How a wheelbarrow turned into a Cheetah
As someone who grew up in the Watford area, I was delighted to see it featured in The Way We Were ( CCW, 24 July). The area featured is known as The Pond. Andrew Roberts’ commentary was exceptional and gave a real feel for the period.
Andrew brought up the question of Watford Sports Cars and its product, the Cheetah. As the Tornado Registrar of the Fairthorpe Sports Car Club I am aware of some of the history involved.
Around 1961 Tornado Cars, based in nearby Rickmansworth, was producing the Ford side-valve-powered Typhoon and this kit-based sports car was selling in good numbers. One morning co-founder and managing director, Bill Woodhouse, arrived early to find two of his staff making wheelbarrows out of Tornado chassis tubes. They were sacked on the spot.
Shortly after this, Watford Sports Cars launched the Cheetah – two of the directors were the same workers that Bill had dismissed!
The Cheetah chassis is similar to the Typhoon, but the Cheetah body, while not unlike the Tornado’s, is a rather good original product, less of a sports racer in style than the Typhoon, with a high standard of finish. Bill visited Watford Sports Cars and told them that every Cheetah sold was a Typhoon sale lost but didn’t sue over the chassis design.
Eventually the market moved on and Tornado left the sidevalve behind as they brought out models like the Ford Cosworth-powered Talisman. It seems that the chaps running Watford Sports Cars were unable to progress and the site off Lower High Street eventually concentrated more on Spanish-built Montesa motorcycles.