1965 Gordon-Keeble - Body off restored, 5 speed gearbox For Sale

- Italian design, thumping American V8 and built in Britain
- Car number 75 of 99 built
- Body off, nut and bolt restoration completed in 2015/ 16
- Desirable upgrades including 5 Speed Tremec gearbox, rack and pinion steering, wider wheels and new stainless steel exhaust system
- Wonderful history file going back to the 1970’s with stacks of invoices and correspondence

Marque 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 suggested the work be carried out at the Peerless factory in Slough. While it was there, the project caught the attention of Peerless Managing Director, John Gordon. Things weren’t going too well for Peerless and Gordon was keen to get his teeth into an interesting new project. He approached Keeble and asked him if he could design a new car, from scratch, to accommodate Nielsen’s V8 engine. When Keeble agreed, Gordon left Peerless and the journey began.

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 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. The fable goes that during a promotional photoshoot, a local, escaped, 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 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 into liquidation. Salvation came from one of the marques concessionaires, who managed to refinance the business and resume production. Sadly, the revival was shortlived and after building just 17 more cars, the doors closed for good in 1966. 99 cars in total had been built with another being built up from spares four years later.

It is at this stage that we need to introduce the Gordon-Keeble legend that was Ernie Knott. Ernie was working at Silverstone as the official signwriter, when he caught his first glimpse of a Gordon-Keeble and distinctly remembers the driver jumping in and hearing the V8 burble as it started and drove away. That was it, Ernie was hooked and thus ensued a mission to find his own Gordon-Keeble. A few years later, Ernie bought chassis number 32 as a project. The distinct lack of spares and expertise available lead to Ernie starting his own coachworks and spares business. He would put adverts in Autocar and Motorsport trying to get hold of other owners asking them to get in touch. Many did and from there the community grew from a few UK owners to others from around the world. The first Club meet was in July 1970 at Silverstone where 17 cars turned up, including the example offered here for sale. It was at this meeting that the Club was officially launched and Ernie was unanimously voted to be the Chairman. Until his death in 2002, Ernie and his business were considered the “go to” for anything and everything Gordon-Keeble be it spares, servicing or a full rebuild.

Thanks to the efforts of Ernie and all those involved with the club, past and present, 90 of the original cars are known to still exist and to this day the Gordon Keeble Owners Club is extremely active, inclusive and a huge resource for advice, parts and events.

This Motor Car

The Gordon-Keeble for sale with Wrightson Automotive is chassis number 75. This is an extremely well-known Gordon-Keeble and arguably of much importance to the story of the marque, as it was working on this car that Ernie Knott really cut his teeth and honed his trade that would be so invaluable to the survival of these magnificent motor cars.

We believe that 75 was originally delivered in Dark Blue by Broadway Motors of London in 1965 and registered BOT 49. The first few years of the car’s life aren’t clear but we know that in 1970/ 71 it was owned by a Mr. Stuart Cassy of Winchester, who could well have been the first owner. While on a trip to Belgium in 1971, Mr. Cassy and 75 were involved in an accident. The car was brought back home and delivered to Ernie Knott to be assessed and rebuilt. We are almost certain that the car was repairable, however, in the excellent book, ‘Gordon-Keeble: A British Supercar of the 1960s’ by Charles Giles (Club Historian) and Ernie Knott himself, the latter, in his own words, describes how he “…persuaded the insurance company that to repair the car would require a new chassis and body shell”. This sounds very dramatic indeed, but this was a six year old car and there is no doubt that using new parts was almost certainly easier, less expensive and quicker than repairing the damaged parts. The fact that Ernie was running a spares business and could probably sell/ re-use the damaged parts, probably had a part to play in him persuading, the insurance company, as well. Ernie goes on to describe the exercise as being almost ruinous to him financially, as he agreed a fixed cost for the repairs, but that the experience of the full rebuild was an invaluable lesson and set him on the trajectory to his legendary status in the Gordon-Keeble community.

Now registered as BOT 49J, Mr. Cassy would keep 75 until about 1973 when it was sold to a Mr. Burnet who was based in Burton Bradstock in Dorset. David Senior, the long term owner of chassis no. 50 owned the car briefly until in 1977, the car was owned by a Mr C J Clarke of Redditch. He would enjoy the car for about 6 years before a Mr. Alan Baylis bought 75 and would keep it until 1995.

By this time the car’s condition was in decline. Between 1995 and 1999/ 2000, a Mr. Dickie Hardwicke owned the car at which point it was sold to Andrew Douglas of Rotherfield in East Sussex. Correspondence on file with the club tells us that Mr. Douglas wanted to restore the car and started the process pretty early on in his ownership but as is often the case, life obviously got in the way and 75 languished in his garage until 2014 when it was acquired by Tim Callaghan. Tim was no stranger to Gordon-Keebles as his father owned (and I believe still owns) a fabulous example. Upon acquisition the journey began to restore 75 back to it’s former glory. The process is extremely well documented in a wonderful photo album and what seems to be a never ending pile of invoices and correspondence. This was a complete, body off, nut and bolt restoration and no corner was cut or stone left unturned to get it right. The car was finished in a very attractive shade of Silver Grey with a beautifully trimmed interior in Oxblood Red, now in sumptuous leather as opposed to the vinyl used originally. 

The current owner acquired the car in 2020, from Tim, and has enjoyed the car as part of his lovely collection of other cars. Just last year (2024) he took the car to very well-respected specialists, Pitt Lane, to upgrade the original gearbox to a modern 5 speed Tremec. The original gearboxes were fine but had odd ratios with very long gearing (you can do 60 mph in first!). The upgrade involved removing the engine and a fair amount of engineering tweaks. He also asked them to go through the car, front to back and fix/ snag any little things they could find so that it would be in tip top shape. A cool £17, 000 or so later, 75 was finished and back in the collection. The new gearbox really does transform the car, with a lovely ‘snick-snick’ action that offers an accuracy and engagement simply lacking in the original units. Speaking of original units, the original gearbox is with the car and is, of course, included in the sale. Sadly, the onset of arthritis in the left ankle means that the practicalities of driving older, manual transmission cars, just aren’t there anymore for the current owner, hence why the car is being offered for sale.

The history file with this car is sensational with invoices going right back to the 1970’s, including the invoice in 1971 from Ernie Knott for the rebuild of the car. There is also an almost complete run of Owners Club newsletters/ magazines with the car, again, going right back to the 70’s.

Those familiar with Gordon-Keebles will know that most, if not all, have been upgraded and tweaked over the years. In fact, there is a list of nearly 50 upgrades on the Owner’s Club website that are considered known/ accepted upgrades, often done by Ernie back in the day.

As a result of these upgrades and changes, there really are very few, if any Gordon-Keebles that are 100% original and there most certainly aren’t any two cars that are the same. To those who know and appreciate this, it only adds to the intrigue, eccentricity and all-round desirability of these incredibly rare, beautiful and collectable motor cars.

75 has the extremely desirable upgrade to rack and pinion steering, this was one of the first modifications Ernie did to his own car right at the beginning of the Gordon-Keeble journey. It also features the wider wheels, which add a hint of muscle and aggression that is missing, in my opinion, from the original cars. A new stainless steel exhaust system has also been fitted which only accentuates the very naughty V8 soundtrack that gets any petrolheads heart pumping!

These are such special cars and once you have experienced one, they really get under your skin. None of their stories are straightforward but they really are the best kept secret in the classic car world. I encourage any interested parties to come and see this car and speak to the excellent owner’s club who really are an invaluable resource. You won’t regret it.