Aston Martin DBS V8 vs Jensen Interceptor SP vs Gordon-Keeble GK1: British beef

By Russ Smith

| 25 Mar 2025

Classic & Sports Car – Aston Martin DBS V8 vs Jensen Interceptor SP vs Gordon-Keeble GK1: ’60s GT showdown

Britain in the early 1960s and ’70s was a haven for specialist car manufacturers with big ideas, all vying to take on the mighty Italian establishment at producing large, powerful, stylish and expensive GTs.

It was also a period when manufacturers still had the confidence to run with their own ideas and do things differently.

So the three bespoke and expensive grand tourers gathered here might all have V8 engines, four seats, separate chassis and a Union Jack to wave, but that’s the only common ground on which they have to park.

Not only do our trio fail to share so much as a styling cue, but their bodies are crafted from different materials, too: steel for the Jensen Interceptor, aluminium for the Aston Martin DBS V8 and glassfibre for the Gordon-Keeble GK1.

The Jensen Interceptor SP is an Anglo-American hybrid

From there the differences grow, but while all scale great heights of British GT-ness, one rises above the rest. Can you guess which?

If you want to dip a toe into a market the Italians do best, it doesn’t hurt to get them to style your car – which is exactly what Jensen and Gordon-Keeble did, employing the talents of Vignale and Giorgetto Giugiaro (working at Bertone) respectively.

Jensen must have issued the tighter brief, because the Interceptor’s unique styling has an overtly British beefiness about it, enhanced here by the sportier SP’s four rows of bonnet louvres.

You couldn’t imagine it wearing anyone else’s badge.

This Jensen Interceptor’s four rows of bonnet louvres identify it as the sportier, 330bhp SP model

The achingly pretty Gordon-Keeble has a familiarity that belies its rarity.

It could easily pass muster with a Lancia or Maserati badge on its nose in place of the ironic tortoise.

The strikingly similar Iso Rivolta appeared two years before the British coupé, but only after the Italian maker had ‘borrowed’ a GK1 and declined the option of making them under licence.

It all confirms what your eyes tell you: those flowing lines and delicate pillars work in wonderful harmony. It’s hard not to stare.

The Gordon-Keeble GK1’s tongue-in-cheek tortoise badge

Aston Martin, being Aston Martin, kept its styling in-house, and the DBS is possibly William Towns’ best work – a shape corrupted by later changes.

Strong and tough yet refined, in a captain-of-the-rugger-team kind of way, it looks the tallest of the three, although all are of identical height.

As with the Jensen, it couldn’t possibly be anything but a product of its maker.

Similar parallels can be drawn over what powers these cars.

Once again Aston kept matters to itself, using Tadek Marek’s exotic 5.3-litre, four-cam, aluminium V8, with Bosch mechanical fuel injection for good measure.

The William Towns-penned Aston Martin DBS V8’s sharp lines were a step change from what came before

The other two offer nothing nearly as sophisticated, having shopped across the Atlantic.

Gordon-Keeble came home with 5.3 litres of Chevrolet V8, a sturdy iron small-block at the level of tune used in Corvettes and promising similar power to that rumoured of Aston Martin’s V8, despite having just the one cam per bank.

Jensen carried on its association with Chrysler and, for the SP version of the Interceptor, installed a 7.2-litre V8 that was quite relaxed about its 330bhp output.

That was originally with the aid of three two-barrel carburettors – ‘SP’ stands for six-pack – but most UK owners and their mechanics struggled to keep them in order, and many soon reverted to the single four-barrel Carter carb used on other Jensens, with little drop-off in power.

The Aston Martin DBS V8 is powered by Tadek Marek’s quad-cam V8 engine

Slip behind their wheels in turn and the Gordon-Keeble finally gives away its lowly beginnings in a shed at Eastleigh Airport, near Southampton.

It hasn’t the same air of luxury as the other two, but instead boasts a fair acreage of the era’s ‘fits-all’ quilted black vinyl.

It also harks back to a time when a car’s sportiness could be judged almost as much by its complement of switches, lights and dials as by its top speed.

The array of these in the dominating centre console looks like a retail display in a ’60s motor factor.

This Gordon-Keeble GK1 has been transformed by a rack-and-pinion steering set-up

That aside, it’s comfortable, with the thin pillars allowing visibility unrivalled in any hardtop.

You sit low, with the wheel ideally placed in your lap, pedals offset to the right but not uncomfortably so.

It’s the most complete four-seater here, too, with room in the back for full-size grown-ups, although you might bake their shoulders under that close expanse of rear ’screen.

The Gordon-Keeble GK1’s small-block Chevrolet V8 makes 360lb ft of torque

With its pedigree and price premium you’d expect the Aston Martin to make a better fist of things.

And it does, with quality blue leather covering what are easily the most comfortable seats of the three and, again, with a handily low-set wheel.

