If you’re looking for a rare 1960s supercar with a unique story, look no further than this forgotten 1960s Chevrolet. When GM decided to take on Shelby, the project was cursed by continual bad luck. The result was a short production run (good news for investors, bad news for fans).The car General Motors eventually built to go head-to-head with the Cobra has a unique design and some racing history, all the elements of a priceless collectors’ classic car. Yet these are selling for one-sixth the price of a Shelby Cobra 427. How Carroll Shelby Dominated The Custom Supercar Market Bring a TrailerToday, we are used to high-end limited-edition cars. Whether it's Brabus’ Mercedes-Benz mods, or “Ready to Rock” Ford Mustangs, you can have your pick of high-dollar tunes of stock cars. Many of these companies—such as Alpina—became so successful that an OEM (such as BMW) bought them to use their name on trim levels. Others, such as American Expedition Vehicles, have become so recognizable that they license their name to special-edition trim levels (such as on the Chevrolet Colorado). But before all these tuning houses, there was Shelby America.Carroll Shelby was a pilot during World War II and later became a racecar driver. His team won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and he set multiple records, including at the Pikes Peak hill climb and on the Bonneville Salt Flats. He was named Sports Illustrated Driver of the Year before retiring in 1960 because of a lifelong heart condition. Carroll Shelby And Shelby-America Shelby AmericanAfter retiring, Shelby became a driving instructor and focused on his car customization company, Shelby America. He brought all of his experience together when he combined a Ford V8 with a lightweight British roadster body (built by AC of the UK) in 1961. The result was the now infamous Shelby Cobra. The first big-block "427" Cobra prototype rolled out of his shop in October 1964.Shelby would also build a “Daytona” coupe version. Finally, he would build the GT40 for Ford, winning Le Mans as a constructor in 1966 with a legendary first, second, and third place finish. But the Cobra 427's combination of European nimbleness and raw Detroit horsepower made it a 1960s icon and a nearly priceless collectors' item.Legendary Motorcar YouTube On January 15, 2025, a 1966 Cobra 427 sold at a Mecum auction in Florida. The final bid: $3.3 million. According to Classic.com, the average Cobra 427 sold in the past year fetched $1.8 million. How much classic car can you get for new Bugatti money? A piece of automotive history. And a supremely well-balanced 1960s sports car. But the downside is that there are so many Cobra replicas motoring around, no one at the local Cars and Coffee will blink twice while walking by your $3 million investment.If you want a unique 1960s investment for a fraction of the price of a Cobra 427, General Motors has you covered. Specifically, Bill Thomas Race Cars. Bill Thomas Decided To Chase Down Shelby Bring a TrailerIn 1956, William P. “Bill” Thomas began tuning Chevy Corvettes for CS Mead Motors Co. By 1960, he had started his own company in Anaheim, California. Bill Thomas Race Cars built drag racers out of Bel Airs and Biscaynes. The shop even put together a stock car for Pikes Peak Hill Climb. In 1963, GM approached Thomas about building a Shelby competitor.With access to General Motors' parts bin, Thomas assembled his dream sports car chassis. It included the 327 cubic-inch V8 from the Corvette, a Muncie manual transmission, independent rear suspension, NASCAR-spec drum brakes, and even spindles from a passenger car.Thomas' team laid the drivetrain out on his shop floor, sketching out the shape of the car with chalk, and eventually building a body out of wood. Thomas wanted a front-engine car with the weight distribution of a mid-engine car. So he placed the engine between the driver and passenger. It was so tightly packaged that the exhaust headers coming off the sides of the engine actually wrapped around the driver/passenger foot compartments. The transmission connected directly to the rear differential. The result was a sports car so short that it had no driveshaft.Bring a Trailer California Metal Shaping built a pair of aluminum bodies for Thomas’ prototypes. Then, to reduce the tiny car’s weight even further, Thomas switched to fiberglass bodies. His first fiberglass production car rolled out of the shop in 1964. The Bill Thomas Cheetah A Forgotten Chevy Faster Than A Shelby Cobra Bring a TrailerBill Thomas originally planned the Cheetah as a sports car for hobbyists to cruise in. But partway through development, he began dreaming of competing with Shelby-America’s cars on the track.Bring a TrailerA Corvette Stingray (C2) weighed in at over 3,100 pounds. Bill Thomas had used the same 327 fuel-injected