Webb Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 Here's one of my favorite cars of all time. I've just always liked the look of these cars! This was built from a Mini Exotics kit. Added a Hilborn injection setup, Mallory distributor and plug wires, hood pins, Hurst T handle shifter, Detail Master gauges, Anson mags with BFG Radial T/A tires (including the spare), disc brakes with drilled rotors, and a Talbot style rear view mirror. Color is Duplicolor Dark Cherry metallic. Chris
TooOld Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 Chris , Very Good ! Excellent detail on this one , right down to the hood pins ! Never seen a cheetah that color before , and it looks great . Where did you get those wheels and tires ? They are perfect . Bill Thomas deserves a lot more credit for building these awesome machines ! I built Cobra reps for many years , but have always wanted a Cheetah .
Bartster Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 l've always liked these cars, too. Very nice build. Never new this was kitted. You did it justice.
jdcar32 Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 Very nicely done replica ! These cars were almost cartoonish in proportion, really wild. I actually worked on a genuine "continuation" Cheetah here in Sarasota. The chassis and body were made on the same jigs and fixtures as the original Bill Thomas cars of the early 60's. Even the street version I rode in was a bare bones race car, really rough around the edges, load, and hot ! The original shop in So. Cal. was destroyed by fire. Really nice to see your model.
Ace-Garageguy Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 Beautiful model of one of my favorite race cars of all time.
Webb Posted June 16, 2012 Author Posted June 16, 2012 Thanks guys. I'm working on another one now that I got from Modelhaus. As soon as I get my resin Rochester fuel injection unit from Stradasports I can start on it for REAL. Think I may paint it light metallic blue with burgandy pearl flames. Haven't decided yet. Chris
Webb Posted June 16, 2012 Author Posted June 16, 2012 Chris , Very Good ! Excellent detail on this one , right down to the hood pins ! Never seen a cheetah that color before , and it looks great . Where did you get those wheels and tires ? They are perfect . Bill Thomas deserves a lot more credit for building these awesome machines ! I built Cobra reps for many years , but have always wanted a Cheetah . Thanks Bob. I got the wheels and tires from a vendor at a model contest many years ago. Don't remember the manufacterer, but I do remember they also made Drag Star wheels with the same BFG tires. Chris
Webb Posted June 16, 2012 Author Posted June 16, 2012 Very nicely done replica ! These cars were almost cartoonish in proportion, really wild. I actually worked on a genuine "continuation" Cheetah here in Sarasota. The chassis and body were made on the same jigs and fixtures as the original Bill Thomas cars of the early 60's. Even the street version I rode in was a bare bones race car, really rough around the edges, load, and hot ! The original shop in So. Cal. was destroyed by fire. Really nice to see your model. Thanks Jon, that means a lot from somebody who's actually worked on one! My "dream" car would be a modified Cheetah with a modern LS6 moved a little forward so the headers wouldn't "surround" your legs causing the heat problem. Oh well, I guess we can all DREAM! Chris
ChrisR Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 Very nice model, it is inspiring me to start my Historic Miniatures racing version.
Webb Posted June 16, 2012 Author Posted June 16, 2012 Very nice model, it is inspiring me to start my Historic Miniatures racing version. Thanks Chris. I was thinking of getting one of those kits myself. Please post pics when yours is done.
cobraman Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 Nice car. I'd like to see more of these cars built up.
Badluck 13 Posted June 18, 2012 Posted June 18, 2012 Chris I totally agree with you,I too always thought the Cheetah is a great looking car and as always you have created one beautiful example in miniture,you attention to detail is second to none....its like you are shrinking the real thing and posting them as models!!
mcandela Posted June 20, 2012 Posted June 20, 2012 Very kool combination of body and wheels/tires. Looks great!
Austin T Posted June 20, 2012 Posted June 20, 2012 I have always thought of it as a cool looking car,but didn't flop as a race car?I heard that they were not very reliable.Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Ira Posted June 20, 2012 Posted June 20, 2012 CHEETAH!!! Great Build Chris! One of my favorite race cars...
TooOld Posted June 20, 2012 Posted June 20, 2012 I have always thought of it as a cool looking car,but didn't flop as a race car?I heard that they were not very reliable.Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not an expert so I hope some one can fill in the gaps . From what I remember very few were ever finished ( 6 ? ) before the fire . They were run with independents with little support and only entered a handful of races . They were reliable enough to blast past Cobras in the few races they entered ! Problem was the heat inside . They never finished a race because the driver couldn't finish ! One person cut the top of his Cheetah to solve this problem . Thus was born the " Cro - Sal Roadster " ! It was very successful and after being restored in the 80's began running the Historic Racing cicuit . It still exsists , and is owned by an individual in the N. W . United States .
RancheroSteve Posted June 20, 2012 Posted June 20, 2012 Great work on a tough kit. From what I understand, the Cheetahs had a number of problems. While they certainly had plenty of power, they also suffered from chassis flex and difficult handling.
rasafyff Posted June 21, 2012 Posted June 21, 2012 Chris , Very Good ! Excellent detail on this one , right down to the hood pins ! Never seen a cheetah that color before , and it looks great . Where did you get those wheels and tires ? They are perfect . Bill Thomas deserves a lot more credit for building these awesome machines ! I built Cobra reps for many years , but have always wanted a Cheetah . I think those wheels are Otaki #OTP-10-300.I think they were first produced in the 1980's.
signguy2108 Posted June 21, 2012 Posted June 21, 2012 Cool car! I had the pleasure of doing the body work & repainting on a real one late 80's. White w/red stripe down the middle. Local customer, don't know what ever happened to it.
Webb Posted June 21, 2012 Author Posted June 21, 2012 Thanks for the compliments everyone! From what I've been able to gather on the Cheetah, there were 16 cars completed before the fire. I believe that 8 cars are still accounted for. They were originally designed to be a street car sold through Chevy dealers so the chassis was probably not designed with enough rigidity for racing. The street cars had Rochester injected 327 Corvette engines which had more than enough power for the 1500 lb(!) car. The racers had 327s bored and stroked to 377ci and the Rochester fuel injection was reworked with dual throttle bodies to produce upwards of 500hp! It's no wonder the "street" chassis couldn't handle the torque. They were VERY quick in a straight line and had success in drag racing posting times in the 10s. As a matter of fact, the Cheetah sold to Alan Green Chevrolet was driven to the drag strip and raced on occasion by his wife! As I said earlier, this is just the information I've been able to piece together from various sources. If anything is incorrect, which it very well may be, feel free to correct me. Thanks again guys, Chris
Webb Posted June 21, 2012 Author Posted June 21, 2012 Nice work mate, would love to get one of these Thanks Ray. Modelhaus makes a resin reproduction of the Cox Cheetah kit. (Modelhaus.com)
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