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Volvo: Safety Beyond the Star RatingsCool Car Find: 1964 Pontiac Banshee
The Pontiac Banshee concept was built to take on the Mustang, but proved too much of a threat to GM’s own Corvette to survive development.
What Might Have Been
1964 Pontiac Banshee – carsforsale.com | Shop Pontiac Banshee on Carsforsale.com
Concept cars serve two distinct yet complimentary roles. First, they provide direction for carmakers by laying a path into the future, often serving as templates for production vehicles to come. Second, concept cars inspire the car buying public by providing a glimpse into a dazzling not-so-distant future. One of the more famous concept cars in automotive history, the Pontiac Banshee, partly succeeded in that second instance while being denied an opportunity in the first. Despite its troubled history, or perhaps because of it, the 1964 Pontiac Banshee is a unique and compelling bit of automotive history.
Unlike most of GM’s concept cars, the Pontiac Banshee coupe (just a coupe and a convertible were built) was not destroyed after its project was canceled. Instead, a GM employee convinced the company to sell him the car. After the original owner’s passing in 2006, the Banshee coupe has been passing between collectors and is currently up for sale on Carsforsale.com. The Banshee is easily one of the coolest of Cool Car Finds we have discovered so far. Below we will dig into the history of this singular vehicle and why it would make an excellent addition to a topflight car collection or auto museum.
Origins
The Pontiac Banshee has its origins with a hotshot young executive, the then head of the Pontiac division, one John DeLorean. Just as DeLorean was helping launch the muscle car era with the GTO, he was also looking to make sure the brand has a proper GT car to compete with European models, the then brand-new Ford Mustang, and if need be, GM’s own Corvette.
This new car was coded the XP-833, and only later dubbed the Banshee. The design, inspired by the 1963 Corvair Monza GT show car, took the “long hood, short rear deck” design to extremes. The lightweight fiberglass body featured swooping lines and sculpted front and rear ends. Just compare the Banshee to the 1964 ½ Mustang or even the GTO and it becomes clear just how far ahead the concept’s design really was.
Unfortunately, the Banshee project was a direct threat to GM’s halo performance car, the Corvette. While taking on the Ford Mustang was just fine, the lighter, sleeker, and, importantly, cheaper Banshee would have been a legitimate threat to Corvette. DeLorean was already known in the boardrooms of GM as a non-conformist and his cavalier tendencies did not do him any favors when it came to the Banshee. By mid-1965, requests for further funding for project XP-833 were denied by GM.
Influences and Other Versions
The Banshee was not a complete failure, however. Its design, along with Larry Shinoda’s 1965 Mako Shark II concept, was a major influence on the design of, you guessed it, the third-generation Corvette. Indeed, the Banshee lent its taillight design and other elements to the Pontiac Firebird and its overall shape and pop-up headlights to the Opel GT.
The 1964 Banshee was not the last Pontiac concept to carry that name. There was also the 1968 Banshee II, a 1974 Banshee III (built from the Firebird platform), and the Banshee IV, a two-door four-seater, in 1988. It was the Banshee II project that gave the original XP-833 the Banshee moniker, as the Banshee badging was applied to the pair of concept cars when they were sold to the two GM employees.
This Cool Car
1964 Pontiac Banshee – carsforsale.com | Shop Pontiac Banshee on Carsforsale.com
This 1964 XP-833 Pontiac Banshee coupe is a one-of-a-kind concept car done is silver with red interior. It is powered by a 230 cu-in overhead-cam six-cylinder mated to a four-speed manual transmission. (The roadster version of the XP-833 got the larger 326 cu-in V8.) Most of the scant 1,498 miles on the odometer come from testing the car’s suspension during development. The car is in immaculate condition.
The Pontiac Banshee, with its rarity, beauty, and history, is surely one of the coolest Cool Car Finds on Carsforsale.com. Listed at $1.2 million, the Banshee coupe is not cheap, but given its provenance and condition, that price is likely a steal for the right collector.
I remember discussing the “banshee” with my uncle Mert Moore of Superior Pontiac in San Antonio Texas when I was about 12 years old. At that time he was sales manager and VP. I remember him being very excited about the new car but was Leary of the name saying it meant death in some circles.
Still in Milford Ct. ?
Hello! You can see the listing for the Pontiac Banshee here: https://www.carsforsale.com/vehicle/details/27238514
It has been for sale for a number of years and failed to meet reserve at a couple of recent high-profile auctions. Because it wouldn’t sell at $750,000 while the economy was booming, I have trouble believing it could garner $1.2M in today’s depressed market. Regardless, the failure to change hands does not diminish the significance of this car, nor it’s desirability as an historical artifact leading to the development of the Pontiac Firebird.
What is a rare and classic car worth? My father told me “what someone will pay”.