'Cheetah' 1 of 6

[Half-breeder]

Yesterday, at the shop, an loooooooong time customer came in to find out why his car wasnt starting/running. The boss man 'Tony' built the engine back in the early 80's for the guy.

I didnt ask to find out alot about the car... but from what I was told... it's hand made and custom built. The whole framework is a tubular(like a go-kart/buggy) frame. The entire 'body' is fiberglass. It's LOUD as a dragster. Jay Leno supposedly asked to buy 'this' car at the start of his Tonite Show career... And there are ONLY 5 'other's in the world. Sooooo, needless to say it's a pretty expensive 'toy'. I was told the collectors value of it was over 250k(Jay Leno's 'bid' back in the early 90's)... and to think I was working on my kart a mere couple yds from it! but .

front half of my kart can be seen on left side of 'this' pic


The gas that was in the fuel cell was old... after Tony checked the timing and cleaned the points is where the vid pics up... after draining the fuel and replacing w/ 105 octane... she fired right up... unfortunately I was amidst a welding session at the time so I didnt get vid of it running... wouldnt have mattered anyways... all you woulda heard was an over modulated, distorted growl, w/ the occasional pitch change to the growl, due to reving.
Cheetah... 1 of 6

 

[BirdFanatic]

Wow that looks almost like a 1963 shelby 427
http://i61.tinypic.com/30mmfxg.jpg

 

[Denny]

Shelby=Ford
Cheetah=Bill Thomas/Chevrolet
They looked nothing like and performed nothing like the Shelbys, they were much much faster!

Denny

 

[Half-breeder]

Wow that looks almost like a 1963 shelby 427

Umm... no it dont... not even in the same 'class'.

If anything... they are closer to a Vette than a Cobra... but even the Vette isnt much of a challenge in comparison...

 

[BirdFanatic]

No need to my opinion down

Umm... no it dont... not even in the same 'class'.

If anything... they are closer to a Vette than a Cobra... but even the Vette isnt much of a challenge in comparison...

 

[Half-breeder]

No need to my opinion down

I apologize... however to the untrained eye even a blind man can see the 'only' thing that looks similar is the roll bar/headrest... ANYONE w/ google can read up on em and tell the difference...

...but it's ok I think ppl that say things like 'Your Honda looks like a shopping cart...' should honestly examine/google the 2 images and then keep their ignorant comments, where untrained opinions belong...

We have a saying round here... "All in the kool-aid, and dont even know what flavor it is... but the first to jump for a cup.

 

[BirdFanatic]

Hey as long as its kool-aid i'm in .Kool-aid is kool-aid
We have a saying round here... "All in the kool-aid, and dont even know what flavor it is... but the first to jump for a cup.[/QUOTE]

I apologize... however to the untrained eye even a blind man can see the 'only' thing that looks similar is the roll bar/headrest... ANYONE w/ google can read up on em and tell the difference...

...but it's ok I think ppl that say things like 'Your Honda looks like a shopping cart...' should honestly examine/google the 2 images and then keep their ignorant comments, where untrained opinions belong...

We have a saying round here... "All in the kool-aid, and dont even know what flavor it is... but the first to jump for a cup.

 

[BirdFanatic]

It just reminds me of that car.More in a way resembles it but that's just me.

 

[Half-breeder]

Hey as long as its kool-aid i'm in .Kool-aid is kool-aid
We have a saying round here... "All in the kool-aid, and dont even know what flavor it is... but the first to jump for a cup.

And heres your first cup... btw we are serving zombies (that like rainbows)... if your wondering what that familiar flavor is... its Hematuria flavored.... enjoy, drink up... !


... have you... or have you NOT been informed to USE THE ****** EDIT button!

 

[itsid]

I cannot believe I say that.. but I agree with cameron on the "like a cobra" part..
it's the proportions.. they seem to match pretty good.
I cannot make any judgement about it's performance of course;
or what it compares to concerning acceleration, speed or handling...
not even exact size comparisions.
But the proportions triggered "cobra competitior" for me too

That car looks like a crossbred Lola Mk1 with a Jaguar xj13 (on steroids) or something.
both nice british sportscars btw..

about it's value... I might add:
http://www.chevyhardcore.com/news/ebay-find-of-the-day-a-super-rare-bill-thomas-65-cheetah/

Sooo.. either it slipped everybodys attention or no one would pay more than 35k

Don't get me wrong, I like it..
surely looks like serious fun
(and crappy handling.... again like a Cobra )

But If I had the opportunity to spend a quarter million on a collectible car... that'd be not the car that I'd buy.

'sid

 

[Denny]

That is one of the continuation cars not a original. The real ones are way north of one million dollars and would never be seen on ebay. There are so many things wrong in that article.

Denny

 

[JMINDY]

There was a real Bill Thomas Cheetah racing at this year's inaugural Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational at IMS. It ran in the oval racing portion of the event.

They had road course racing which was pretty much full on racing (some spinouts and even a couple wrecks occurred). The oval racing event was more of a high speed parade, which is where the vintage Indy cars, sprint cars, and other really rare cars ran...

That event is great... over 700 cars...garage is open to fans, so you can walk right up to the vehicles and view them...most of the owners were there to talk to you and answer any questions...had 34 past Indy racers there to participate...my favorite was seeing Parnelli Jones (at age 81) get back in his winning 1963 Indy car and do a few laps...it's an event you should go to if you get the opportunity!

I have many photos of the event...I'll see if I can find one of the Cheetah.