-geared
and feels meaty on the move. The GK1 doesn’t
handle like a sports car, then, and nor does it
ride like one. It’s a car in which you could cover
continents in comfort – the suspension contributes
to the car’s overall air of competence, though the
price you pay is that it leans quite heavily when
you corner hard. At higher speeds, the front end
can go a little light, but most sympathetically-
treated Gordon-Keebles will be fine.
You find yourself mulling over the history of
this fabulous yet forgotten GT while behind the
wheel, and you can’t help but wonder exactly how
on earth it managed to fail. Because once you’ve
driven one, its demise seems criminal.
The Gordon-Keeble’s history can be traced back to
the Peerless, a GT with Triumph TR3 running gear
but its own spaceframe chassis and a De Dion rear
suspension. Created by James Byrnes and John
Gordon, the car was produced from 1957-1960.
Step forward Jim Keeble, who ran a garage and
tuning firm in Ipswich. He had fitted a Chevrolet
V8 engine into a customer’s Peerless. John Gordon
loved the result and the two set up a partnership
to produce a new car.
The prototype Gordon GT, developed in just six
months was unveiled at the 1960 Geneva Motor
Show. The body had been penned at Bertone in
Italy by the then 21-year-old Giorgetto Giugiaro,
his first complete design, and the chassis clothed
in steel by the design house. The car was taken to
America, where chairman of GM Car and Truck,
Ed Cole was so impressed after driving it that he
agreed to allocate 1000 327ci ‘small-block’ engines
and gearboxes and to distribute the planned car
through GM outlets.
The Gordon-Keeble GK1 was born, now
glassfibre bodied, and deemed by The Autocar as
‘The most electrifying car we’ve ever tested’.
Initially Williams and Pritchard built the bodies,
but production was soon moved in house – to a
redundant aircraft hangar at Southampton Airport
where Gordon Keeble would eventually employ
more than 120 people. ‘The car built to aircraft
standards,’ boasted the ads, and the quality was
evident to all who drove it. And at £2798, when
an Aston Martin cost almost £4200 and even
Jensen’s CV8 was nudging £4000, the car was
an utter bargain to boot.
But this underpricing meant low profit margins,
and the resultant underinvestment left Gordon-
Keeble constantly on the edge. Supply problems
led to 20 unfinished cars sat awaiting steering
boxes. The company folded in mid-1965 after just
92 cars had been built, and the workforce were
laid off without pay. A further seven were built in
late 1965 and 1966 by a consortium led by Jim
Keeble and Gordon-Keeble distributor Howard
Smith in Sholing, Southampton, renamed the
Gordon-Keeble International Tourer. The price
was hiked to £3626 in a desperate bid to generate
profit, but this addition of 30% to what was
already an old design only served to put people
off. When the new 2+2 version of Jaguar’s
svelte E-type was available for less than £2400,
nobody wanted an unknown GT for half as much
again. By the end of 1966 the Gordon-Keeble
story was all-but over.
An American, John de Bruyne, considered
buying the rights to the car and facelifting it,
and chassis number eight was converted into
a de Bruyne spec car for the 1968 New York
International Auto Show. Displayed alongside a
second car of his own design, the de Bruyne Grand
Sport, neither project came to fruition.
A final, 100th, car was completed from spares in
1971 by a London-based enthusiast who ordered
parts as needed and sought advice from former
employees about construction. The remaining four
bodyshells were later cannibalised for spares. The
survival rate for Gordon-Keebles is the highest-
known rate of any classic car, with only 4%
officially having been scrapped. More than 90
are still known to the club.
SPECIFICATIONS
Engine 5355cc/V8/OHV
Power300bhp@5000rpm
Torque 360lb ft@3000rpm
Top speed 145mph
0-60mph7.5sec
Economy15mpg
Gearbox four-speed manual
oil CAPACITY
n ENGINE4.5l
n Gearbox 1.2l
n AXLE 1.5l
oil GRADE
n ENGINE XL 20w50
n Gearbox EP80
n AXLE EP90
PRICE TRENDs
n PROJECT £20,000
n USEABLE £32,500
n NICE £50,000
n CONCOURS £60,000
GET THE FACTS
History: From Peerless to bust, via some Stateside near-misses
Rear seat room is surprisingly generous – but then this is more GT than sports car.Lots of leather, quilted PVC and instruments galore – this is a quality product.
See this in your mirror and you’re bound to pull over.
Excellent rear seat space and boot make the GK1 a very effective GT car.
The 5.4-litre V8 was shared with Chevrolet’s Corvette, and developed 300bhp. Fireworks would ensue.
Caption
Alternatives
n Jensen Interceptor Exactly the same
cocktail of American V8 and British craftsmanship.
Jensen remembered to make a profit.
n Aston Martin DBS V8 When Aston
went Italianite. Pretty body covered a
British V8 with the ultimate badge.
Pretty Bertone
body was sleek and
spacious.
Target price
£30k
Target price
£87k
Radio revolution
A radio revolution invaded British homes.
Radio Caroline, the first of Britain’s legendary
pirate radio stations, began regular broadcasting
on 24 March from a former Danish passenger
ferry the Fredericia, renamed MV Caroline and
anchored off Essex. Caroline’s eventual two
stations picked up millions of listeners previously
restricted to the leanest diet of pop music from
the BBC. The Labour Government’s Marine
Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 basically
made it illegal to advertise on or supply pirates,
which would eventually number around a dozen.
Only Caroline, which switched its allegiances
to the Netherlands,
survived (and still
does today). The
BBC launched Radio
One to (allegedly) fill
the gap.
And now, on TV
BBC 2 was launched in 1964 with the remit of
providing less mainstream and more innovative
programming. It would give British homes a total
of three TV stations alongside BBC1 and ITV.
A power cut wreaked havoc with the first
evening’s broadcasting, but BBC 2 never looked
back and is still with us today. Also launched in
1964 was BBC’s Match of the Day, again still
a TV staple and Top of the Pops, which we still
get at Christmas, bless it. ITV’s contribution to
this new wave was iconic Midlands motel-set
soap Crossroads, famed for its non-Hollywood
standard production values but with its own
appreciation society today.
Mustang Mayhem
We sometimes forget just how much excitement
the surrounded the birth of the Ford Mustang,
Ford’s first annual production target of 100,000
cars was surpassed in three months and a million
Mustangs were built in a year-and-a-half.
Dealers who could get Mustangs were known
to auction cars to customers and one purchaser
even spent the night in his new purchase while
the cheque cleared. The Mustang was available
with a big option list and is credited with having
spawned the ‘pony car’ concept – compact,
affordable and sporty.
Ford of Britain launched its Corsair, and no-
one camped out in showrooms overnight. They
also smirked at the Daihatsu Compagno, the first
Japanese car to be imported in the UK.
The top 10 mega-
movies of 1964
1 Mary Poppins
2 Dr Strangelove
3 A Fistful of Dollars
4 Goldfinger
5 A Hard Day’s Night
6 From Russia
with Love
7 The Carpetbaggers
8 Zorba the Greek
9 Viva Las Vegas
10 633 Squadron
1964 REMEMBERED
WORDS Sam Skelton PHOTOGRAPHY Magic Car Pics