Forgotten cars

[NergleFuttocks]

Uninteresting fact- a sadly deceased friend owned a Gordon Keeble which was chassis #1. He sold it and it is/was resident in Hong Kong.

What year are we talking here? I once had a random chat with a guy in the Talk of the Town bar (one of the old famous HK hotels, Mandarin or Excelsior) who claimed he had loads of Gordon Keebles. I put this into the too much beer category and made my excuses. This was about 2006. So it could have been true?!! Just seemed so unlikely!

[NergleFuttocks]

Oh yeah, and if they had put a 4943 Colombo engine in a Fidia, there would be one outside my house right now. I’d live in it instead of a house. A Fidia is my ultimate dream car (with a V12 obvs)

[59Impala]

Uninteresting fact- a sadly deceased friend owned a Gordon Keeble which was chassis #1. He sold it and it is/was resident in Hong Kong.

What year are we talking here? I once had a random chat with a guy in the Talk of the Town bar (one of the old famous HK hotels, Mandarin or Excelsior) who claimed he had loads of Gordon Keebles. I put this into the too much beer category and made my excuses. This was about 2006. So it could have been true?!! Just seemed so unlikely!

I don't know but he didn't own the GK when I first met him in the 90s so I suspect it was possibly in the 80s/early 90s so it's entirely possible that you were talking to the owner of chassis #1.

[mercrocker]

What actually was Chassis One, though....the first Gordon GT or the Gordon Keeble itself? The tale is fraught with stops and starts and most accounts you see online seem to be inconsistent with each other. They were built at Southampton for a time but I believe only towards the end of their production life. Jim Keeble had a unit just up the road from us here and traded as Kee-West Developments which I think had something to do with Adwest who supplied some of the steering parts for the G-K. The site is an Arnold Shark now, such is the way the world has since turned......

[Warren t claim]

Although not yank powered, I always had a thing for the Gilbern Invader.

[mercrocker]

I don't think this thread is exclusively for V8 hybrids - the Invader (along with Genie and 1800GT) is a perfect example of the "Forgotten Car."

Saw this last week on You Tube, bit painful!

[JimH]

The Gilbern Invader is certainly not forgotten and as long as you don't look too closely was quite a handsome little thing. I think the earlier cars looked better than the Mk3. Quite nice...



Not quite nice at all...

[59Impala]

What actually was Chassis One, though....the first Gordon GT or the Gordon Keeble itself? The tale is fraught with stops and starts and most accounts you see online seem to be inconsistent with each other. They were built at Southampton for a time but I believe only towards the end of their production life. Jim Keeble had a unit just up the road from us here and traded as Kee-West Developments which I think had something to do with Adwest who supplied some of the steering parts for the G-K. The site is an Arnold Shark now, such is the way the world has since turned......

I would think that my friend's car was Gordon-Keeble Chassis One, the first of the 99 production cars. From what I can recall the Gordon GT got badly damaged and wasn't viable to return to the road so the body was removed and they found that a fastback Rapier shell would fit over the chassis. That then became a Special Saloon racer with Chevy power. I can remember seeing it race at Brands Hatch, I don't think it ever won a race but it looked and sounded good. Just found a not great photo of it being pursued by a Mk1 Escort and an angry Anglia. Must be the 70s, dig those flares!