The silver arrow among the racing transporters
08/29/2023
In 1954, the famous Mercedes-Benz racing car fast transporter was a rolling extremism - both in terms of performance and proportions. While Opel Kapitän drivers felt like kings of the left-hand lane at a painstakingly achieved 140 km/h, the "Blue Wonder" was speeding along at over 160 km/h in the rear-view mirror. Seven years later, of course, an American proved that it was still possible to improve on this.
Norman Holtkamp traded in VW and Porsche products in Inglewood, but in his spare time he loved to drive so-called "midget races" in small single-seaters. However, transporting them from race track to race track using a trailer soon became too cumbersome for him - too unstable at high speeds, too awkward to maneuver. Piggybacking on a transporter would make it much easier to transport the little speedsters.
So in 1960, he grabbed a Mercedes-Benz 300 from the scrap heap and cut 20 inches out of the floor panel, reducing the wheelbase to 239 centimetres, which was even shorter than a VW Beetle. The rear single-joint swing axle was allowed to remain in place, but instead of the three-liter six-cylinder engine, he installed a five-liter V8 from the Corvette amidships.
Designer Dave Deal converted Holtkamp's sketches into usable design drawings, which were knocked into aluminum at Trountman-Barnes Customs. Holtkamp borrowed the driver's cab from a Chevrolet El Camino. To ensure that all four wheels remained on the ground even when unladen, a water tank was installed in the rear in addition to the two fuel tanks to balance the load.
By the end of 1961, the "Cheetah Transporter" was ready and immediately became the star of every paddock on the West Coast. With a top speed of 112 miles per hour (180 km/h), it even outperformed the German model. Of course, the handling was very adventurous due to the short wheelbase, which is why Holtkamp soon tackled an extension, which he never completed.
Shortly afterwards, the halved Hauler became the property of Speed Shop founder Dean Moon. Unlike the "Blue Wonder", which was scrapped in 1967 and reconstructed at great expense between 1993 and 2000, the silver US speed truck still exists today - and its current owner is determined to reassemble the two halves into one vehicle.
