65air_coupe

Apologies to any aficionados of that car, but IMHO they are butt ugly!

verle

Before you spend much money on one like that, be aware several clones have been built over the years, most are quite different from the originals even if they have the general look.

The rearend was Corvette independent, front was custom independent, frame was small tube space frame. The fiberglass shell was very thin. As Tom said, they weighed about 1500 pounds. With the short wheel base they were very unstable; lots of wrecks.

The first engines were 327 Corvette FI. Soon the engines were 377 Cu In with dual air meter Rochester FI units. With sticky tires they were very dangerous. Drum brakes and enough HP to pull the front wheels off the ground with too much throttle. Later models were Corvette disk brakes, still short wheel base.

They ran a Muncie 4-speed with the transmission yoke connected to the differential yoke with a U-joint; no drive shaft. That U-joint is immediately adjacent to the driver's hip; feet extend up beside the block/pan, the headers run over the top of the foot box and down the outside. Your feet are inside an oven. They had to modify the side of the foot box near the front wheel to get air into the foot box.

The nice red car pictured above is Fred Yeakle's. He has owned and raced this car in the west coast area for a number of years. The girl in the picture is his daughter who races a Corvette.

Real original Cheetahs are very rare. If you ever see one for sale look closely and be skeptical.

Bob Auxier in Arizona is presently building a very good replica, referred to above as having Bill Thomas approval.

Verle

c5thriler

Lets face it they dont look like a mid year but anything that can beat a Cobra with a bow tie logo on it has got to be COOL!!!!!!!!!!

sterlsys

We had an opportunity to see an early car with Fuel injection being prepared for racing in our area. This was about 25 years ago. The owners name was Van Pell. He ran the car in several vintage events.
Scared the crap out of him and he went back to running big red Italian cars.

c5thriler

That does not surprise me.At about 1,500 lbs and 500 or so horsepower it would take some very big gonads to drive that baby at speed!!!

Mark_Milner

It isn't just the horsepower, it is the complete instability of the car. It has its engine in the center, or near center, and everything else in back, so f/r weigh ratio is insane, more like a rear engine car. (Think of how many no-so-good drivers have bought it with 911s.)

Add that to a 90 inch wheelbase, the thing can pivot about the center axis instantly, something Corvette and even Porsche decided was NOT a great idea for high speed road racers. There is little polar moment to the design.

THEN you add the 500 hp that will break the rear tires loose in any condition, so applying it wrong will sever any connection the body had with the Earth and any change of going in a straight line.

The one above in the rain is obviously driven by an extremely skilled driver, or going very, very slowly.

0Navy Blue

http://www.randyellenphotography.com...BNs3#262847250

Is this a Cheetah?

c5thriler

Yes,This car was in the Cleveland Autorama show last weekend as well where I was displaying my 66 Vette.It is the first finished car produced by Ruths Restorations run by Bob Ruth,a friend of mine.Its 2,200 lbs w/500+ Hp.

LSUvetteguy

Same here.

redvetracr

Speed10 on ebay is Bob Auxier, he usually has a body kit or a rolling chassis listed.
redvetracr

DandyDon

From what I remember, Bill Thomas only built a handful of Cheetahs when he had a massive fire that burned his place (and Cheetahs) to the ground.

The car was a "race only" piece to compete with the Cobras.

I seem to recall it weighed more like 1800 pounds and had the SBC arrangements as previously discussed.

One interesting phenomena about these cars is you will notice there is no side glass. It was rumored that these cars got so hot inside while racing that the drivers sometimes pased out! Pretty scary stuff.

The car had ZERO crature comforts---yoor rear end was right over the car's rear end.

Personally I like them--ugly or not.

cheetah66

The Cheetah may not have been the successful Cobra killer it was intended to be but it sure left a lasting impression if you ever saw one. Bad *** probably best describes the look. At 1500-1800 lbs and 500+HP it was one friggin nasty beast. I don't know how streetable the new kit version is but I wish I could afford to find out.

parkerracing

The number I recall is 16 cars made (several for the street and at least one for the strip) and several more burnt to the ground in the fire, effectively closing the operation from that point. They were scary fast in a straight line and scarier still to stop and turn. I have a handfull (4-5?) of these if anyone is interested at $10 ea. shipped via the good 'ol US mail.

62Jeff

Wow, can't see that logo without thinking about Ken Edmunds. RIP Ken...
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/member.php?u=47496

Gimme1MoreC1

As you can tell from my avatar, the Cheetah is the car I desire most. There is a new Cheetah currently offered, referred to as the Continuation Series, authorized by Bill Thomas. Find the website below. Nickey Chevrolet of Chicago also offers their version, WOW!. I could go on and on about my love for the car. To me it's the perfect sports car, lightweight, well balanced and tons of horsepower. Enjoy! http://www.billthomascheetah.com/
http://www.nickeychicago.net/vehicle.php?id=122

unreel1967

Here's a '63 currently for sale on Eb-y. I think it looks kinda cool and this particular color gives it a future-istic appearance.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ruth-...QQcmdZViewItem

jimgessner

Your history is right on Verle. As I remember Fred said 12 or 16 were made originally. They were very hard to drive (and still are) as the short wheelbase and light weight with all the power made the car very twitchy.

Bill Thomas is still alive and doing OK. I saw his son at Bondurant's 40th Driving school party on Feb 14. Bob Auxier was also there and two Cheetah cars.

ejboyd5

From the recesses of memory: Hotter than hell on the inside and with its almost nonexistant polar moment of inertia ready to swap ends in an instant and without warning. A very scary car to drive if you put your foot in it. But they do look great! Does anyone remember the Griffith - same close-coupled unmanagable concept.

93Polo

My body guy was working on painting one for a customer a few years back. We understood it was an original. I do know the body panels did not allign very well.

It was interesting to see the trans connected to the diff with a yolk and 1 u-joint.

jimgessner

In 1990 or so, I was standing next to Fred Yeakel at Monterey Historic Tech Inspection on Wednesday when both Bob Bondurant and Dick Guldstrand walked up.

Fred handed the key to Bob and said, "Do you want to drive her this weekend?" He looked at Dick......then back to Fred and handed the key to Dick. Dick handed the key back to Fred and said, "Pretty car.......looks great.....hope you have a great ride"

There must be something about a car when two old pros both say "no thanks"