Jimbo (or anyone else) Sat Nite trivia

[BarryBobPosthole]

Name this model and make.
BKB

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[DeputyDog]

Can’t tell you anymore than I had a Hotwheels car that looked like that when I was a kid.


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[Thumper]

Ha! You’re not gonna stump me with this one. I know the car … in fact, I know it VERY well. It's a “Chevy" Cheetah and was built by Bill Thomas with a little “under the table” help from Chevrolet. GM had officially pulled out of racing, but Chevy was slipping Bill some “special” parts on the sly, to build them for Chevrolet's "secret" racing program. GM finally ditched the support and the project suffered an early demise. I don’t remember all the details, but I believe Bunkie Knudsen was the go-between and the target was Carol Shelby. Note: In the early 60's, I was just a kid, but my dad was campaigning a Corvette in SCCA racing at the time. The Shelbys were tough to beat and GM didn't like it. Chevrolet had visions of a Ford/Shelby - Chevy/Cheetah shoot-out, but it never really went anywhere.

Coincidentally, I later went to work for Jack Goodman as the Service Manager at (Clarence) Dixon Cadillac in Hollywood. I was there 4 years, then left to work in the head office for a Limo manufacturer in Beverly Hills for a few years. Jack made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and I returned to Dixon in ‘85’ish. I remember sitting in his office with him and asking about the pics he had of his Cheetah.

Jack bought the car, brand new, in ‘64 (?) and raced it around the circuit in Sou. California for a while. I think it had an injected 327 originally, but after a few engine swaps down the line, it finally ended up with an L88 427 (aluminum head) big block. After he sold it, I think it continued on the racing circuit for a while before a collector snatched it up. I saw it at auction (Barrett or Mecum I think) a few years ago. I believe there were only about 15 or so built and Jack’s is one of the very few survivors.

Interestingly, Jack was just a (super) rich playboy. His mother was one of the Fishers of (General Motors’) Fisher Body Division. Dad was a major mucky-muck with GM. Word was, mom bought the Cadillac dealership from Clarence Dixon (an old, well established dealership in Hollywood) and gave it to Jack so he’d "have a real job"! He also inherited a boat load of cash, but it all went up his nose. (It was Hollywood in the 80’s) Jack had a plane he'd fly and I remember the time he got busted piloting the thing while all coked up and lost his pilot's license. He was pretty much absent most of the time and the dealership slowly went down the toilet with no leadership. I saw the handwriting on the wall and bailed out (in ‘86? ‘87?), then went to manage a Caddie dealer over in Glendale, (near Hollywood). By ‘88, Jack had blown the whole wad and the dealership closed its doors. I finally threw in the towel and moved back to Florida in '89 to start my own business. I'd had enough of the L.A. craziness.

Jack also had a super cool and VERY rare, ‘53 Cadillac Eldorado LeMans convertible that his dad had given him as a kid. I used to throw a dealer plate on it and drive it from time to time. I’ve often wondered whatever happened to that car and should probably try to research it some day. It was worth a ton of money, so I'd have to assume it's in someone's collection someplace.

P.S. Bill Stroppe and Bill Thomas worked together out of Stroppe's shop, but in '63, Thomas wanted to team up with Stroppe to take on the Cheetah project for GM. Stroppe was a Ford/Mercury guy (see Stroppe Bronco) and stayed the course with Ford. Thomas left Stroppe and went to start the Cheetah project for Chevrolet. With no interest from Stroppe, Thomas hooked up with Don Edmunds for the project. For a little more street cred, I knew Bill Stroppe well. Bill (Willie) Stroppe Jr. and I are still very close friends and I try to get together with him whenever I'm in L.A., in fact, we'll be headed that way the end of this month. Here's a pic of us hooking up for breakfast on one of my trips. We have some crazy memories, from our younger years, to go over whenever we get together! There was a time I woke up on Willie's couch more often that I woke up at home!

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[Thumper]

Can’t tell you anymore than I had a Hotwheels car that looked like that when I was a kid.

Deppity, this was a bit before your time, but Bill Thomas actually teamed up with Don Edmunds to build the Cheetah. Edmunds was the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1957.

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[DeputyDog]

I’m a bit of an Indy 500 history and trivia guy so I was familiar with Don Edmunds. He also built the “sky cycle” for Evel Knievel’s Snake River gorge jump.


