1963 Cheetah 63 - 66 The Cheetah was meant to be Cobra-killer. It was Corvette powered, with a custom-designed chassis and suspension. There has never been another car like it. Unfortunately, the Cheetah never made production. In 1964 Chevrolet sent a letter to Bill Thomas informing him that Chevrolet was withdrawing all support for the Cheetah project. Chevrolet’s withdrawal of support is what ended development. This also meant that no guidance on how to build the required 100 cars for homologation. Also a larger facility was needed to get the Cheetah into production and set up a dealer network. The last documented Bill Thomas produced Cheetah was ordered in the fall of 1965 and delivered in April 1966 and money was tight. It is document that 11 cars were completed. All the Bill Thomas Cheetahs were delivered with drum brakes and Fuel Injection.----Think 400+ hp in a 1,400 lbs car.! The loan exception was the Alan Green Chevrolet race car. It used cross ram Weber carburetors. The Webers were replaced in the summer of 1964 with a dual air meter fuel injection system based on the 1963/64 Corvette Fuel Injection produced by Rochester Products and modified by Bill Thomas. Bill personally built a Super Cheetah with a big block too. Any number beyond 11 Cheetahs is speculation and wishful thinking. At least 8 cars survive. Aluminum body, More success drag rather than roadracing as the chassis were not that great, After Chevy pulled the plug and then a fire (9/65) things ended in too short a time. 19 chassis and 33 bodies were built. A number of replicas and his family attempted(ing) to build many more starting in 2007 with little success. after his passing, in 2009, only 10 continuationcars were built and the business was or is for sale. An original car must be worth upwards of at least $3M- As of 12/14, they sre still in business after legal issies...I wish them luck!
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 13:15:02 +0000