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Post by sandysixtysfan on Oct 18, 2016 12:26:12 GMT -8
Hi, Sorry to say it's been awhile since I posted, but I do check the Board regularly. There is, as always, some amazing building going on. I was wondering if a race Cheetah (weren't they all!) would have had seat belts/shoulder straps on the passenger seat? I've looked at a boatload of pics and sites, but can't find a good pic of a racers's passenger side seat. I'm actually close to wrapping up my #64 Road America car and got to thinking about this.
Thanks guys, Sandy
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2017 13:57:26 GMT -8
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Post by robhart on Sept 24, 2017 4:21:13 GMT -8
Very nice. Tell us more. Which kit, scale, etc.
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Post by harron6 on Sept 24, 2017 9:22:18 GMT -8
All very cool indeed! I saw a few on TV, but there's nothing like seeing one in person. To me they were what the Vettes should've been. Vettes weren't as much sports cars as GT as Grand Touring ones, where high speed save driving "touring" in comfort was the goal. The Cheetah was very light and as said, barely there. I saw one at a car show and was surprised by how basic it was underneath the skin. Thanx for the fotos and site!
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Post by Patrick on Sept 25, 2017 14:32:20 GMT -8
The race Cheetahs didn't need passenger seat belts, but Dustymojave would know better than I being the Tech guy down in SoCal land!!
Patrick
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Post by alterrenner on Sept 26, 2017 15:37:15 GMT -8
I saw a few Cheetahs race at our Nationals in Goshen in the mid-sixties. I can still feel the heat from inside the car (in Oregon, any heat felt good). I knew the car was all-business when I saw the transmission bolted to the rear end, with just a U-joint separating the two! An amazing car! It's a shame that changing rules, technology, and a factory fire killed the thing. --Frank
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Post by dustymojave on Sept 28, 2017 15:55:42 GMT -8
Patrick is right that as a race car, Cheetahs did NOT need passenger seat belts. Only driver belts. Just as all of the other unlimited sports racers of the day like Chaparrals, Cooper-Cobras, and such that they raced against in the USRRC and similar US races did not have passenger belts. Most race cars, and especially road race cars, do NOT carry passengers, even if the rules required that the car have a seat for a passenger. The belts should be 4-point, with no crotch strap. Black webbing on the belts and hook latches, not quick release buckles.
The Cheetah was developed in Southern California. Bill Thomas' shop was in Anaheim, not far from the original Disneyland. The chassis and body work of the car was largely developed by Don Edmunds, Indy fabricator/mechanic/crew chief who owned/built/manufactured/drove the Super Modified race car that Monogram did a model kit of. Bill Thomas at the time was also making conversion kits to put a tube axle and fiberglass front body on Chevy IIs to make drag racers out of them.
Had the Cheetah been developed a couple years earlier with a solid rear axle instead of the Stingray IRS, the car would have been quite competitive against race cars like the Scarab Mk1 and Chaparral Mk1, both built in SoCal by Troutman and Barnes. That would probably have made the Cheetah a far more successful business venture.
These days, many compare them against Shelby Cobras. But they didn't really compete in the same category, as Cobras were classified as a Production GT race car while the Cheetah was categorized as a sports racer like the Scarab and Chaparral, even though Thomas had hoped for the Cheetah to be backed by Chevy to become Chevy's Cobra. Chevy's people were developing the GS Vette at the time behind closed doors so the top bosses wouldn't know. So between Chevy working on their own version of the same thing and their executive level adherence to the racing ban, Thomas got flat rejected. Because there were never nearly enough Cheetahs to qualify for Production class or FIA GT class, they had to race as sports racers. In SCCA amateur races, they were raced in "Modified" class, still against Coopers, Lotus 19s, 23s, 30s, and 40s, Genies, etc. By the time the Cheetah hit the track, all other racers in the sports racer class had gone to mid-engine layout and worked a bit better. The Cheetah would have been quite competitive in Production/GT class against Cobras as Thomas envisioned it. The Cheetah was a beautiful car with a lot of potential though.
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Post by sandysixtysfan on Oct 4, 2017 5:22:30 GMT -8
Thanks for the belt info and the history. An amazing car and history. I hope to post photos soon as I'm trying to figure out imgr (thanks to the folks at Photobucket).
Sandy
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