Topic: SOLVED: Djetset #371 - Winchester Motor Company/Gordon Keeble 'Black Prince'

[Djetset]

To gain a point please tell me the precise name of this car, plus any additional information you may know about it will also be of interest.

[tonyola]

1972 Vauxhall Ventora "Black Prince"
Built by Gordon Keeble, equipped with Chevy 327 and ZF 5-speed manual

[Djetset]

Wow Tonyola, you're almost there, but do you now under what 'brand' name it was sold under/marketed by?  Locked to you for 24 hours.

[tonyola]

According to a primary source, the Vauxhall griffin emblem was replaced by the Gordon-Keeble turtle badge, so I'd have to say Gordon-Keeble Black Prince. However, a period 1972 ad (Winchester Motor Co. Ltd.) for the Black Prince makes no mention of the G-K name with Black Prince being the sole name, and some sources call it a Vauxhall.

[Djetset]

The Winchester Motor Company was the other name I was looking for (see advert below), as they were the sole agents for the Black Prince, so well done, you get the point.

[Allemano]

 You want to keep me busy, eh? 

[Djetset]

Well done Allemano, you've worked your miracle again 

[DeAutogids.nl]

Where can I order one for that money?

[Djetset]

The way the global economy is crashing at the moment, it may well be back down to this price before too long!

[DeAutogids.nl]

"There were several Black Princes built, by a garage in Eastleigh. The only Gordon Keeble connection was the engines - when GK went bust, this garage bought the remaining crated 327 V8 engines. Back axles were usually Jaguar. Overall the quality was pretty poor. Mag wheels were fitted, and I bought one set of the redundant original Ventora wheels and trims for my F model Victor.
One owner took his car into Perrins, the Southampton Vauxhall dealer, for some work. The handbrake didn't work at all because the rear disc pads were worn to nothing. But when new ones were fitted they fouled the wheels and jammed the brakes on. To overcome this the builders has filed down the pads... In mid-1972 I was trying to get a price for one of the delivery mileage only ex-Ventora engines for my smokey PB Velox, but then emigration intervened."

I won't quote the source, but apparently, Winchester should be a garage in Eastleigh. If only I knew the name...

[Djetset]

I have a feeling that Eastleigh is a suburb of Winchester.

[Tom_I]

Eastleigh is about 7 km from Winchester. On the map below the position of the Winchester Motor Company in St Cross Road is shown by the orange arrow slightly obscuring the word "Winchester". If this mention of somewhere in Eastleigh is correct, it looks as if it must have been a different garage.

[DeAutogids.nl]

Hence me sharing it with you.

[Tom_I]

Yes, and thank you, but on the basis of the information we have so far, all we can definitely say is that the car was marketed by the Winchester Motor Co.

Without further solid evidence, we can't say with any certainty who actually did the conversion.

Does anyone have a copy of the Autocar road test referred to in the advert? Does that shed any more light on the subject?

[Neil Armstrong]

  I think Gordon Keebles were originally built in Brackly Buckinghmshire UK were I saw the De Brunye in about 1969 or so.

[Carnut]

I think Jim Keeble's business was originally based in Slough, but whether any Gordon keebles were actually built there I'm not sure.
Most were built in Eastleigh, before the factory moved to Southampton where the final few were built.