1964 Pontiac Banshee - Sex Bomb

The 1964 Pontiac Banshee was a concept or "dream car" I wish GM actually put into production. Many concept cars look silly or cartoonish but the Banshee was a sex bomb. Spy on me, baby.

Legend has it that it was the brainchild of then Pontiac division president and GM bad boy John DeLorean. Yes. That DeLorean. That's probably only partially true. What's more than likely closer to reality was that he collaborated with his team to create it and in an attempt to get it past GM upper management on the "fourteenth floor", he roused that is was to compete with the Ford Mustang. I think to give DeLorean sole credit for the Banshee not unlike like giving him singular credit for creating the GTO. A big engine in a small car? What a novel and unique idea, JD! In my opinion, the most important thing he did with the GTO was using his nerve and political moxy to sneak it past the stodgy suits upstairs. Unfortunately, he had no such luck with the Banshee.

So, why'd he even try? Well, you can't say the man wasn't doing his job trying to expand Pontiac's footprint within GM but even the most proactive people, regardless of their personal agenda, have to answer to someone; like it or not. Despite a number of successful product launches during his time at Pontiac, JD kept swinging for the fences until he tried to push something out that crossed head on into the lane of one of GM's sacred cows.

That cow being the Chevrolet Corvette and GM brass felt the Banshee would pinch its modest sales. At around 22,000 cars sold a year, because of its image, Corvette may have been a sacred cow but it was certainly no cash cow.  What's more, the Banshee was much smaller and lighter than the then current Corvette and even with a six-cylinder engine, on paper, it would have been quite a performer. With a V-8 it could probably destroy a Corvette in a drag race too. With the Banshee a two seater and a stronger performer it never stood a chance.

While it's readily apparent now that GM used several design cues from the Banshee on future designs, in 1964, the Banshee concept, as concept or dreams cars should, broke new ground and the fourteenth floor took notice.



They liked the Banshee so much that shortly after DeLorean's abortive attempt to get it approved for Pontiac, they called GM head of design Bill Mitchell and ordered him to work up a Chevrolet design based on it. That Chevrolet design exercise saw the light of day as the 1968 Corvette.