eBay Auction of the Day: 1966 Pontiac Banshee Coupe
Sure, there are plenty of savory sports cars up for grabs on eBay Motors (including that slinky Intermeccanica Omega we brought you earlier), but this one's got to take the cake. Currently listed on eBay with sixteen days to go is one of two surviving examples of the GM XP-833, better known as the Pontiac Banshee.
(Click through to read more on the Banshee's history and current auction)
Championed by then Pontiac chief John DeLorean and engineer Bill Collins, the Banshee, using parts gleaned from the Tempest, was Pontiac's idea in the mid-1960s of what an affordable sports car should be. Designed in both fastback and convertible forms, the swoopy styling echoed what would be the next Corvette - something that resonated within GM's product planners. Citing it as possible competition to the hallowed 'Vette, the Banshee project was killed and Pontiac was instead given a copy of the Camaro - the Firebird.
At one point, both prototype cars were scheduled for demolition, but Collins managed to snatch them away from the company in the late 1970s; both have traded hands several times over the past few decades.
Arguably, the lines on the fastback coupe are more slender than that of the roadster, and, although it's only powered by Pontiac's 230-cu.in. inline-six (the 'vert uses a 326-cu.in. V-8), it's very visually striking. The convertible's interior is trimmed in all-black, whereas the coupe uses an attractive two-toned red/black combination.
It's not all peaches and cream, though. The car previously sold at Barrett-Jackson in 2006 for a little more than $200,000, but Napoli Automotive of Milford, Conn, is asking a staggering $1.3 million for the car. Certainly, it's a rare and attractive piece of automotive history, but is it really worth close to a 500% markup?
Comments
Scratch
The seller has it listed as only selling to Europe, Asia, and Mexico? What the hell? That's gotta be a mistake.
Paul In Jersey
Hey, it's worth at least a million if your the sort of guy who wants to poke a finger in the eye of GM at share holder meetings. You can show up in that car and say in authoritative tones, "This company has a history of missing the boat. I have proof!"
Russ Bellinis
I suspect that the reason for it being listed as for sale only to Europe, Asia, & Mexico is that you can't register it here in the U.S. It hasn't been crash tested or certified for smog! I suspect that if one of the mega millionaires that bought the other "dream cars" at Barratt-Jackson wants to throw their millions at it, it may be sold in America.
Ducati Minor
Pontiac has had some rich concepts in its storied past. I remember reading about a fascinating concept in the pages of Motor Trend Classic (before that wonderful magazine was canned). The coupe was based on a second-gen Firebird but came equipped with a Ferrari V-12 and a fresh body. Enzo Ferrari fully cooperated with GM in providing parts to the concept. It never amounted to anything for production, but I've long been impressed by it.
Even being a fan and former driver of a 1967 Firebird, I still cannot help but be disappointed with GM's sports car decision. The Banshee would not have made business sense, however. Fresh ideas were only briefly trendy with the decade's consumers. GM had embraced innovative ideas. Whereas Ford had the Falcon and Plymouth had the Valiant (two very plain and simple econo-boxes), GM took a risk and offered the rear-engined (and unusually styled) Corvair. Ford fell into the V-8 trap, but Chevrolet boosted the Corvair with a turbo flat-six. Let's not forget the front-drive Toronado.
But GM did go with the crowd. John DeLorean is partly to blame for that. The 1964 GTO set the stage for the decade's muscle car boom. It would be fun to think of the Banshee with a high-output straight-six or a small-block V-8, but Pontiac would have ended up stuffing an oversized 400 cu. in. motor, just like Chevy was cramming 396s, 427s, and 454s into the 'Vette.
Ducati Minor
"It hasn’t been crash tested or certified for smog!"
I don't believe that, by its age and legal classification, it would need to be.
Jim
These cars are awsome! They are just so awesome it's almost illegal.
I'm a huge Pontiac fan and I always have liked the Banshee concepts. Even the 88 version. It would be so cool to own one.
Mark
Ducati Minor :: Pontiac V-8s are all the same external size; no small- or big blocks, so why stop at a 326 when you can have the same physical thing displacing 421 with 150 more HP?? Small/big block does not refer to displacement.
The '71 Firearri concept was completely designed by Bill Mitchell and is only a mild reworking of the production 2nd gen Firebird (primarily the nose)- the only contribution to this non-publically shown car by ferrari would've been supplying the V-12, tho I cannot say for a fact that Mitchell went to ferrari directly in that case. Interesting design, a bit cleaner in profile except the nose gave it an excessive ferrari-esque overbite that was not an improvement, IMO.
>>"...Pontiac would have ended up stuffing an oversized..."<<
THIS is what the market demanded, this is what Pontiac delivered. PMD didn't move nearly 100,000 '66 GTOs because the dealers were all out of 6-cyl Tempests, ya know.
Winding Road » Archive » eBay Auction of the Day: 1978 Toyto
[...] are eBay auctions that we feature of cars that are historically important, cars that are excessively weird, and sometimes just cars that we really, really want. This 1978 [...]
Mark
White V-8 convertible Banshee still exists in excellent shape in the Bortz Collection in IL.
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