In the early 1960s, the Shelby Cobra rolled out of Carroll’s garage and into automotive folklore as the ultimate 60s street car. Chevrolet fanboys looked on with envious eyes, though one man took up arms to try and do something about it. His name was Bill Thomas, and the car he created, the Cheetah, could have been a genuine contender against the Shelby Cobra, had bad luck and boneheaded moves by GM doomed the project.

Hemmings Auto Blog reports that the long-thought-lost Super Cheetah prototype that was uncovered a few years ago is up for sale. The asking price of $1.25 million for this unfinished prototype is half its estimated $2.5 million value.

The original Bill Thomas Cheetah was designed to compete in the SCCA, and used a fuel-injected 327 from the Chevy Corvette for power. The wheelbase was just 90-inches, and the Cheetah needed new driveshaft between the transmission and differential; just a U-joint. Thomas planned to rolled out a “Super Cheetah”, which he commissioned Don Edmunds to hammer out in an aluminum body, though plans called for it to be a fiberglass ride.

Chevrolet started to get cold feet once the SCCA required 1,000 units of a vehicle to be made in order to compete in production classes. GM saw the Super Cheetah as competition for the Corvette, and pulled its support. Thomas later went bankrupt, and Edmunds ended up with the unfinished Super Cheetah shell for $300. He sold it later for more than five times what he sold it for, and it wasn’t until 2011 that Cheetah continuation builder Bob Auxier was able to buy it, after it sat idle for 40 years.

He is asking $1.25 million for this uncompleted 60s supercar. With just 33 Cheetah bodies ever built, and an incredible legend around these cars, his estimated value of $2.5 million for the restored ride might not be far off. What do you think?