Ah, the Cheetah – the American sportscar that never was to be. Looking like the voluptuous result of a one-night stand between a Chevrolet Corvette and a Lotus Seven, the Cheetah was conceived as a Chevy-backed answer to the Shelby Cobra. Unfortunately, the factory suffered a devastating fire back in 1965, General Motors pulled its support and the dream faded away.

Fast-forward to 2007 when an outfit in Arizona called BTM got authorization from the Cheetah’s original father, Bill Thomas (who passed away the following year), to build a series of “continuation cars.” That is, officially sanctioned replicas of a small volume car long since out of production. The faithful were elated, but now it seems the Cheetah has died again as BTM has closed up shop.

According to Hemmings, tooling and licenses are now up for grabs, but an online auction that included everything a new investor would need to begin production anew reportedly failed to attract a single bid after starting at 0,000. Cats may have nine lives, but whether the Cheetah will get a third remains to be seen.

UPDATE: The eBay Motors Cheetah auction has been relisted with a lowered reserve sitting at 0,000 and no bids. Check it out here.

Cheetah goes extinct. Again. [UPDATE] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The likelihood that you’ll ever get your hands on an original Bill Thomas Cheetah is slim, to put it mildly. The iconic early 60s sports cars are rare as hen’s teeth and priced accordingly. While the originals may be all but unattainable, replicas can be fairly readily had, though they still aren’t what you’d call cheap.

This week, there are two Bill Thomas Cheetah Continuation models on eBay Motors, one a convertible and one in coupe form. Not originals and not really replicas, these cars are about as authentic as one can hope to get without winning the lottery. In the spirit of their original Corvette roots, both sport Chevrolet V8 power, rear-wheel drive and four-speed manual transmissions. The convertible, titled as a 1965, sports a 502-inch big-block Chevrolet mill, which only has 1,700 pounds of 4130-chromoly steel and fiberglass to push around. In case that weren’t enough, the Cheetah’s wheelbase is a scant 90 inches. Sounds good to us. Buy-It-Now on the red ‘vert is a reasonable sounding ,000.

The hardtop was built in 2008, but sports a 1964 title. It’s a bit tamer, sporting a 383 stroker that the seller says is good for 350 horsepower. Not quite as hairy-chested, but more than enough to make you pretty uneasy. It also sports heat and noise insulation and a “period correct” air conditioner, apparently to compensate for the fixed windows. The frame is powder-coated, the headers are wrapped and the bodywork sports three coats of Mercedes silver. The price? How does k sound? Click the main image for a gallery of both cars.

eBay Finds of the Day: 1964 Bill Thomas Cheetah continuation cars man up originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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