It is let down by the scattered approach to the placing of controls, many of which appear fished from low-rent parts bins, and the handbrake is tucked out of easy reach down the side of the gearbox tunnel, by your left knee.

The beautifully appointed Aston Martin DBS V8 is the most comfortable car here

At least the seven instruments (I’m counting now) are neatly laid out together in the dash, the most prominent being the centrally mounted oil-pressure gauge.

That tells you all you need to know about priorities for this engine.

The rear provides good legroom and well-padded wraparound seats, but anyone over my 5ft 7in will need to adopt a hunchback posture to keep their heads off the rooflining.

The Aston Martin DBS V8’s swooping roofline looks great, but it doesn’t help rear headroom

Things look and feel a lot more modern in this Mk2 Jensen Interceptor, although whether it’s an improvement on the dual-cowled gauges and the sleeker lines of the Mk1 is a matter for discussion elsewhere.

The black leather seats support you well in a fairly upright position, higher than in the other two, yet the wheel is still a reach up and the smaller, thick-rimmed Moto-Lita in this car is not to my taste.

Controls are better laid out than in the other two, but it’s very black in here, everything bar the neatly stitched cream tuck ’n’ roll headlining and space-age silver ball air vents.

The Jensen Interceptor SP’s cabin is comfortable, if a little gloomy

So it’s quite gloomy, albeit in an expensive way, and very much of its period.

Despite looking like the biggest cabin from the outside, the Interceptor offers the least rear legroom, sumptuous though the seats are once you do get into them.

Despite what the figures say on paper, in a drag race – and more to the point in the real world on UK roads – I’d back the Gordon-Keeble to be the quickest car here.

It’s remarkably sharp off the line and provides its punch from low down, whereas the Aston engine wants to surge up the rev range to deliver its best on a wave of acceleration that never seems to stop.

The Gordon-Keeble GK1 is the best driver’s car of this 1960s trio

Get well into speeds we’re no longer allowed to enjoy and the roles are reversed, the DBS always having pace to spare.

Less of a revver and held back by its automatic gearbox, the Jensen is an altogether lazier experience.

It’s not slow by any means, as you find when a bootful of throttle kicks the auto ’box down a gear and the V8 bellows as the car heads for the horizon, with that classic, slightly nose-up attitude.

The Gordon-Keeble’s light weight makes life easy for the Chevrolet engine and allows it to deliver a kick of massive torque seemingly at any speed, in any gear.

The Gordon-Keeble GK1 is elegant and understated

That’s just as well, because on first encounter the firm and short-throw gearchange feels like unbolting the castle gates.

You get used to it, but, combined with the heavy clutch, it’s nice to be able to keep shifts to a minimum, and its ability to pull comfortably in top from below 20mph all the way to flat-out is most welcome.

That’s all you have to make allowances for in the Gordon-Keeble.

Conversion to rack-and-pinion steering dismisses period road-test complaints about the original steering box set-up and makes the car feel surprisingly nimble, with plenty of feedback through the thin, wood-rimmed wheel.

‘Slip behind their wheels in turn and the Gordon-Keeble finally gives away its lowly beginnings in a shed at Eastleigh Airport, near Southampton’

There’s just enough grip from the 185-section tyres, although you can break traction readily enough if you so choose.

For me the front end rolls a little too much in corners, but I do wonder whether the initial temptation to fit stiffer springs would upset the GK1’s excellent overall balance.

As with all three cars there’s a disc brake at each corner, and twin servos pull it up with great confidence – much better than Jaguar E-types of the same era.

Confidence is the key word, because the Gordon-Keeble fills you with it. This is an easy car in which to learn to go quickly.

The Aston Martin DBS V8’s mighty engine sounds great

So, it has to be said, is the Jensen.

With the automatic ’box found in most Interceptors – upgraded to a later four-speed here – there’s no heavy clutch or gearshifting to distract you.

Unfortunately, other more enjoyable distractions are also absent.

Like many much more modern cars, you are rather divorced from much of the action thanks to over-light steering – even with this car’s smaller steering wheel – that doesn’t feed much information back from the big tyres.

This Jensen Interceptor SP was originally fitted with a six-pack of twin-choke carburettors

Likewise, the brakes do their job very well but via a spongy, lifeless pedal.

I wouldn’t want any of this to come across as serious criticism. Apart from on narrow twisty lanes, where it seems to grow larger around you, the Jensen does everything very well.

In this company, however, it makes the weakest case for being an enthusiastic driver’s car.

In its defence, though, I’m absolutely sure that this would be the car you’d step out of feeling freshest after a cross-country – or even cross-Continental – blast.

This Jensen Interceptor SP has been reinvigorated with efficient Holley fuel injection

Quite the opposite of the Gordon-Keeble, the Aston Martin surprises with its five-speed ZF gearbox’s long, light and loose gearchange.

