Review by CoMod Lotus Carrera DIGITAL 132 Bill Thomas Cheetah "Aluminum Car" & "No. 11", 1964 (Item No. 30648 & 30649)
Another one in chrome?
YES! Although, actually NO. Because they’ve never actually been chrome-plated, but rather anodized. However, they’ve been called CHROM-XXX in the CARRERA community ever since the first car (you can insert the respective car name for XXX). And there have been quite a few chrome-plated cars in recent years: It all started with the legendary Chrome Porsche (911 GT1 98), which was actually intended only as a test to see if something like this could be mass-produced, and which was then manufactured in small numbers in 1998 and subsequently given away all over the world. But that would be a whole other story. It continued with the 132 300 SLR in 2001 and the two 124 streamlined racers, the AUTO UNION Type C and MERCEDES W125. In 2003, the 132 Aston Martin Vanquish was released as a production model, along with the extremely rare Bentley EXP 8, which—like the 911 GT1—was never sold commercially but was instead given away to deserving dealers or offered as a prize in CARRERA racing competitions. For me, the 2004 DTM C-Class doesn’t count as a classic CHROM, since the car competed so regularly in the DTM. The same applies to the DTM successors from 2006 and 2007.
But in 2006, four more treats were released: For the press event unveiling the following vehicles, Mercedes-Benz commissioned four special vehicles: the CL Coupe, the E-Class, the SL, and the GL SUV. Each vehicle came in its own box with tracks; all four boxes together formed a complete racetrack.
Then that was the end of the good times for a while; it wasn’t until 2013 that there was some news again regarding high-gloss cars: Exclusively for its 50th anniversary, a chrome Porsche 911 model was released for the CARRERA Club in the middle of the year, and the gold-plated 911 was given away to people all over the world at the Toy Fair.
And now, of course, there’s the Bill Thomas Cheetah as an “Aluminum Car.”
You might think the designers ran out of ideas, especially since we’ve had a few years’ break from chrome cars. Far from it!!!!!!!!!!!
The vehicle really does/did exist. As is well known, the Cheetah’s body is made of fiberglass. However, the first two prototypes of the Cheetah were fitted with aluminum bodies. One of the cars was apparently sold to Chevrolet for research purposes; according to Bill Thomas, the other was owned by Sonny & Cher (for the younger folks on the forum: they were a singing duo in the ’60s—back when music still came out of analog devices or speakers and the only formats were records or tape). Rumors also mention a third aluminum-bodied car. There are now a few replicas, but none of the original vehicles are believed to exist anymore.
On the following page, you’ll find some good pictures of the aluminum Cheetah as well as a brief historical overview: www.gatsbyonline.com
There isn’t much to say about the model itself: My test vehicle was superbly crafted (the “chrome plating” doesn’t forgive even the slightest flaw), though the tire sidewalls slightly detract from the overall look due to their fanciful names. Thanks to its very wide tires and wide track, the Cheetah sticks to the track like a board and is very hard to knock off course. It’s a great rival for the Cobra, which, in my opinion, doesn’t even come close to matching the Cheetah’s looks.
Have fun with the car!!!
Another one in chrome?
YES! Although, actually NO. Because they’ve never actually been chrome-plated, but rather anodized. However, they’ve been called CHROM-XXX in the CARRERA community ever since the first car (you can insert the respective car name for XXX). And there have been quite a few chrome-plated cars in recent years: It all started with the legendary Chrome Porsche (911 GT1 98), which was actually intended only as a test to see if something like this could be mass-produced, and which was then manufactured in small numbers in 1998 and subsequently given away all over the world. But that would be a whole other story. It continued with the 132 300 SLR in 2001 and the two 124 streamlined racers, the AUTO UNION Type C and MERCEDES W125. In 2003, the 132 Aston Martin Vanquish was released as a production model, along with the extremely rare Bentley EXP 8, which—like the 911 GT1—was never sold commercially but was instead given away to deserving dealers or offered as a prize in CARRERA racing competitions. For me, the 2004 DTM C-Class doesn’t count as a classic CHROM, since the car competed so regularly in the DTM. The same applies to the DTM successors from 2006 and 2007.
But in 2006, four more treats were released: For the press event unveiling the following vehicles, Mercedes-Benz commissioned four special vehicles: the CL Coupe, the E-Class, the SL, and the GL SUV. Each vehicle came in its own box with tracks; all four boxes together formed a complete racetrack.
Then that was the end of the good times for a while; it wasn’t until 2013 that there was some news again regarding high-gloss cars: Exclusively for its 50th anniversary, a chrome Porsche 911 model was released for the CARRERA Club in the middle of the year, and the gold-plated 911 was given away to people all over the world at the Toy Fair.
And now, of course, there’s the Bill Thomas Cheetah as an “Aluminum Car.”
You might think the designers ran out of ideas, especially since we’ve had a few years’ break from chrome cars. Far from it!!!!!!!!!!!
The vehicle really does/did exist. As is well known, the Cheetah’s body is made of fiberglass. However, the first two prototypes of the Cheetah were fitted with aluminum bodies. One of the cars was apparently sold to Chevrolet for research purposes; according to Bill Thomas, the other was owned by Sonny & Cher (for the younger folks on the forum: they were a singing duo in the ’60s—back when music still came out of analog devices or speakers and the only formats were records or tape). Rumors also mention a third aluminum-bodied car. There are now a few replicas, but none of the original vehicles are believed to exist anymore.
On the following page, you’ll find some good pictures of the aluminum Cheetah as well as a brief historical overview: www.gatsbyonline.com
There isn’t much to say about the model itself: My test vehicle was superbly crafted (the “chrome plating” doesn’t forgive even the slightest flaw), though the tire sidewalls slightly detract from the overall look due to their fanciful names. Thanks to its very wide tires and wide track, the Cheetah sticks to the track like a board and is very hard to knock off course. It’s a great rival for the Cobra, which, in my opinion, doesn’t even come close to matching the Cheetah’s looks.
Have fun with the car!!!
