Cheetah, MGB-GT etc.

[aeronca65t]

Last night I took my Super 7 to the local cruise night at The Chatterbox.

If you are not familiar, this place is in Augusta, NJ. It still has the old-type serving trays that hang on your door (mostly delivered by young, attractive female "car-hops").

This place get quite a turnout of hot rod and classic cars in the Summer. There is a Corvette night and a bike night (Saturday night is "everything"):

https://www.chatterboxdrivein.com/

I ran into two guys I sort of know (one races with us). He brought his all original faded yellow TR3. It was really in terrific original condition and I wish I taken a photo of it. The other guy brought his daily driver Series 1-1/2 XKE that he owned for many years (again, no photo). It's real nice and he really does use it on a daily basis.

Anyway, here's just a small number of the cars I saw (my 7 was a big hit, by the way):

Former racing MGB-GT with full cage:

Cheetah:

Nice Moal-nosed roadster:

....and it had British lever-type shocks:

Late C1

I took these for a friend of mine who is a Mercury nut.

The Bat-Mobile! (inside the restaurant)

Obligatory Cobra

Obligatory VW Type 1

An "Anglia" (I doubt there were any British parts in it)

Deuce-and-a-half plus Jeeps

....plus about a jillion plastic hot rods, old American sedans, endless new-ish Corvettes, ad infinitum......

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Neat stuff!

And the CHEETAH! Had a slot car back in '66-'67 with a Cheetah body. Was always fascinated by the body shape.

 

[drooartz]

Thanks for the pics. I never realized just how small that Cheetah is -- those doors look even smaller than the ones on my Bugeye.

 

[waltesefalcon]

The Cheetah is wayyyyyy cool.

Once when I was a kid I got to see the Batmobile up close and personal. My dad had a cousin (so I guess that makes him my cousin too) who hauled cars across country for a living. One of his clients happened to be George Barris and he was sending a couple cars to a show somewhere back east. Anyway we ran into Bill (my dad's cousin) at his mom's house in Amarillo and he took me out to his trailer to see the Batmobile. It was one of the best moments of my young life.

 

[Steve]

Saw a Cheetah race up at Road America a few years ago. Tiny. Loud. FAST!

 

[AngliaGT]

Nial,

What is your car? - if it's not an original Lotus 7,then it's a replica.
Sorry,but I have a problem with people with replicas,telling others others
"It's a Shelby Cobra/Lotus 7",when it's not.
Please call it a Locust/Caterham/etc. - but NOT a Lotus 7 (or "7").
Sorry - I just had to vent,as we have a few locals calling the Cobra replicas
"Shelby Cobras".

- Doug

 

[aeronca65t]

Feel free to vent.........ALL you want.

Great signature you have there.

 

[DrEntropy]

Only ever saw one Cheetah. Scary car. I don't think that chassis and suspension could ever be up to dealing with the HP those things develop. Gotta respect it to drive it. :wink:

 

[Basil]

What power plant?

 

[aeronca65t]

What power plant?

Generally, a small-block Chevy V8. I think this one has an LS1.

The original ones were bored out to over 6 liters. For a while, the Cheetah company had a lot of underground support from GM (as an "answer" to the Cobra).

There is no driveshaft in a Cheetah. Trans bolts directly to differential!

 

[HealeyRick]

In the '60s, when everyone was a Ford, GM or Mopar guy, I was in the GM camp. So much so that I applied and was accepted to General Motors Institute, their in house engineering college. I ended up not going when the GM Tech Center turned me down and suggested I go to Flint to work at the GM Bus and Coach Center (one of those things that seemed like a disaster at the time, but having a life working on Buses and Coaches in Flint probably would have been quite dreadful) Anyway, I initially raced a Chaparral that I later traded for a Cheetah (did I forget to mention this was on the slot car track in jr. high?) The real Cheetah was going to be GM's answer to the Cobra and Bill Thomas was going to be their Carroll Shelby. Didn't work out that way as the video below explains.

The word at the time was they got pretty squirrelly at high speed when the front end would start to lift and the tires would lose contact with the pavement.

Continuation Cheetahs are still being made, but there's a bit of drama there as well: https://www.billthomascheetah.com/

 

[Basil]

LS1 in a car that small - skeery!

 

[AngliaGT]

Feel free to vent.........ALL you want.Great signature you have there.

Nial, I really like you - but you're WRONG! - IF it's a Super 7,then it was built by Lotus,in the Lotus factory,otherwise,it's a REPLICA "super 7". What does the ID plate say - "Manufactured By Lotus",or not.If not,you own a replica,& it should be noted as such. How would you feel,if you had an original Shelby Cobra,& saw a replica at a localcar show,claiming to be the same? If your car wasn't built built in the Lotus factory,then call it by the actual builder's name.I seem to remember that you mentioned this,when you bought it/received it as a "birthday gift". - Doug

 

[aeronca65t]

 

[Mickey Richaud]

If your car wasn't built built in the Lotus factory,then call it by the actual builder's name.

Yeah, Nial. Let's call it "George".

 

[aeronca65t]

Perfect!

So last week I was out driving "George"........

:highly_amused: :highly_amused: :highly_amused: :highly_amused:

 

[DrEntropy]

Chuck Jones (and Steinbeck) would be proud...

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Chuck Jones (and Steinbeck) would be proud...

So would Liberace...

 

[waltesefalcon]

I'll call him George, and I'll love him and pet him and feed him.....

 

[EricG]

Nial I like the name Colin better than George.....
Rick thanks so much for posting the Cheetah video and info. I have wanted one of those ever since we got an Aurora Thunderbolt 500 HO racetrack that came with an orange Cheetah-and that was 45 years ago! I still have that Cheetah too.