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1960 Gordon-Keeble GT Prototype by Bertone
Story Cars- Oct 12, 2022
- 2 min read
This smart, close-coupled four-seat coupe featured a fiberglass body set on a separate multi-tubular chassis. It was very fast thanks to the 300-bhp Chevy 327 V-8, and it also offered good handling and running refinement. The Bertone styling dated from 1960 and was a more elegant forerunner of the Iso Rivolta shape. The G-K was distinguished by a four-headlamp front end, with the lamps mounted in a slant-eye formation.
Considered as desirable as a Ferrari at the time, it nonetheless lacked the cachet of a famous name. Ultimately, the Gordon-Keeble was a commercial failure because it was underpriced. It's a very sought-after car today because of its rot-free body, but not common or widely known outside its home country.
John Gordon and Bernie Rodgers purchased the defunct Peerless Motors Ltd and built the fibreglass-bodied, TR3-engined 4-seater Peerless GT in 1958. One car finished 16th at Le Mans that year, but the overall sales were not as expected. John Gordon left the company in 1959, later that year meeting up with Jim Keeble - engineer and racing driver - and, encouraged by USAF pilot Rick Neilson - whose Chevrolet Corvette Jim Keeble serviced - transplanted a 3.5L Buick V8 into a Peerless Chassis. Hence was born the idea of a bigger, better luxurious 4-seater with ample V8 power aimed at the luxury market and incorporating all the latest developments of 1960s competition engineering.
The chassis, similar to the Peerless, was to have a 1-inch square tube space frame, a De Dion rear axle with favorable location, and all-round disc brakes to cope with the 290 bhp(gross) at 6250rpm provided by the 4.6 liter Chevrolet V8 engine. The body shell was designed by Giugiaro and built by Bertone with aluminum panels. Jim Keeble started design in November 1959. The chassis was finished by January 1960 and transported to Turin, Italy, for the bodywork to be attached. The car was duly completed in March 1960 and featured as a star exhibit on the Bertone stand at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1960 as a fully finished car registered 472 LKX and named the Gordon GT. Taking four months from start to finish, this was a fantastic achievement.
At the Geneva Motor Show, the car was well received and created great interest internationally. The car was road tested as a prototype (unusually) by Autocar on 29th April 1960 and again in October 1960, by which time it had covered 14,000 miles in 6 months. The report was full of superlatives and described the car as "the most electrifying vehicle it has ever tested."
Later that year, John Gordon took the prototype to Detroit for a test drive by Chevrolet President Ed Cole and Zora Duntov. They were sufficiently impressed that they agreed to supply 1000, 327cu.in. Corvette engine/gearbox units annually, as well as full access to the Chevrolet distribution network in the USA.
Images: Bertone; www.gordonkeeble.org.uk; www.ucapusa.com
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