FIA Cheetah - the official page of the only FIA Cheetah actively racing

Built by Bill Thomas Race Cars of Anaheim California, the Cheetah was intended to be Chevrolet's answer to the dominant Ford powered Shelby Cobras and the numerous racing Ferraris. The chromoly space frame was designed by Don Edmunds to make use of the extensive Corvette race car parts bin. The car ran using a Chevrolet 327ci engine fed by four Webers on a cross ram intake manifold with the Muncie gearbox attached directly to the rear differential via universal joint. The car raced successfully in numerous events in the US & Canada during 1964/65 before the project came to an untimely end.

Chevrolet and Bill Thomas were planning to build the 100 cars required for FIA homologation to compete with the Cobras and Ferrari but when that requirement changed to 1,000 cars Chevrolet lost their appetite to compete and the project came to a dramatic halt.

From that point the Cheetah became a mythological beast, so successful in its formative stages yet killed off so suddenly. The car featured in many period magazine articles and ultimately gained more fame as the slot-car of choice as period toy manufacturers cashed in on the short-lived fame.

This particular period chassis was bought in the US and imported into the UK, along with many original parts and bodywork 3 years ago, having laid in storage for many years with a Cheetah specialist. It has taken CCK Historic three years of painstaking research and the investment of owner Ian Burford to restore the car you see today. Goodwood's 75th Members Meeting marks the racing debut for this Cheetah.