Here’s another machine that we saw at Automania 2008. What a jaw-dropper!
When I saw the car at the show, I had no idea what it was. No sign on it, and the owner was talking with some other folks when I was there. I only overheard parts of what he was saying about the car — something about 500-plus horsepower in a 1,500 pound car…
Then earlier this week I was poking around online and at random clicked on an ad in the project cars section at carsonline.com, and ended up at Nickey (with a backwards K), and found this listing for a 1965 Cheetah for sale — same car! And only $99,500.
The Cheetah was commissioned by Chevrolet as a competitor to Carroll Shelby’s Cobra, and was built in limited numbers by Bill Thomas. I won’t attempt to explain the history of the car; others have done that already, and all you ever wanted to know can be found on the Cheetah Wikipedia page and Official Bill Thomas Cheetah Website. Production on the car was pretty limited back in the early sixties, but a kit car version of it has been available for some time, and is still being sold. Not sure, but I think the one at the show was an original fiberglass-bodied version.
It’s a mean looking car in pictures, but the photos really don’t do this beast justice. In person though… Wow.
More photos: KitCarMag.com, BillThomasCheetah.com, Wikipedia, CheetahCars.com, and others.
