(first posted 7/4/2017) Back in March this year, fellow Curbivore Tatra87 gave us an excellent summary history of the Gordon Keeble Company and the GK1 Coupe. And yesterday, I saw one, for probably the first time. Given the number of Gordon Keebles (Gordons Keeble? Gordons Keebles?) there are, that is a definite example of the CC Effect. Parked in a normal street, where you’d expect to see Ford Fiestas and Peugeot 406 estates, was a Gordon Keeble GK1, one of just 100 built.
The Gordon Keeble was a Chevrolet V8 engined GRP (or fibreglass) bodied sports coupe, priced to complete with Jensen and Aston-Martin, and significantly more expensive than an E-Type Jaguar. Its place in the market perhaps best matches that currently occupied by the Bentley Continental now.
I first saw the car from about a hundred yards away, and my reaction was “Lancia Flavia”. We don’t see many of those either, so you may understand my mistake. I then speculated briefly about an Alfa Romeo 2600, or even a Ferrari or a Maserati. As I pulled up behind it, I was still thinking Lancia though. The cry of “it’s a Gordon Keeble” was heard quite clearly some distance away.
Given the styling, the Lancia call is perhaps understandable, as the styling has similarities with the Flavia, although the Lancia was styled by Pininfarina and Gordon Keeble by Giugiaro, then at Bertone, and who also styled the Alfa 2600.
Tatra87 makes reference to the interior having a more Italian than British flavour, and this evident. There’s no wood on show, the binnacle is not very British, and the gearlever location looks a bit odd. There appears little wrong with the material used, though.
Google suggests that this car has been restored – it was advertised for sale coloured red with a gently worn tan interior and is in show standard in dark blue with grey, having been at the Nation Classic Car Show in November 2016 in these colours. Going by the photographs, the blue suits it better than the red. And, without tapping the panels, you’d be unlikely to know it was GRP and not aluminium either.
So, keep an eye out, for the CC Effect has no boundaries.
A potentially great car. Maybe G-K should’ve partnered with a bigger manufacturer like Daimler, which could’ve put their 2.5 and 4.5 liter hemi V8s in this thing instead of in their ghastly Dart…
Or even with AC (only slightly bigger than G-K), which needed a convincing 2+2 after the Greyhound flopped, and which soon enough would go the American V8 route anyway…
By the time the Gordon Keeble project was really underway, Daimler was owned by Jaguar, and it’s hard for me to see Sir William Lyons supporting a project that would have competed with Jaguar.
You’re right, and pretty close on the timing: First G-K appeared at Geneva Show in March 1960, and Jaguar bought Daimler two months later. But the car was in the planning stage in early 1959, around the same time Daimler was designing the equally fiberglass (but not equally beautiful) Dart.
The Dart had a prettier update in the wings (SP 252) which was canned by Lyons so as not to compete with the E-type. Having said that, a G-K with Daimler 4.5 V8 might have been something very nice.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-british-deadly-sins-50s-edition-part-3-the-docker-daimlers/
I’d forgotten that one…but not this David Ogle version of the SP250 from 1962. Named the SX250; only a couple were built. You can tell it was on the same mission as the Gordon-Keeble.
Yes, that was a nice shape. The Triplex Special was a particular favourite of Prince Phillip. Personally not such a fan of this or the Scimitar estate.
And Lyons himself had considered something similar to the G-K a few years earlier.
Interesting… I see a number of design influences from other manufacturers in this car. The front looks somewhat like a Peugeot 504. From the side I see elements of Aston Martin DB6 or Ferrari 330GT, or possibly even Bristol.
From the rear it looks Aston-ish or Ferrari-esque as well.
The reason Roger’s Lancia guess was the best one was not the Flavia, but the Flaminia Touring GT, which had the uncreased, slab sides, the rectangular grille shape and also a tilt to the tops of the headlight surrounds, but not the tilted lights featured on the Gordon Keeble.
Nice find. With the difficulty in what two call multiple examples of the Gordon Keeble I figure it’s a good call to never have more than one in any place at one time.
Although I do prefer Gordons Keeble.. 🙂
Gordons Keeble sounds more British, somehow.
Like Attorneys General, or Courts Martial. I concur with my esteemed colleagues DougD and Old Pete.
+3.
Like Alfas Romeo, Rollses Royce, Mercedeses Benz, Astons-Martin, Lands Rover?
I don’t think so…
I think we missed out on a trend..
Curbsides Classic sounds so much more prestigous.
Dougs D
hes hehe
It depends if the Aston was Martin’d or the Martin was Aston’d.
Sheer bliss ! I’ve been in love with the GK for more than half a century.
Nice car, but the windshield looks like a rear window from another car.
I wonder if it might come from the Humber Sceptre.
https://www.handh.co.uk/assets/Vehicles/40611.jpg
The rear lights definitely look related to the Rover P6 though with a new base, better integrating the reflector.
