I drove Friday to Pittsburgh from near lake Placid NY to pick up the nose. I got the nose Saturday morning and was home at 9pm. This morning I went to the shop to do some work.
The body is a nice piece by Mr Bruce. But, I decided that I was going to use smaller wheels and tires than he did when he designed the car. The result is that I narrowed the body by 8 inches. This gives me a rear width at the wheel arches of 72 inches. I like the narrower look.
The only original Cheetah roadster was created by a racer that cut the roof off. He basically put in a flat panel low between the rear wheel arches and then blended the transitions. I'm not sure that I like the look. The occupants look like they're sitting pretty tall in the car. I mocked up with some cardboard and duct tape a different treatment. If I did the rear this way I would be creating some storage space behind the seats. The occupants would look like they are sitting lower too. Still deciding on that.
There is plenty of room in the cockpit and for legs and feet. Because the seating position is so far rearward I could move the windshield rearward. That's something that I'll look at.
Because I'm using a shorter tire I will need to add to the rear wheel arches to take up the space between the tire and the body. I had some flares that I made for a different car. I attached them to just see how they look.
I'm liking the look. If I run the carbed SBC I'll need to either have the air cleaner stick through a hole in the hood or mold in a hood scoop. I've ordered a 1967 Corvette 427 hood scoop to see how that looks. Or, I could run an LS engine and it would fit with out the hole or scoop.
Having fun.
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