I finally got my dream car. Well I got the body for it anyway.


It's a Bill Thomas Cheetah. Thomas was a dude back in the 60's who had the dream of taking sides with Chevy and blowing Shelby off the map. The culmination of his dream was called the "Cheetah". The car did over 200mph at Daytona in 1965 on 4 wheel drum brakes. LOL! The car weighed slightly LESS than 2000lbs and was powered by a fuel injected 377 small block Chevy. Rumors were the car could break into the 10's (in the 1/4) in street trim. A lot of the components for the car were borrowed from Corvettes. Unfortunately for Thomas, he only managed to build about 25 cars before his shop (mysteriously???) burned to the ground. Chevy lost interest after this. In the competitions that it entered it was a moody competitor. It won quite a few races but was hampered by wacky weight distribution. The tailshaft of the tranny is yoked right to the rear diff and with a wheel base of only 90" you can imagine what it would be like to put it into a corner!!!! The drivers of the cars also suffered heat exhaustion. LOL But anyway it's been my dream car since I was about 15. I'm 30 now and I had the opportunity to pick up this body directly from a Bill Thomas authorized shop. You can find out more about the cars here http://www.billthomascheetah.com/
The car is surrounded in mystery and legend and I honestly think it has one of the most beautiful body shapes to ever grace an automobile. I've got my work cut out for me with this one, but hoping about 10 years fromm now it'll look like these .... ( with a little welding and grinding here and there...)

 

looks great, never heard of that before

 

It would look better if you cut off the top

 

Haha. I'm not sure if you're joking but seriously part of the reason I waited so long to get this particular body was because BTM is the only company that makes a legit coupe. There have been many other companies that made roadster versions but I never thought they looked as good. I think the sloped back roof line on the coupe really makes the car. Plus the coupe has gull wing doors. So sexy. The funny part of it is (and this is why I think maybe you are joking) that the perhaps the most famous Cheetah of all time had it's roof cut off to prevent the driver from getting heat exhaustion. It was the CroSal Cheetah. Decide for yourself; coupe or roadster...

 

thats pretty cool.

 

You are correct, I have never seen that before. Interesting project, keep us posted...

 

what chassis do you use with the body? it looks just like the start of a kit car to me...

 

The original chassis was a fully custom fabbed tube chassis. Looked a lot like the Factory 5 Cobra chassis. There are a few companies around that make the chassis for the Cheetah roadster and it wouldn't be a stretch to fab the upper part of it to make it coupe friendly. Most important aspect is the track width and wheelbase. Roadster and coupe were the same. I know I've got my work cut out for me but I'm adequately skilled with a welder. I'll be finishing up my '31 Ford coupe hot rod before I even start on the Cheetah.

 

sounds good! keep us updated!

 

That's a pretty cool looking car. Sort of reminds me of the Shelby Daytona Coupe.

What engine are you planning on using? An LS would seem like a good choice.

 

She could go full retard and use a LSX 454 That'd be downright scary in such a lightweight car but it'd be a helluva way to die.

Keep us up to date, would love to see the progress.

 

Interesting choice. Good luck! That is a pain to get in.

 

It'll be inspiration to stay thin!

 

very cool, you got a drive train for it yet?

 

your car is going to be nuts. LS9!!!!