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If you thought that getting a Bill Thomas Cheetah would be easy, or cheap, you were sadly mistaken. These Corvette-powered custom race cars are so rare that one would have to come into a pretty hefty sum of money to even have a chance at purchasing one. Although the originals are astronomically expensive and almost impossible to find, you do have a chance to feel the Cheetah spirit through two replicas that are up for bid on eBay this week. Thanks goes out to our friends at AutoBlog for finding these classic Cheetah continuation cars.
The Cheetah was a race-car that was powered by a Corvette V8 with a custom chassis and body. Originally created to “kill” the Cobra, the race cars were a mere 1,700 pounds and quickly made a name for themselves on the race track. Unfortunately, shortly after production of the Cheetah started, a fire completely destroyed the factory, cutting the production number of the Cheetah down to no more than 16 cars. A total of 11 Cheetahs had been fully assembled at the time of the fire. Eight of these cars are known to have survived the fire, but any record of the other Cheetahs was lost.
While the Cheetahs on eBay, a red convertible and a silver coupe, are not originals, they are extremely correct. True to their authentic counterparts, both Cheetahs are rear-wheel drive, sport four-speed manual transmissions and are powered by Chevrolet V8s. The convertible has an impressive 502 big-block under the hood, making this 1,700 pound car a rocket on the street. The coupe is equipped with a 383 stroker that pushes 350hp, which is plenty of power for the car.
So how much does a replica go for? Generally replicas are much cheaper than originals but these Cheetah replicas are far from bargain prices. The convertible was being offered for $34,000 while the coupe has a price tag of $89,000. While we know these prices are a fraction of the cost of a true Cheetah, we don’t know if up to almost $100K is a fair price for a replica.Unfortunately the auction for the convertible ended on August 1st and it is uncertain whether the car was actually sold or not. If the coupe’s price sounds fair and you’d like to have it as your own, check out its individual listing. If you’d like to tempt fate and try to bid lower than the selling price but still exceed the reserve, that is also an option.
