When it comes to historic race car preparation and restoration the Bill Thomas Cheetah is one of the most exciting projects we’ve ever taken on. In 1963 Bill Thomas set out to build a sports car to take on the mighty Shelby Cobra. They designed a tubular chassis, two seater racing car and utilised much of the running gear from the brand new Corvette Stingray. This included the independent rear suspension and the 327ci V8 engine. Sadly a fire destroyed much of the Bill Thomas factory and Chevrolet pulled the funding. Approximately only 16 chassis’ and maybe 10 or 11 complete cars were made. A handful of these original Cheetahs went on the be raced across the USA with good success.
Earlier this year our client, Ian Burford, brought over a Bill Thomas Cheetah chassis from the USA. The chassis came with a handful of suspension components and the fibreglass bodywork. After assessing the chassis we decided to have it media blasted and, due to the quality of the joints, re-weld all of the tubes. We then had to source some original Corvette Stingray running gear in order to begin the dry build process. It is a bit like building a puzzle without the picture and without any of the pieces.
