What started out as a crazy TikTok barn/yard find turns out to be little more than a nameless kit car
- A TikTok house-hunting video showed a backyard coupe with a tree growing through it.
- Viewers speculated it was a rare Bill Thomas Cheetah, one of fewer than 30 built.
- Closer inspection reveals mismatched details, pointing to a kit car, not the real thing.
Social media barnfinds are, more often than not, fun, and TikTok just delivered a wild one. A house-hunting content creator posted a clip of a property he was considering buying. In the lengthy tour, about two seconds show a random clapped-out car in the backyard.
Commenters begged him to go back because they thought what he found was a super-rare Bill Thomas Cheetah. Thankfully, that’s not the case since it has a tree growing through it.
More: Four Far-Out Kit Cars From The Carefree 1960’s
For those unfamiliar, the Cheetah is like one of the holy grails of American sports cars. Built in the 1960s by Bill Thomas with Chevrolet’s blessing, fewer than 30 were ever built. This car had one purpose: to beat the Shelby Cobra of the day. Each car was raw, lightweight, and powerful. Spotting one in any condition is rare enough. If it were just rotting away in a backyard, it would be a historic tragedy.
Closer Inspection
The TikToker went back to the scene to film the car more closely. Only then could we see that thankfully, no, this isn’t a wildly-rare piece of American automotive history. The door handles, roofline, rear glass, and lack of headlights all fail to line up with the Cheetah’s finer details.
Some facets of the car in question are just downright weird, like the taillight that sits inside the cabin and shines through what used to be the rear glass. Colin Comer is an expert on the Cheetah and actually owns one of the real ones. He confirmed to Carscoops that this isn’t one. “It’s a Cheetah-ish kit car of some kind,” he said.
What Could It Be?
The question then becomes, what exactly are we looking at? Sadly, there’s no definitive way to be sure. Despite several searches on various backwards image databases and even car-centric ones, there’s nothing we’ve found that matches perfectly.
FiberFab did some similar cars in the 1960s but few match as closely as the ones from Kellison. Specifically, the J-Series looks similar in some ways. Ultimately, there are no direct matches. Perhaps this car is indeed a super-rare unicorn after all.
What do you think it is? Drop your theories in the comments, because this mystery machine might just need the collective brainpower of car enthusiasts to unravel. Give us your best guess.