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To be honest this should be a piece on the 1959 Chevrolet El Camino. Then, as we did our usual network research, we came across this "strange creature" that has evoked in our memories the image of the fantastic vehicles of "Thunderbirds"(remember them?). At this point, on the various forums and blogs, we found an interesting story that has a passionate and therefore we offer.
The Cheetah Transporter is in fact a Race Car Transporter born in America in 1958, the son of overseas S 300 Mercedes Benz Transporter that had done so much talked about in Europe as early as 1952.
Cheetah means cheetah, the fastest animal on earth. But the word is derived from the Sanskrit "citrakāyah" meaning "variegated body". So, Cheetah is the perfect name for this transport vehicle for racing cars. The speed is related to what carries the name of its design is a variation of a classic sedan. Geoff Hacker, the current owner of the first and perhaps only model, goes crazy on all the blogs of old cars because, in addition to collecting car "interesting" in his backyard (to the delight of his neighbors!) tries to gather as much information as possible about the Cheetah will carry. We have done some research and certainly for now we only know that in mid 50s Norman Holtkamp (who would later become famous as a Porsche-Volkswagen dealer and trainer) after seeing him around the circuits all over Europe, decided to build a "Race Car will carry"similar to S 300 Mercedes Benz Transporter, "the fastest racing car transporter in the world". If the 300 S was nicknamed "the fastest racing car transporter in the world" thanks to its top speed of 105 mph, with the Cheetah Transporter NH did much better, fitting a Chevrolet V-8 from 112 MPH. For towing, indeed, carry cars, the system was very simple: a ramp and a removable aluminum compartment load capacity equivalent to a modern station wagon. The Cheetah came from a 300 S, but Holtkamp to make American mounted over the engine, even a cab Chevrolet, an El Camino in 1959. The career of the Cheetah lasted approximately 3 years and 3000 miles, then was sold in 1971 at the famous "Hot Rodder" of America, Dean Moon (homonymous manufacturer of mechanical parts), and held it until his death in 1987. It is not known how many were produced, rumors about the intention of Holtkamp of a planned production in limited series that offers a Cheetah to the public at $ 16,000. In fact, it seems that it was built just one, what Holtkamp was used until '71 and then fell to Moon.
Trivia: After purchasing Moon sent the Cheetah to the Hurst / Airheart 's shop to replace the lock drum brakes with a set of disc brakes, but in those days, it was February 1971, triggered the earthquake in San Fernando and part of the building collapsed on Transporter workshop. The change was never made to the brakes and the Cheetah was on jackstands (stands) until the death of Moon. The Transporter was then sold to a collector, that Jim Degnan who then sold it to "collector of oddities" Geoff Hacker in December 2006. Since that day, Hacker has not stopped searching and collecting information on the Cheetah Transporter. If you have some, please let us or let her know.
PS: apart from the few photos available of the Cheetah Transporter attach a couple of shots of the Mercedes Benz 300 S Uhlenhaut Schnelltransporter and Citroën DS Plateau Tissier that era becoming truly unique pieces.