Equal parts myth and legend, the Cheetah was the Chevy camp’s response to the mighty Shelby Cobra. One highly original and authentic example is headed for the auction block next month.

The Bill Thomas Cheetahs have made such a large and lasting impact on the automotive world, folks might be surprised to know that the original production run was only 11 vehicles. Attendees at the annual Mecum Auctions Indianapolis sale on May 14-19 will have a rare opportunity to bid on one of these rare, raw-boned sports cars—and this one is said to be one of the most original and authentic examples in existence.

Known as the Clusserath Cheetah for its original owner, SCCA racer Budd Clusserath, the car headed to auction is reportedly the fourth Cheetah constructed in the Southern California shop of Bill Thomas Race Cars. Thomas and his chief fabricator, noted oval track builder Don Edmunds, designed the Cheetah as an exercise in minimalism, on a chrome-moly chassis with a wheelbase of just 90 inches and an eggshell body that barely covered the essentials.  The Cheetah was engineered to out-Cobra the Cobra, you could say, with even less weight and even more American V8 power.

The first two cars wore aluminum bodies crafted by California Metal Shaping, while the rest of the 11 bodies were molded in fiberglass. Thomas, a successful Corvette tuner and racer, was well-connected with the Chevrolet brass and hoped to get some factory backing for the project, but it never materialized.

The Cheetah is essentially a mid-engine car, but with the driver situated behind the powerplant rather than in front of it. The Chevy V8 and Muncie four-speed transmission are mounted directly to the Corvette IRS axle housing via a single universal joint—there is no driveshaft. The brakes are also Corvette with drums on all four corners. The Clusserath Cheetah was originally equipped with a 377 CID stroker motor with twin Rochester FI metering units, reportedly good for 520 hp on Champion Spark Plug’s West Coast dyno. Later, a slightly less radical L84 Corvette fuelie V8 tuned to 485 hp was installed.

When Clusserath updated his racing stable in 1965, the Cheetah was purchased by another enthusiastic racer, Sam Goins of Ohio, who lovingly maintained the car for another five decades. It has never been modified or restored, as attested by a detailed letter from Bill Thomas III, son of builder Bill Thomas. In 2018, the car was sold at auction to noted collector Steven Juliano, who was unfortunately claimed by cancer later that year, and the Cheetah is again on the market.

The Cheetah’s cockpit is shockingly bare, with a pair of tiny bucket seats, a steering wheel, a Corvette four-speed shifter, and very little else. With the engine located right in the driver’s lap, Cheetahs were known for roasting their occupants, while the flimsy bodywork was prone to ballooning at speeds approaching 200 mph. One competitor, Ralph Salyer, had the roof amputated from his Cheetah, converting the coupe into a roadster.

Thomas hoped to race the Cheetah head-to-head against the Shelby Cobra in international sports car competition, but when the FIA raised the production requirement to 1,000 cars in 1964, that dream ended for the Anaheim, California hot rod shop. While the original story ends with the 11 “factory” cars, they spawned an unlimited number of replicas, copies, and tribute Cheetahs.

Naturally, real-deal Cheetahs from the original batch very seldom change hands, and the experts at Mecum Auctions have declined to provide a pre-sale estimate for the Clusserath-Goins-Juliano car. However, we note that this example traded hands in New York in May of 2018 at $718,750, and another original Cheetah sold for $660,000 at Russo & Steele’s 2018 Scottsdale sale. It’s not unreasonable to expect the next transaction to top those amounts. —Photos courtesy of Mecum Auctions.