Image courtesy Cheetah Continuation Collectible
The Cheetah holds an unusual distinction in the history of American race cars – its infamy comes more from what it could have been than what it actually did. Spawned from a desire to beat the Cobras on road courses, the Cheetah was designed by Bill Thomas and Don Edmunds. At the time, Thomas was running his own business, Bill Thomas Race Cars, and had built a relationship with influential people at Chevrolet previously by preparing successful Corvette race cars, among other Chevy-backed projects, and was using Corvette drivetrain components in the Cheetah’s chassis. An aluminum-bodied prototype was built first, followed by another aluminum-bodied car (which was reportedly purchased by Chevrolet for research), which was then used to create molds so that fiberglass bodies could be made; most of the remaining Cheetahs built used the fiberglass body.
But very few were actually made – sources vary, but all seem to agree that the number is less than 30, which seems to include vehicles in partial form. While Bill Thomas Race Cars worked with racers to sort out the car’s teething issues, homologation requirements went from 100 cars to 1,000; meanwhile, a fire in the shop at Bill Thomas Race Cars claimed the wooden body buck and lots of parts and Chevrolet pulled back its support of the project. The Cheetah was dead shortly afterward.
Still, many people have harbored adoration over the decades to follow for the car that showed so much promise. The Cheetah seemed to have come tantalizingly close to being a dominant force on the track, and though Cheetahs did score some checkered flags, significant racing success was never quite achieved.
Admiration of the car and belief in its design seemed to lead to the formation of a new company decades later, dedicated to continuing the Cheetah as it was. BTM of Arizona was the outfit producing the Cheetah Continuation Collectible. This venture, launched in 2007, and was said to have the blessings of Bill Thomas himself, who was reportedly involved with the Cheetah’s reissue design. The company stressed that the new car was not a replica, but rather, a continuation model, built just like the originals, even using period-style small-block Chevy engines, Muncie four-speed transmissions and Corvette rear suspension. With a 90-inch wheelbase and only 1,550 pounds of curb weight, it was guaranteed to provide instant thrills.
Unfortunately, despite being considered accurate in terms of design and content (though with improved rigidity and other build improvements), the continuation Cheetah has been slow to find new buyers. Since launching in 2007, only 10 “new” Cheetahs have been sold, nine of them to European buyers. Meanwhile, Bill Thomas passed away in 2008, and now it has been reported that BTM has shut down the continuation venture.
If you think the prospect sounds viable, you can pick up the whole works – a couple of complete bodies and tooling to make more, chassis jigs, various parts and the rights to the design and name, though it does appear that Bill Thomas only authorized a limited number of continuation cars (the auction mentions that “67 letters” remain from Thomas). The online auction opened at $120,000, but ended without a single bid. The fate of the Cheetah’s future hangs in the balance – will it suffer a second premature death?