Dream cars: Gordon-Keeble GK1

With Christmas fast approaching, now is a good time to reveal my ultimate dream car in the hope that Santa might be reading. The cars featured on this blog so far reflect my love of the unloved and obscure, and my fantasy lottery-win garage would probably be filled with old everyday transport rather than rows of the supercars and luxury vehicles that most people lust after. I do however have one exotic favourite that is top of my list. Could it be a Ferrari or Lamborghini? No? Then perhaps a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley? Nothing that common, so maybe a Pagani or a Koenigsegg would fit the bill? Nope, it's something even more exclusive than those: the car I would like to own more than any other if money was no object is a Gordon-Keeble GK1. Unless you're a hardcore car geek you've probably never even heard of it so read on to find out why I want a Gordon-Keeble so much...

The object of my desire. Just look at it!

The GK1 was the first and only car offered by Gordon-Keeble and there was never a GK2. The company was founded in Slough by John Gordon and Jim Keeble and the car first appeared as a steel-bodied prototype at the 1960 London Motor Show, then known as the Gordon GT. It wouldn't make it into production for another four years though, by which time the body was made of fibreglass and a factory had been found in Southampton. It was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro when he was Bertone's chief designer at just 21 years old, and to my eyes is one of the most beautiful cars ever designed, elegant yet purposeful with its graceful lines, slim pillars and 'Chinese eye' headlamps. The company's badge had unusual origins, an ironic use of the tortoise on a high-performance car that reputedly came about when a tortoise wandered into an early photoshoot and was placed on the bonnet, whereupon it promptly did a wee over the car and this was considered a good omen!

There may be a tortoise on the badge but the GK1 was no slouch

The elegance of the bodywork belied the power lurking beneath. Sitting under the bonnet was the 5.4-litre V8 from the Chevrolet Corvette, developing 300bhp and good for a top speed of almost 140mph and 0-60 in less than six seconds, so it had the pace to match its good looks. It had excellent handling too, thanks to a spaceframe chassis, independent suspension and all-round disc brakes, but rather than an out-and-out sports car it was very much a grand tourer in the mould of the Aston Martin, featuring a luxurious interior inspired by jet airliners and being marketed as "the car built to aircraft standards". Its closest equivalents would have been cars from the likes of Bristol and Jensen that similarly appealed to well-heeled gentlemen who appreciated fine craftsmanship combined with the reliability of a proven American engine.

A stunning profile, classically Italian and reminiscent of a Ferrari
By Ralf Prien (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

All that sounds extremely promising, but sadly various issues meant the GK1 would remain a rarity. It was an expensive hand-built car, initially priced at £2800 in 1964 and rising to over £4000 by the end, but the company was still losing money even at that price and was plagued by problems with suppliers. Gordon-Keeble built just 90 cars before going out of business in 1965 and production was then taken over by Keeble Cars Ltd, a new company formed by Harold Smith and Geoffrey West and based at a new factory in Sholing. This manufacturer also failed the following year after a mere nine more had emerged, and one further example was built from leftover spare parts in 1967, taking total production to exactly a hundred.

The elegance continues right to the back
By Thesupermat (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

An American entrepreneur named John DeBruyne then bought the rights to the design and planned to restart manufacture under his own name. He had an early car (chassis number 8) rebuilt to the revised design he intended to produce and displayed it at the 1968 New York Auto Show but nothing more was heard and the Gordon-Keeble quietly disappeared into oblivion. Sadly the DeBruyne car was not an improvement on the gorgeous original, with a front end more like that of the Jensen Interceptor and a more angular bootlid, and was once memorably described in Classic & Sportscar as "taking something classy and making it look common, like dressing Natalie Portman up as Cheryl Cole", so it is perhaps fortunate that it didn't go into production.  

Life after Gordon-Keeble: the DeBruyne GT. Natalie Portman dressed as Cheryl Cole?
By Thomas's Pics, cropped and altered by uploader Mr.choppers (Gordon Keeble de Bruyne GT front) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Survival rates are high thanks to the fibreglass body, and according to the owners' club 94 of the 100 cars still exist, mostly in the UK but with a few overseas. One of my fondest memories is of walking through a car park in my home town with a friend a few years ago. I heard a V8 burble approaching behind me and turned around to find a glorious maroon Gordon-Keeble, the last thing I ever expected to see in such a place! My friend, not really a car guy, had never heard of the company and had no idea what it was, but he had to admit it was a beautiful machine and could see why I coveted it. I think it must live fairly locally as I have also seen it at local shows but to experience the sight and sound of it completely out of the blue in the wild in a supermarket car park made my week.

A Gordon-Keeble in a supermarket car park is an incongruous sight for sure

Gordon-Keebles are relatively affordable by 1960s GT standards. compared with a contemporary Ferrari or Aston Martin anyway, and tend to sell for around £80-100,000. That's still too much for me though and even if I did have that kind of money the difficulty would be actually finding one that's for sale: there are very few in existence and owners get attached to them and are reluctant to sell so they don't come on the market very often. I can dream though and whatever else ends up in it there is a place reserved in my fantasy garage for a Gordon-Keeble. It's the perfect combination of Italian style, British engineering and American power so what's not to like?