I thought P6 rear lights too. This is a 1965 GK, so two years after the Rover was introduced.
Not sure. They look the same, but these appeared on the Gordon GT prototype shown in 1960.
Yes, I’m not absolutely sure. The general form is similar, but I couldn’t make out the pattern of screws in the photo. There are actually three versions of the P6 rear lights, the first had red reflectors at the bottom which were replaced with clear reversing lights, the reflectors moving to the lower outer edges of the boot lid, then they were added on raised, chrome sections immediately below the tail lights themselves. The GK doesn’t quite match any of them. Interesting that the prototype also doesn’t have reversing lights.
Hey it’s the Peeturtle! What a beautiful car. Definitely does look more Italian than British.
Holy cow Roger. A turtle in the wild! My favourite from this series of shapes by Giugiaro – even nicer than the later Giulia GT. For me personally, find of the year.
Agreed. Brilliant find. Always liked the style of these and I bet they have a nice 60s Corvette rumble. Is there any other car with canted headlights that can pull it off this well? The panel gaps, especially on the…er, bonnet, give away the GRP.
You’ve upped the game, Roger. Love these hybrids. Now find us a Facel Vega II and I’m a really happy camper.
Wow Roger, you win the CC spotter award for the year. Just wow.
Wow, what a find Roger! I remember years ago seeing a Ferrari 360 in a little side street when they were current, it was a good deal wider than ‘normal’ cars so was almost at risk of being side-swiped, but this is a whole other level being old and rare.
Great find! You win a Curbie, Roger.
The gear shift is on the left side because it’s been lifted straight from the Corvette, along with its engine.
Nice car, Ive never seen one live, theres meant to be three in NZ so it might happen.
Whilst the rear lights do look a bit Rover P6ish, what about the bumpers? Photos of a range of GKs of different model years suggest that they hoisted the bumpers from, variously, a Farina Austin Westminster, a Triumph 2000 and a BMC Landcrab. I bet that GK didn’t make the things themselves! I do confess to having got this sort of thing wrong before…..
While I’m at it, that windscreen looks more than a bit Vauxhall Victor FB to me (runs off and hides behind sofa before Don Andreina reads this).
Ok Canard, you can come out now. A quick perusal of the interwebs suggests taillights for the production G-K from the Ferrari 250 GTE and a bespoke windscreen. Any further clarification from the CCommentariat encouraged.
It would explain why it was so expensive; the tooling for those items wouldn’t have been spread very far an importing parts would have been subject to quite significant duties in those days.
Mind you, Bristol didn’t mind selling you an expensive car with tail lights off a Hillman SuperMinx. Perhaps that’s why they were around longer.
I think the thing here is to work backwards from the original brief. Bertone was a top-flight carrozzeria and to engage them would not have been cheap. I suspect there was no parts-bin requirement when Giugiaro first penned the lines. This car was not the Peerless GT, it was a genuine attempt at an Aston Martin level vehicle. Glassware tended to be bespoke for these carrozzerie shapes, and lenses and switchgear tended to be parts-bin unless a large production run was anticipated – though these are not hard-and-fast rules. I suspect the prototype used lenses from an earlier Ferrari.
As time went on, and money drained, ambitions were set a bit lower. The prototype’s rear lights might have been changed for production to something from a current model’s parts-bin – the 250 GTE was 1963 onwards.
Bristol figured out how to discretely position a Rolls as the car for flash money which I think goes to their longevity (though apart from the Beutler 406 special, they never really appealed to me). Good on them for surviving though.
I wonder if that implies that the taillights came from some other Italian car, van or coach. There seems to a certain similarity to the Alfa 2600 Spyder for example.
I found the 250 GTE reference on a G-K forum discussing replacement parts.
What a super find, Rogers Carr.
Thanks, Don “the Dons” Andreina 😉
An elegant car, but if I’d wanted a Chevy V8 in Giugiaro couture, I’d have gone for an Iso Grifo.
Gordon Bennett, it’s a Gordon Keeble! What a find, Roger! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these in captivity, let alone out and about. And it looks well cared for. Even the body colour looks beautiful.
Don’t know whether that grey interior is original, but it sure looks nice. Most of the photos one sees on the Internets have black interiors, which looks a bit gloomy.
Fantabulous find, Mr Carr. Curbie nomination eagerly seconded.
Looks like I skipped over the part where you wrote this car had been restored and the colour was changed. I agree with you that this blue / grey combo is pretty damn nice.
Suffice it to say, I saw a Gordon Keeble TWICE on this side of the pond, the first was in Montreal, in 1970. It was the first of its kind in Canada, and I mistook for a Prince Skyline coupe. The second GK was here in Washington state on I-5. A white one, pretty rare for a 1965, with a Oxblood interior. I loved them! But with a limited amount, and never exported, the Gordon Keeble was one of my faves. I even drew a LHD version and placed one in a short story I wrote. Pretty cool, huh?