The Chevy That Could Outrun a Cobra - But Nobody Remembers

In the 1960s, General Motors set out to build a car that could humble Carroll Shelby’s legendary Cobra. The result was the Bill Thomas Cheetah, a lightweight, Corvette-powered sports car that could hit 500 horsepower and weighed barely 1,500 pounds. But a string of bad luck, a factory fire, and changing racing rules kept it from ever becoming a household name.

3 million at auction, original Cheetahs sell for around $400,000 to $800,000. That’s one-sixth the price for a car that was, in many ways, faster.

The Cheetah was born in a small Anaheim shop run by Bill Thomas, a Chevy tuner who had already built drag racers and hill-climb cars. GM gave him access to its parts bin, and Thomas created a machine with a 327-cubic-inch Corvette V8, a Muncie four-speed, and independent rear suspension.

He mounted the engine between the driver and passenger to mimic mid-engine weight distribution, so tight that the exhaust headers wrapped around the footwells. The first fiberglass production car rolled out in 1964. But the car had problems: the engine overheated during long races, the lightweight frame sometimes twisted under hard throttle, and Thomas never sold the 100 units needed to qualify for GT-class racing.

When the homologation requirement jumped to 1,000 cars, Chevrolet pulled funding. A fire destroyed the factory in 1965, and the project died.

Only about 15 original Cheetahs survive today, and they’ve become cult collectibles. ” Now, with prices far below those of Cobras, some investors wonder if the Cheetah is due for a comeback. But as one recent auction showed, a 1967 coupe that failed to sell at $795,000, the market hasn’t decided yet.

For Boca Auto Care customers who love rare American iron, the Cheetah remains a fascinating, affordable piece of racing history that’s still waiting for its moment in the sun.