Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: A Cheetah in Emeryville Continue reading the Original Blog Post
I've always wanted a Cheetah. When I was a kid my Dad had bought a new Chevy truck and he received the Chevy Friends magazine. I remember there was a Cheetah on a trailer behind a new Chevy pickup on the cover of one issue. I was like "what is THAT?!!!"... I taped out the wheelbase on my shop floor before I started on my AV-8 coupe: 90 in. compared to a model A 103 in! Crazy short.
Yeah Ryan's Kellison post reminded me of my all time dream sports car, a Cheetah. There was a kit for sale on CL in Sacramento a couple of years ago, for 10K. Needed a boatload of finish work and time that I don't have but I think about it often.. If I'm not mistaken that one was at the vintage races at Sears Point a few years ago.
Bill Thomas was also responsible for the fastback Chevy II's. Both it and the Cheetah are very cool cars. Lots of great pictures on this website: https://billthomascheetah.com
As I remember the trans was coupled to the rear without a driveshaft. One of the few kit cars still built I would want to own.
HUGE fan. I love the self-built sports cars from the 1950s-1960s. My only question now that I'm older is I wonder if they ever made a kit for fat guys... ???
Have read that you could cook your dinner on the floorboards while racing. Dig this shot, story in link below. https://petrolicious.com/articles/f...tah-brings-american-motorsport-history-abroad
Thomas' Cheetah is an absolute favorite! ...and imagine if he kept going with the Super Cheetah in '65 (second pic is the aluminum prototype)!!!...
Yes, I “found” this particular project car - bought it from Bob Auxier - it was his personal car, then I sold it to Ian who had it restored and races it here - it was up to 5th at the Goodwood Members Meeting this year in the Graham Hill Trophy race with pro-driver Anthony Reid racing it. I only sold it as I was up to my neck in my ‘34 Bonneville build but had to have another one and found this Bob Auxier continuation car - previously owned by Bob Boyce, it was one of only six race versions. http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/08/fast-cat-the-bill-thomas-cheetah/ We raced this one in the Big Bend Open Road Race down on the Tex-Mex border - only driven it on an abandoned airfield before and had no idea which way we would be pointing when we exited the first corner but it handled perfectly - sticky Avons transformed it. Downsides were the scorching heat in the cabin - it was so hot in there we couldn’t wear our Nomex suits - and the noise - 126 decibels through those open pipes over 120 miles makes your ears ring after a while. Regards Jon. P.S. I know where the Super Cheetah lives.
I only discovered the Cheetah a couple weeks ago while watching a YT vid of Duncan racing his. Reading up on it I think I also had one for my slot car track when I was a kid. The sound of that engine winding out on the track is just incredible.
Another car I'd love to own but never will. There was one at our local town annual car show about a decade ago, made the cruise, never got a chance to get an upclose look at it. Devin
bob boyce got a good chuckle out of that. he doesn't know what auxier has been feeding you but bob still owns his continuation cheetah and continues to modify it and make it better.
Yes he does. I bought the car - continuation chassis #006 - from racer Phil Smith, who said Bob owned two continuation Cheetahs and the one I bought was his spare car. Makes no odds either way - it was a great car and the new owner had never heard of Bob anyway! Regards Jon.
Anaheim, CA Hello, "...Raw racing indeed..." That red one is very impressive and valuable. We encountered several models a long time ago in So Cal. By 1963, my friend with the 57 Chevy Bel Air and I were at a stopping point of our hot rod adventures. His 57 Chevy and my 58 Impala were as built as much as our budgets would allow. The next step would have been to install a 671 supercharged SBC motor for the ultimate street power and perhaps go back to the drags that we had been reluctant to attend after 1960. But, in thinking back, we let our 671 292 c.i. SBC blower spec motor go and that episode was now officially over. In thinking of what that motor would have done in the 57 Chevy and/or in my 58 Impala, who needed a 409 Bel Air Bubble Top? As the year rolled on, we were looking for the next thing and his friend had a mild Corvette that was a reliable street, daily driver. Our conversations turned to modifying the Corvette and cruise around with a lightweight sporty car. Not good for double dating, but at least it would give us a different outlook on speed and power for the street. So, we read about the Cheetah sporty cars being built just 20 miles away in Anaheim, CA. It had SBC power, a light weight chassis/body and could be set up with any amount of go. We drove over to the shop and saw several in the lot and street. They were impressive although we did not hear any being run at the time. They just looked mean and ready for any action. The one problem we noticed was the lack of any insulation and upholstery. The gauges were full complement of what we all knew from our hot rods, but the two buckets seats were the only thing upholstered. So, noise and heat were two things we knew would be in great quantities. Jnaki We were teenagers and were impressed with the American sports car that could challenge the Corvette market if put into production. The odd styling would be a problem for most, but the power would have overcome that styling for us power hungry teens. The cost was way over what we would pay for a new car, so that was just another dream. As we stood there looking, we could not get over the cool design and power that would have been the talk of the town. But, we talked about cost and reliability, while sitting in the drive-in restaurant back in Bixby Knolls eating our quantities of French fries and gravy with Cherry Cokes. “Teenage wastelands…only teenage wastelands..."
My dad had a Cheetah slot car too, it was my favorite out of all our slot cars and why I love Cheetahs… His was about 1/64 scale though and I still have it:
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