You do need to be positive with it – no limp-wristed flicks – but the clutch, although still heavy, is a little easier on the leg.

There’s more benefit in using the gears, too, matching pace to powerband to keep that storming engine on the boil.

The brakes, despite having the heaviest car to pull up here (it’s about 800lb more than the GK1), are easily a match for the others, lacking only a smidgen in initial bite.

‘I’m absolutely sure that the Jensen Interceptor would be the car you’d step out of feeling freshest after a cross-country blast’

All that weight prevents the Aston Martin DBS from ever being what you’d call truly chuckable, but on sweeping bends its stiffer suspension – more so than usual here, with the Koni dampers fitted to this car – and 235/70 tyres really come into their own, giving the car a reassuring balance and poise.

The steering could be sharper, but at least it lacks the vagueness of the Jensen’s set-up.

After all that, it still feels a very close-run thing. You could buy any one of these cars and not come home disappointed.

Each deserves its god-like status in the classic car pantheon; each demands respect and could draw a crowd at a Ferrari meeting.

The Aston Martin DBS V8 was designed in-house, unlike the Giorgetto Giugiaro-penned Gordon-Keeble and Vignale’s Jensen Interceptor

But, as I hinted at the start, one of these cars is, to my mind, just that extra bit special.

It has that indefinable ‘something’ that brings a lump to your throat and sets off mental calculations about what possessions you could sell off in order to raise the funds.

I’m sorry, but it’s not the Jensen Interceptor, even though I’m of the right age to have gazed in awe from the back seat of Father’s Vauxhall Viva as those great curved back windows rocketed past every time we took a trip up the M1.

Nor, though I surprise myself, is it the Aston Martin, whose mighty and complex engine scares as much as it enthrals.

The Jensen Interceptor SP’s vast rear window

No, it’s the Gordon-Keeble that edges it, the car for which I’ve fallen head over heels.

Close to though not quite E-type-stunning, it’s a car that possesses the sort of looks that make it impossible to walk away from without glancing back.

The GK1 also totally involves you with the driving experience and can likely be fixed by a dog with a bag of spanners.

It even has a Great British Underdog story attached to it – the sole product of a plucky car firm that didn’t quite manage to triumph over adversity. But it jolly well deserved to.

Images: Tony Baker

Thanks to: Jensen Owners’ Club; Aston Martin Owners’ Club; Gordon-Keeble Owners’ Club

This was first in our May 2007 magazine; all information was correct at the date of original publication

Factfiles

Aston Martin DBS V8

Sold/number built 1969-’72/405
Construction aluminium panels over steel platform and square-tube frame
Engine all-alloy, dohc-per-bank 5340cc 90° V8, with AM/Bosch mechanical fuel injection
Max power 360bhp @ 6250rpm (est)
Max torque 400lb ft @ 4000rpm
Transmission ZF five-speed manual, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by double wishbones, anti-roll bar rear de Dion axle, trailing arms, Watt linkage; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes discs, with twin servos
Length 15ft 1in (4585mm)
Width 6ft (1829mm)
Height 4ft 5in (1346mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 7in (2609mm)
Weight 4008lb (1820kg)
Mpg 14
0-60mph 6 secs
Top speed 162mph
Price new £6897

Jensen Interceptor SP

Produced/built 1966-’76/6639 (coupés)
Construction steel box-section chassis, with steel body
Engine all-iron, ohv Chrysler 7212cc 90° V8, with three two-barrel carburettors (Holley injection in this car)
Max power 330bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 425lb ft @ 2800rpm
Transmission three-speed Torqueflite automatic (later four-speed in this car), RWD
Suspension: front independent, by double wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bar, lever-arm dampers rear live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs, Panhard rod, Armstrong Selectaride telescopic dampers
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes discs, with servo
Length 15ft 7in (4750mm)
Width 5ft 10in (1778mm)
Height 4ft 5in (1346mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 9in (2675mm)
Weight 3905lb (1773kg)
Mpg 12
0-60mph 7.4 secs
Top speed 136mph
Price new £3743

Gordon-Keeble GK1

Produced/built 1964-’66/99
Construction steel square-tube frame chassis, with glassfibre body
Engine all-iron, ohv Chevrolet 5355cc 90° V8, with Carter four-barrel carburettor
Max power 300bhp @ 5000rpm
Max torque 360lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual, RWD
Suspension: front independent, by double wishbones rear de Dion axle, trailing arms, Watt linkage; coil springs, telescopic dampers f/r
Steering worm and wheel (power-assisted rack and pinion on this car)
Brakes discs, with twin servos
Length 15ft 6in (4724mm)
Width 5ft 8in (1727mm)
Height 4ft 5in (1345mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 6in (2591mm)
Weight 3164lb (1437kg)
Mpg 15
0-60mph 6 secs
Top speed 143mph
Price new £3627