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Topic starter
24/08/2021 10:08 am
Cheetah, American Sports Car 1963-66
The Bill Thomas Cheetah was an American sports car designed and engineered entirely with American components, and built from 1963 to 1966 by Chevrolet performance tuner Bill Thomas. It was developed as a competitor to Carroll Shelby's Cobra.
In 1963 Thomas gained covert support from General Motors Performance Product Group to develop the Cheetah as a concept vehicle. It was designed by Thomas and Don Edmunds, his lead fabricator. Edmunds is credited with the bulk of the construction of the car. Financing for the project came from private investors, Thomas, and John Grow, a Rialto California Chevrolet dealer. Grow owned the prototype car. Using his racing connections, Thomas arranged for material assistance from Chevrolet for the major components - the Corvette 327 engine, Muncie transmission, and independent rear-end assemblies. Other components were stocked from the larger GM parts bin, such as Chevrolet passenger car spindles, and NASCAR spec Chevrolet drum brakes.
The prototype body buck and forms were sent to California Metal Shaping for an aluminium body and Aircraft Windshield Co for the windows. Once returned to Thomas', it was finished by Don Borth and Edmunds. A second car was also constructed with an aluminum body, but the remainder of the cars were fiberglass. After construction began Thomas decided the car would also compete on the racetrack to further promote the concept. The chassis had not been designed for this and therefore was not rigid enough for racing.
The production models used fiberglass bodies. The first were produced by two different companies - Contemporary Fiberglass and Fiberglass Trends. Contemporary Fiberglass was selected to produce the bodies following some problems with the Fiberglass Trends molds.
The model shown here is one of the aluminum bodied prototypes as modelled by SPARK. It was not a racing version which had to have a more robust frame.
RACING CHEETAHS ARE ANOTHER STORY.
24/08/2021 10:48 am
Another nice history lesson David. I missed out on that Spark, do you know when it was released? I have only one Cheetah, Spark S1452, the 13th place car from the 1964 Daytona Continental.
Topic starter
24/08/2021 10:58 am
Hi Harv,
The prototype was Spark S1450. Not sure when it was produced but I got it in 2020 from MiniGrid in Toronto.
24/08/2021 11:18 am
@david-green Thanks. I checked epay and all the old Spark Cheetahs are going for big bucks now.
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Topic starter
24/08/2021 4:01 pm
Bill Thomas Cheetah on track
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