The poor, forgotten Cheetah was a racing prototype built in the early 1960s by racecar builder Bill Thomas and sprint-car designer Don Edmunds, whose aha moment led them to fit a modified tube-frame chassis with a Chevy small-block motor, then cover the whole thing in a slippery coupe body. With a 90-inch wheelbase, the majority of which accumulated forward of the cockpit, the Cheetah was an odd duck — particularly considering the transmission shaft attached directly to the car's universial joint.
Sadly, the Cheetah was an awkward racer, described as "loud, hot and squirrelly," and failed to compete with the track-dominant Shelby Cobras of the day. A publicity effort that followed in 1964 resulted in some bad press, and cast a long shadow on the project. Today, the Cheetah is about a rare a car as you can find, though one specimen was recently found rusting in a barn and wisked off to be restored. [Thanks to Mark for the tip.] [Update: You can still get one!]
Why doesn't someone make this kit [Chevy Cheetah]
History [The Bill Thomas Cheetah]
Related:
Corvette Grand Sport Redux: Preserving the Originals [internal]