Looking for opinions on offering a Cheetah kit

[john chesnut]

Hello Everyone, I know that I'm taking a risk by posting this on a Cobra site.🙂 Ever since I was a kid I loved Cobras. I still do. But, I tend to want to do things different. Seems this has been true in all aspects of my life.

Over the years I've built a number of cars. I used Corvette C4 suspension for most of them. And, C5 suspension in some of them. I've always used Chevy power. I even put a Cobra body on a frame that I built and used an LS6 engine, T56 Transmission and C5 Vette suspension. It's the car that I owned the longest. One day I was at a small meet with some Cobra guys. I saw a few of them making thumbs down gestures when they saw the Vette parts. I decided then that my next buid would have a basis in Chevy history.

I knew a little about the Cheetah. Bill Thomas and Don Edmunds built them in the early 60's with the intention of racing them. It was a wild looking car. But, it was a pretty extreme design. All were built as coupes. I like Roadsters. It's a tiny car with a 90 inch wheelbase. The engine was so far back that the transmission bolted to the differential with a single Ujoint. This made the seating position very tight and the footboxes tiny and hot. All of them had holes cut in the hood to let air escape out and for the induction/air cleaner to stick through.

If I was going to build a Cheetah I would have to modify the design to fit me (6"2), the C4 suspension (which is wider than the C2 suspension the Cheetah used), make it a roadster, fix the air flow through the radiator, and cover the engine components. In short, I wouldn't be building a replica. I would be building a car inspired by the Cheetah.

I started by purchasing Cheetah body shell from Mr Bruce. He's well known on this forum. The body I purchased was a perfect starting point. I was very happy with Mr Bruce's body.

I have a build thread on this site that's documented the steps and modifications that I've gone through to build my Cheetah. I've kept the car pretty tiny. It has a 93 inch wheel base. It's shorter and lower than a Cobra. I moved the engine forward and use a short drive shaft. (12 inches with the Richmond T10 I'm using). The seating position is great and the footboxes are a good size. The headers exit in front of the footboxes so heat shouldn't be an issue.

There was 1 Cheetah that had had its roof cut off to create a Roadster. I could have copied how it was done but I wasn't a fan of how it made the driver look like he was sitting so tall in the car. So, I sculpted the rear deck differently. This along with my seating position being lower results in the occupants sitting low. (42 inches to the top of my roll bar).

I've designed my frame so that it comes to a V in the front. The radiator sits in front of this V. The frame is skinned with aluminum. (Similar to FF). The air is ducted along the outside of the frame and out the side. None gets int the engine compartment.

I molded in vents and an engine bulge into the hood. I was imagining the Jag XKE's hood bilge when I shaped mine. (Mine is not an exact copy.)

I made my body very simple. It's just 2 pieces. The front fully tilts up. I molded in the rear bulkhead of the hood. The tub has the dash, cockpit, bulkheads, and firewall molded in. It comes out of the mold and sits positively on my frame. The hood and tub seam mate perfectly right out of the mold. (I hope&#128578

My Cheetah uses the windshield from the MGB. I think the width, height, and contour work really well for my car. The MGB, I think, came out in 1962. The frames and glsss are readily available for very reasonable money. DOT legal. And the wiper system works too.

I'm excited to get the first body out of the molds (Oct) and finally build my car. I can't wait to drive it.

I built my Cheetah for myself, the way that I wanted. I had to have molds made to get a body for myself. I built a number of frames to get a final version that I was happy with. I've built a good jig from it so that it can be reproduced. Now, I'm trying to decide what to do with the molds and jigs.

My options:
- Just finish my one car and enjoy it. Don't make any more.
- Buid another complete Cheetah at my leisure and sell it when done.
- Offer a body/frame kit. I could use the fiberglass company that is making my molds and first body to make more. I would have to find someone to build my frames. I'm not in good health and I can't see myself doing production work.
- Try to find someone that's in the kit car world to take my car over.

I have had a few people ask me about getting a kit. I think there might be a small market for it. But, who knows. Is any one building kits any more?

I wish that I was younger and in better health.