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[Thumper]

I’m a bit of an Indy 500 history and trivia guy so I was familiar with Don Edmunds. He also built the “sky cycle” for Evel Knievel’s Snake River gorge jump.

Yessir. I also had dealings with Evel. When I was building custom cars with my dad, Evel bought our prototype ('74) Cadillac pick-up. It’s in Evel's museum right now. He later bought one of our regular ('76) production cars and drove both of them in the movie “Viva Knievel”. He used to hang around the shop when he was in town.

[Thumper]

So what’s up P-hole? You throw a challenge question out here, then never come back. Don’t I get some sort of prize or sumpin’? ��

[Thumper]

Jack also had a super cool and VERY rare, ‘53 Cadillac Eldorado LeMans convertible that his dad had given him as a kid. I used to throw a dealer plate on it and drive it from time to time. I’ve often wondered whatever happened to that car and should probably try to research it some day. It was worth a ton of money, so I'd have to assume it's in someone's collection someplace.

Well P-hole, you got my curiosity worked up over the Cadillac LeMans I mentioned above, so I started researching it. It appears General Motors ended up purchasing the car and it's now in their Concept Car Museum.

Built by GM Styling for the 1953 GM Motorama. Named after recent Cadillac racing successes by Briggs Cunningham at the 1950 LeMans 24-Hour race. GM also introduced the Eldorado the same year. Motorama visitors who were taken by the LeMans stunning styling could visit their local Cadillac dealer and buy a Cadillac similarly styled as the 1953 Eldorado. The concept never went into production, but the design was an exercise in the use of fiberglass and a 2-seat design.

GM Styling built four of these gorgeous fiberglass show cars for various shows and exhibits. LeMans #4 was brought back to GM styling and given a styling redux under the watchful eye of Harley Earl head of GM Styling. Front-end styling changed dramatically with the edition of quad headlamps which made their production debut on the 1957 Eldorado Brougham. Rear-end styling was also changed and a more modern Tailfin was added. The complete drivetrain was updated to 1960 Eldorado specifications.

The Restyled Lemans ended up in the hands of James (Bud) Goodman who was head of the GM Fisher Body division.
The LeMans was on display for many years in a Cadillac dealership in Hollywood, California. Ownership later passed to Mr. Goodman's son, Jack.

The LeMans is currently owned by Cadillac Motor Car Division - General Motors Corporation and is currently displayed in the Cadillac Historic Collection.


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[quercus alba]

them old cars was Yew-glee with a capital YEW

[Thumper]

them old cars was Yew-glee with a capital YEW

Well, it IS over 70 years old, so there’s that.

[johnboy]

At least they had some character and you could tell a Ford from a Chevy. Modern cars all look the same to me. Boring.

[Thumper]

I agree John. When I was a very young kid, I could spot and name cars from a block away and tell you the make, and most times the model, of almost every car on the road ... many, even at night. I could often tell you what make car it was just by the exhaust sound they made. Kind of like, nothing sounds like a Harley in the motorcycle world. I was behind a car at a stoplight just yesterday and thought it was a Mazda (I think?). Then I caught the MERCEDES emblem on the trunk! They all look alike to me these days. It's even hard to tell a domestic from an import.

[Chicken Dinner]

Curmidegeons…


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[Thumper]

Curmidegeons???

Personally, I’d hate to purchase a $90,000 SUV and know that people can’t tell the difference between it and a KIA.

It reminds me of the time I pissed off a buddy of mine back in the 70’s. He was into the “look at me, look at me” thing. I came to work one day and he had his new Porsche (don’t remember the model) parked in my assigned parking spot. I got on the company-wide PA system and made an announcement that whomever parked their Volkswagen Karmann Ghia in my parking space, needs to remove it immediately! I thought he was gonna throw a hissy fit!


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[BarryBobPosthole]

My wife and I had this discussion on our long ass drive to Fort Wayne over Thanksgiving. Only it was about tail lights. There was a time I could tell you the make and get close to the model just by seeing the taillights of a car at night. Not so much nowadays unless its a supercar or something.

We were like that family in the beginning of The Stand. We caught terrible colds over the week and spread that shit halfway across the country. Left two sick where we stopped on the way home and spent the night near st Louis. But they were family so they don’t count.

BKB