V8, tuned it to 360 horsepower, and reduced his sports car's overall weight to 1,750 pounds. The result was a full half-ton lighter than a Shelby Cobra 427. In addition, Thomas offered a high-output engine by boring the 327 out to 377 cubic inches. Add in the available dual-throttle-body upgrade for the Rochester fuel injection system, and Thomas advertised a maximum output of 500 hp. The result was an absolute drag racing monster.Unfortunately, the Cheetah’s engine placement caused the V8 to overheat during long races. And it nearly cooked the passengers as well. In addition, the lightweight frame sometimes twisted and bent under consistent heavy throttle. Bill Thomas Race Cars goes into production Bring a TrailerRalph Salyer bought the first production fiberglass Cheetah, beefed up the frame, and cut off the roof to keep it cool during racing. The resulting “Cro-Sal Special” then raced extensively. Another buyer was Allan Green, owner of Green Chevrolet. He bought car number five, then painted it green and entered it in multiple races. He liked it so much, he bought car numbers six and seven as well, even keeping one stock for his wife to drive on the street.Bill Thomas tried to address some of the car’s limitations with a longer wheelbase “Super Cheetah” designed to compete with the Shelby Daytona. But the car was never finished. Thomas also failed to sell the 100 regular Cheetahs in 1964 that were required for the car to compete in the GT class, directly against the Cobra. At the end of 1964, the race authorities increased the number of cars required for "homologation" to qualify for racing. It had been 100, but when it jumped to 1,000, Thomas’ lost any hope of qualifying for 1965. Chevrolet pulled funding from the project, and in late 1965, a fire destroyed Thomas's factory. With midengine cars such as the Ford GT40 making his Cheetah design look dated, he decided to call the project quits.Bring a TrailerThe Bill Thomas Cheetah website claims that 29 ID numbers were produced, and 15 cars survive today. Bob Ryan, who welded the frames together at Thomas’ factory, claims that Thomas only built 10 cars. And that includes the two aluminum prototypes. He admits that there were several additional bare frames that were never completed and two re-bodied cars with new serial numbers. The truth is that we may never know exactly how many original Cheetahs Thomas built. An accurate count is even more difficult because Thomas allowed the fiberglass body manufacturer to continue building Cheetah bodies for drag racing. He also sold licenses for 100 continuation cars, which have not all been used. An Accidental Icon Bring a TrailerMany automotive enthusiasts who grew up in the 1960s recognize the Cheetah’s iconic short wheelbase shape because it was a popular slot car toy. But that wasn’t its only pop-culture appearance.In the 1966 film Spinout, Elvis Presley plays a race car driver. The hero of the story drives a Cobra 427. He races against many different cars, including the iconic Cheetah. The picture car was an actual race car, one of the two aluminum prototypes. But it had been re-bodied in fiberglass and was owned by Jerry Entin at the time. The Spinout car is now on display at Chevrolet’s Engineering Center.The Cheetah’s final pop culture appearance was by accident. When Hot Wheels cars launched in 1968, its first model was a coupe called the “Cheetah.” The tiny coupe with a big V8 sticking out of the hood and a black top was apparently not meant to resemble Bill Thomas’ Cheetah. When Hot Wheels realized the name was copyrighted, it changed the packaging to read, “Hot Wheels Python.” But the frame of the first production toys still read “Cheetah" and have thus become collectible.Bill Thomas probably never made much money from licensing the car’s likeness for toys. He did sign 100 certificates for licensed “continuation” cars before he died in 2009. Since his death, his family has gone to court and won the copyright for “Bill Thomas Cheetah.” The Half-Price Shelby Cobra Bring a TrailerWhile original Shelby Cobra 427 cars command millions of dollars on the used market, the Bill Thomas Cheetah is a comparative bargain. The “Cro-Sal Special,” which is the Cheetah with the most extensive documented racing history, sold in May 2025 for $415,000. In April 2026, a 1966 Bill Thomas Cheetah coupe sold for $520,000.Another coupe sold in December 2025, for an undisclosed sum. Another is listed at $795,000 but hasn’t sold at that price. That coupe crossed the Gooding Christie’s auction block in August 2025, without selling.So, are prices rising? If anything, they may be falling. In 2018, a 1967 Cheetah Coupe sold for $660,000. But with such a unique story and so few Cheetahs available, will prices eventually rise to Shelby Cobra levels? Only time will tell.
+29 others
