1966 Bill Thomas Cheetah Coupe Listed as Final Example

A rare 1966 Bill Thomas Cheetah Coupe, described as one of the final completed examples, is now listed at auction with documented history and provenance.

One of the final completed Bill Thomas Cheetah coupes has surfaced at auction, a 1966 example widely described as the last fully finished car of its kind. With total production estimated at just a few dozen units, this immediately places the car among the rarest American sports cars of its era.

This particular chassis was commissioned in November 1965 by its first owner, Eddie King, and delivered in April 1966 without a drivetrain. It was later adapted for road use with the addition of lighting and a windshield wiper. The car remained with its second owner for nearly four decades before being acquired in 2007 after a prolonged negotiation period. It was subsequently prepared for display at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2008 and later appeared at The Quail and McCall’s Motorworks Revival.

Its significance goes beyond rarity alone. Historical records indicate that approximately 20 to 23 Cheetahs were built in various stages, with only around 12 completed as full factory cars. This example belongs to that smaller group, making it not just rare, but part of the most limited subset within the model’s already scarce production.

Technically, the Cheetah was conceived as a direct rival to the Shelby Cobra and featured an unusually aggressive layout. Its Chevrolet V8 engine was pushed far back into the chassis, creating a front-mid-engine configuration with near mid-engine balance. Combined with a weight of roughly 750 kilograms and outputs exceeding 500 horsepower depending on specification, the result was an extremely high power-to-weight ratio. At the same time, the design brought challenges, including difficult handling characteristics and significant cockpit heat.

The project itself was short-lived. A change in homologation rules, raising the requirement from 100 to 1,000 units, combined with a destructive fire at Bill Thomas’s facility, effectively halted production. As a result, the Cheetah never reached full competitive maturity, but this abrupt ending contributed to its lasting reputation and rarity.

This car’s authenticity has been further reinforced by an evaluation from Don Edmunds, one of the key figures behind the original Cheetah program. For a model surrounded by replicas and continuation builds, such verification carries particular importance.

Given the limited number of surviving originals and auction results for documented examples reaching well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and beyond, this car stands out as one of the most historically significant and well-documented Cheetahs to appear on the market in recent years.