There are three cars that I would like to own before my time is up.

The Welsh-built Gilbern GT1800, a Gordon-Keeble and most of all, I would like my 1962 Alvis TD 21 DHC back.

The Gordon-Keeble story began in 1959, when John Gordon, who was involved with the manufacturing of the struggling Peerless/Warwick Car Company, met Jim Keeble, an engineer and racing driver familiar with American V8 engines. At the time Keeble was preparing a Corvette race car for USAF pilot Rick Neilson.

Gordon and Keeble formed a partnership and decided to fit a 215-cubic-inch Buick V8 into a Peerless chassis. Gordon designed a new body with slightly angled twin-headlights and called it the Gordon GT. This would be aimed at the Aston Martin, Jensen and Facel Vega clientele.

The chassis was comprised of a one-inch-square, tube spaceframe, with a De Dion rear axle and four-wheel disc brakes. The chassis was finished in early 1960 and transported to Italy for the coach builder Bertone to fit the Giorgetto Giugiaro styled aluminum body.

By the time the car was ready for production the name had appropriately been changed to Gordon-Keeble. Gordon had taken the prototype to Detroit for Chevrolet President Ed Cole and engineer Zora Duntov to test drive.

They were so impressed with the car they agreed to supply the 327-cu.-in. Corvette engine, gearbox and the full support of the GM dealership network in the U.S. to distribute the cars. The aluminum body was replaced with a fibreglass body, which was much cheaper to produce and could be built in England by Williams and Pritchard, one of the foremost specialist fibreglass firms.

The entire project collapsed after a mere 90 cars had been built. And all because the steering-box supplier, Adwest, suffered a lengthy labour dispute resulting in unfinished cars sitting idle. The entire workforce was laid off unpaid and Gordon-Keeble went into receivership.

The survival rate of this collectible car is very impressive. With a mere 100 examples being built between 1963 and 1966 the 90 per cent worldwide survival rate is quite remarkable. The pictured car belongs to a collector in British Columbia.

As a followup to last week’s column about the Toyota 2000GT, Lot 135 at the New York auction sold for $968,000 (including fees).

Reader Michael Jillings contacted me and brought to my attention that although Albert Goertz took the credit for designing the Datsun 240Z, credit should rightfully go to Yoshihiko Matsuo and his design team.

Nigel Matthews is the director of sales and marketing for Hagerty Canada, LLC. Hagerty is the world’s leading specialist insurer of collector cars and boats. You can contact him at nmatthews@hagerty.com or visit hagerty.ca.