60-70’s were definitely the best muscle car design decades. One of many proves is ‘64 Pontiac Banshee Concept codenamed XP-883. It was John DeLorean‘s project. His team designed two 2-seaters: fiberglass coupe and roadster. You may obviously see some Corvettish design cues. No wonder why – the C3 Corvette was already on drawing boards. Since Banshee had to be cheaper, and DeLorean really want it in production, Pontiac got a cheaper solid rear axle.
Sadly, GM’s heads saw some serious threat to a Corvette, so they ordered DeLorean to stop Banshee project development.
The Banshee coupe was powered with overhead cam straight-6 mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission. It was finished in Metallic Silver and had red interior. The roadster was white and featured 326 CID V8. Luckily, both concepts are still “alive”. They were sold by RM Auctions for private collectors back in 2010 at Ritz-Carlton.
Photo credits: Darin Schnabel [via RMauctions.com]. Used with permission.
