{"id":37197,"date":"2022-11-30T12:03:42","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T17:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=37197"},"modified":"2022-11-30T12:03:42","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T17:03:42","slug":"1981-teledyne-continental-cheetah-humvee-competitor-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=37197","title":{"rendered":"1981 Teledyne Continental Cheetah is the Humvee that could have been – Autoblog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Better known as the Humvee<\/a>, the AM General M998 has been a symbol of the U.S. Army for nearly four decades. It wasn’t the only prototype that government officials tested in the early 1980s, and a rare example of a competing High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) prototype built by Teledyne Continental<\/a> is scheduled to cross the auction<\/a> block in Kissimmee, Florida, in January 2023.<\/p>\n

Teledyne, AM General, and others<\/a> designed their proposals by following the same basic guidelines so the resemblance between the Cheetah and the M998 shouldn’t come as a major surprise. Officials needed an off-roader with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of less than 7,200 pounds, a 2,500-pound payload, a top speed of over 60 mph, a diesel-burning engine, and the ability to accelerate to 30 mph from a stop in six to eight seconds, according<\/a> to the Online Tank Museum. Companies hoping to secure the lucrative contract also needed to take length, width, and height limitations into account, and the prototypes had to offer a basic level of body armor to keep occupants safe.<\/p>\n

Like rival AM General, Teledyne envisioned several variants of the Cheetah including weapon and troop carriers, ambulances, plus two- and four-door models. Representatives from the Pentagon tested Teledyne’s prototypes in 1982 but ultimately selected AM General’s proposal, and the Cheetah project was scrapped \u2014 there wasn’t much of a market for a civilian version at the time. Precisely how many prototypes were built and how many survived is a topic of debate, but what’s certain is that at least one made it into private hands.<\/p>\n

The example that’s part of Mecum’s 2023 Kissimmee sale<\/a> comes from the Michael and Dianne Morey collection, which also includes<\/a> a stunning number of American cars built from the 1930s to the 1970s. Its story is vague at best: The auction description simply notes that it’s powered by a 6.9-liter diesel<\/a> V8 borrowed from International and bolted to a General Motors-sourced three-speed automatic transmission. It’s finished in green with a black and green interior, and it features some modifications such as bright wheels wrapped by massive tires.<\/p>\n

Mecum hasn’t provided a pre-auction estimate, and it’s likely difficult to accurately predict how much the Cheetah will sell for. It’s a rare prototype, so its value largely depends on how much collectors are willing to pay for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Better known as the Humvee, the AM General M998 has been a symbol of the U.S. Army for nearly four decades. It wasn’t the only prototype that government officials tested in the early 1980s, and a rare example of a competing High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) prototype built by Teledyne Continental is scheduled to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}