1965 Cheetah GT - Chevrolet #64 (USRRC - Road America 500 Miles)

Hot Wheels 1/64
1998 First Editions 38/40
Casting is called "Cat-A-Pult"

Series: 1965 USRRC Road America 500 Miles
Class: O2L
Team: C.A. Clusserath
Driver: Budd Clusserath
Result: 12th overall, 6th in O2L

This car is actually a generic casting named "Cat-A-Pult" but it seems to be heavily based on the Bill Thomas Cheetah cars from the 60's. The livery on this one seems to be based on the 1965 USRRC entries. I am not too familiar with the series and the only race that I can find pictures of the Cheetah from that season was in the Road America 500 Miles which is why I listed it as that in my collection. The Cheetah was developed by Bill Thomas who specialized in tuning Chevy cars. The Cheetah, compared to its rival the Shelby Cobra, wasn't really as successful. If I am not mistaken, the car didn't really achieve major victories although it did manage to win some SCCA races. I would also like to note that the actual car was actually closed cockpit but I've seen several versions of the Cheetah that are open-top and they look quite similar to this casting.