Photos by Tom Hiett
OKAY, Mini Exotics (now a part of RnD Unique of Renton, Washington) makes a nice resin conversion kit of this car but it requires two other kits (an MPC Sting Ray and an AMT Mercedes Benz 300SL) if you want more than a curbside representation. Several companies including COX and Strombecker made hard-plastic-bodied slot cars, with various degrees of accuracy through the early '70s but no major styrene producers have seen fit to produce a detailed replica.
Why?
Maybe because it was a mediocre performer on the track. Initially created to duke it out with the slippery Ford Cobras, the Cheetah unfortunately suffered from notably poor track manners. Loud, hot and squirrelly made for great automotive lore but didn't bring home the trophies. Why then was/is this car such a crowd pleaser? (and I can tell you first-hand how enjoyable it is to cheer on Mike Scott's Cheetah as it zips past the grandstand at speed.) The interest aroused by the Cheetah has more to do with its form than its function. The Cheetah is an awesome visual spectacle. It's raw, it's powerful and it's sexy-smooth body and bright red livery is stunningly beautiful.
It all started when Bill Thomas
and sprint car designer Don Edmunds worked together to put a fuel-injected 327
into a modified sprint car tube-frame chassis and enclose it in a stylized aluminum
coupe body with a 90" wheelbase . If all went well, a series of 100 additional
fiberglass-bodied road cars were to follow, but this part of the plan was never
attained. The engine was situated waaaaaay back, behind the front wheels, which
put the rear of the trans within kissing distance of the differential. The trapazoidal
openings in the hood forward of the engine, vent hot air that has passed through
the horizontally mounted radiator.There was a publicity push for the Cheetah in 1964; featuring a test-drive in the prototype. Jerry Titus of Petersen Publishing's Sports Car Graphic had a turn behind the wheel. His interesting article in August of '64 tones down the excitement of driving a highly touted sportscar contender with points about the car's shortcomings. And it unfortunately had it's share. Despite most journalist's wait-and-see attitude, the Cheetah just never came through. It's primary goals were unachieved and the project was shelved as a pale shadow of it's original vision.
While the car never achieved more than a modicum of fame on the asphalt, it seemed very popular in the scale motoring community. It's safe to say, if not unfortunate, that it will never be mass produced in kit form...at least not without a wildly enthusiastic outcry from the buying public. That is unlikely. Too bad, especially when I think of how many Chevy Citation X kits were made.
| These photos show owner/driver Fred Yeakel's Teardrop 8 race car at Laguna Seca Raceway. Fred's car is the first fiberglass bodied Cheetah produced. It did previous duty for Bardahl before becoming the Alan Green Chevrolet car. The Cheetah's road manners are such that Fred is the only one willing to drive it. The car was refurbished by Mike Scott's Corvette Corrections in Anaheim, California. They have been doing restos on some of the more exotic Chevrolet-powered sportscars for the last 15 years. Recent work included rearranging the Cheetah for better weight distribution. Originally the front/rear weight bias on the short wheelbase was a somewhat uncomforting 48/52. After the rework the specs are a more confidence inspiring 60/40. Car and driver were out of commission for a while due to and unrelated injury. We hope to see 'em back on the track soon. It's a bitchin' car...... |
Photos
of the Corvette Corrections prepared Cheetah snapped by trackhound Tom
Hiett.
Check out his vintage racing/modeling website at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~thiett
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