1960s car makes comeback thanks to Grafton father and son business

GRAFTON, Ohio - Craig Ruth was a successful engineer when as turned his back on the corporate world and pursued his dream of starting his own business.

Craig has a passion for cars, especially corvettes, and he has the best teacher a man could ask for, his father Bob Ruth.

Bob bought his first new Corvette in 1958 and hasn't looked back. When he wasn't racing, he was working on cars until him and his dad bought a shop for just Corvettes. That makes Craig the third generation of Ruth Corvette Restoration.

While Craig loves all things Corvette, he always wanted to build his own car from scratch. With his engineering background and car expertise, he stumbled on the Cheetah.

The Cheetah was a 1960s car built by Bill Thomas. It was meant to compete with the Ford Cobra. Thomas only built about 15 or so of the cars before going out of business.

The father and son team have built nine Cheetahs since the first one rolled off the assembly line in March 2008. Each car is all-Ruth engineered.

"As far as I know we are the only local company that builds a car from scratch,” Craig said.

Their next project is building a Cheetah for the Ohio Speed Challenge as they will try to set the Ohio record for its class. They are hoping to break 200 mph.

If you would like more information about the Cheetah visit http://americancheetahracing.com/