Cobra vs. Cheetah

[cobrakalis]

I've noticed that some replica companies are producing Chevy powered Cheetah's. I don't know that much history of the Cheetah, but do know it is lighter than the Cobra and is using Chevy power. I also know they did not produce many originals. Does the Cheetah's performance numbers match the Cobra's? It just looked like a pretty neat little car, with the same philosophy of the Cobra's: Big engine/light body.

[Fred Douglass]

..there was an article on Robert Auxier's C-R Cheetah Race Cars replica from Phoenix, AZ. (pp.16-20). It had a 90-inch w/b and weighed "1600-1800 lbs". Outfitted with a Chevy 427, the car was reportedly a handful. Bob Bondurant is quoted as remembering that (while driving the original Cheetah) he "spun out a lot" (p. 19 K-C 7/94). The test driver for the new Cheetah was "one of the winningest Cobra drivers of all time" Don Roberts. He's quoted as saying that the car was "loose and squirrely" and "suffered from both on- and off-throttle oversteering..." But, he also held out hope that, with larger wheels and tires, AND suspension tuning, the problems could disappear. I recall seeing an original Cheetah at the 'Glen in the 70's (?), and it was blindingly fast (mostly while accelerating out of corners---but it took a lot of careful steering to get it set up properly for the launch. The one I saw was dark blue and just ATE UP everything on the track (when it wasn't busy trying to become a weed-whacker!).

[Cal Metal]

We should defer to Cheetah Neal and Cheetah Bruce on this one, as they are the feline afficionados on the forum.

The quick history......The Cheetah, more formally known as the Bill Thomas Cheetah, was a Chevrolet skunkworks project developed under the Thomas name in 1963. Thomas, a highly successful west coast racer/GM dealer, primarily in USAC, was used as a front for the building of the cars, as GM divisions were forbidden, under the 1957 AMA racing ban pronouncement, in participating, on a direct level, in any such activities.

Roughly, 26 cars were built, depending on who you talk to. I talked with Thomas a number of years ago and that was the number he gave me. There were two alloy bodied cars--one belonged to Sonny and Cher, and the remaining were fiberglass bodied. The car weighed in at 1,510 pounds (Hot Rod Magazine 1963), was powered by a standard 375 h,p, fuel injected Corvette engine and used the Chevrolet trans (Muncie) and '63 rearend/suspension Corvette components.

Jerry Titus was one of the more well known drivers who raced the car. Unfortunately, the Cheetah was developed in the twilight of their era--much like the 427 Cobra--where the front engined high performance cars were giving way to mid engine race cars like the GT-40 and the Ferrari 250 LM. You might say they it was the "last gasp" of that kind of car.

That is a thumb nail sketch. If I have left anything out of real importance, I will let Cheetah Neal and Mr. Bruce take it from here.
Oh....and they were very fast but not great handling. I investigated buying two of them on separate occasions back in the early 80s. One of the owners said it would "eat Cobras for lunch". I guess with a weight of 1,500 pounds, that would be an advantage. Four pounds per horsepower in stock form is pretty impressive. They didn't stock very long, either, furthering their advantage in a straight line.

[66 snake]

Having never seen one, I looked it up on the web and found this pic.

http://www.cheetahcars.com/index.htm

Mrs. 66 Snake

[RallySnake]

The Cheeta is very much like my other favorite car (Lola T70), too much of a race car to enjoy on the street.

Paul

[Dan Stryffeler]

Gary,

Stick to your GT40 plans...

"Chevy, we don't need no stinking Chevy!" might have to bounce you from the NOCC. Oops, can't - the picnic is at your house.

- Dan

[Neal Jackson]

Thanks Cal, for the excellent recap. Pretty much covered the car quite well.

Mrs. 66 Snake,

That webstie and the number 8 Cheetah belong to Fred Yeakel of So Cal. That car is the first glass bodied Cheetah ever built - and the 3rd original Cheetah built by Bill Thomas and Don Edmunds.

That particular photo of Fred in his car ahead of the Cobra was taken at the 2002 Monterey Historics last August. Fred participates actively in racing and was kind enough to allow about a dozen Club Cobra members to view his car during the weekend of the 2000 Knotts show. The car has the same 90 inch wheelbase as a Cobra, 68 inch body width and roof height of 42 - 43 inches from the ground.

Another Cheetah website can be found at:

http://www.cheetahracecars.org/the_cheetah.html