Our last Rare Ride was a convertible Cadillac by the name of Allanté. It mixed American power and engineering with a body designed in Italy. Today we take a look at something with the same sort of principles, but with the additional quirkiness of a British backstory.
And it’s much, much rarer than the Cadillac.
The shapely graphite coupe you see before you is the Gordon-Keeble. Conceived by John Gordon and Jim Keeble, the duo desired to create an exciting new sports coupe. They had a four-seat coupe in mind, with a space-frame chassis, top speed of 140 mph, and a cross-continental collaboration mindset. The two men ran with their idea and did some international mélange-making.
For the design, the pair turned to well-known design firm Bertone. The order landed on the desk of none other than 21-year-old Giorgetto Giugiaro. And not only is it a Giugiaro from before the ItalDesign era, but it is the first Giugiaro car design. This coupe matters.
The unique turtle badge of the marque has a quaint story behind it. During the first photo shoot for the new Gordon-Keeble, a turtle walked into the frame of the shot. A slow turtle and a fast coupe would make for a delicious bit of badge irony, the owners thought.
For the space under the sloping bonnet and behind the turtle, the duo contacted a company across the sea called General Motors. In 1960, Gordon and Keeble sent their completed prototype (which contained a Corvette 283 cubic inch V8) over to Detroit. Ed Cole at Chevrolet was rather impressed. He agreed to supply up to 1,000 Corvette 327 cubic inch V8 engines and accompanying transmissions for the production run of the Gordon-Keeble. This was the first official endorsement by GM for overseas shipment of components for a specialty car.
Like so many British shed corporations, however, trouble was already in the works for Gordon-Keeble. Suppliers needed for crafting the body were not easy to find, and adequate factory space not easy to come by. The design’s steel body panels were swapped for simpler fiberglass before production began, but it was near the end of 1963 and not a single car had been finished.
Factory space was finally found at an airfield, in a building formerly used to produce Spitfires for use in WWII. Production began in early 1964, but infighting between Gordon and the lead investor made for a rough time. There was simply no money, and a liquidation occurred after the company produced around 90 cars. In 1965, those new owners resumed production, but only managed to build a few more cars. Throughout 1966 and 1967, slow production amounted to 10 additional cars, bringing the total to an even 100.
Today’s example is a 1965 model. It has been lovingly cared for, and is also the subject of an extensive 13-year restoration. Everything looks great, and the only modification to the car appears to be an automatic transmission (Gordon-Keebles came from the factory with manuals).
It’s yours for £89,950, or $121,734 George Washingtons.
[Images via seller]
Brits have created many examples of brilliant engineering… but they don’t exactly shine when it comes to mass production.
They’ll make them, slowly and sometimes.
Thank you Corey for redeeming my taste in cars. I am always amazed at the manufacturers that plead heritage and give us the village idiot. Just because a car has “heritage” doesn’t mean it’s worthy. As I used to say to new hires – Make sure your parents are rich and good looking.
Happy to help in your time of need!
They did make plenty of Spitfires, much to Hermann Goering’s chagrin.
The steering wheel is likely a replacement, too. It’s a gorgeous new Auto-Lita from the looks of it, and might even be true to the original.
Oh yes, the Gordon-Keeble. I’m vaguely familiar with them, but I didn’t realize there were only 100 built. I’ve always put these in the category with Jensen and Bristol.
Is the photo of the front end slightly off kilter or is the front of this car not quite ‘even’?
And do the tailights, grill, hood scoop, etc remind anyone else of an Aston-Martin of the same era?
I think if you level the headlamps, it’s a lot more Ferrari/Aston and perhaps Maserati Mexico looking. The angled lamps are really the only unique feature.
The front end photo, I think the camera is crooked and the front plate as well.
The straight-on front view kinda looks like my ‘13 Charger.
I see some Jaguar in the C-pillar and MGB in the tail. Not that either’s a bad thing.
Beautiful car I had no idea existed. Nice find, Corey.
Thanks!
I didn’t know about it either until about four days ago.
I thought Gordon Keeble was a celebrity chef.
That’s Keebler. One of them probably is named Gordon.
I thought Keebler used elves to make cookies in hollow trees.
Before 9/11, most people woulda thought the Taliban was a Dodge.
(Shamelessly stolen from Jay Leno.)
This has seats that would look right at home in the Nabisco Gordon-Keebler
https://houston.craigslist.org/cto/d/japanese-mazda-protege/6455946616.html
“13-year restoration”…
Now that’s dedication.
Great piece.
Love the Italian design. The interior is a let-down though. In this way it reminds me of Germany’s Glas V* from the same era. It’s Frua design gave it the moniker “Glaserati”, but inside as bland.
I am probably in the minority but I do not find this car to be good-looking at all. To me it comes across as rather bland for some reason.
A 13 year restoration on a car with only 100 produced and they give it a vasectomy with that automatic. For shame.