The 1964 Pontiac Banshee was originally conceived by the General Motors sub-brand as a rival to the Ford Mustang. Pontiac boss John Delorean fully intended to put the Banshee into production, but executives believed the Banshee would compete too closely with the Chevrolet Corvette, so his creation was never given the green light.
Pontiac actually built two Banshee examples to display at various auto shows: a white convertible with a V8 and a hardtop coupe with an inline-six. The coupe was sold to a GM employee after its auto show service life had concluded and began trading hands among collectors once the original owner passed away in 2006.
Strangely, the coupe recently came up for sale in Connecticut at a Kia dealership, of all places. This car was listed for sale by another Connecticut dealership back in 2015, classic car sales and restoration company Dragone, but it’s a bit odd to see this rare GM show car offered for sale by a Kia dealer.
The dealership, Napoli Kia, had previously listed the world’s only Pontiac Banshee at $753,950. In typical car dealer fashion, though, the dealer later knocked a small chunk of change off the price tag with a rather paltry $3,950 discount, bringing the asking price to $750,000. We’re confident this makes the Banshee one of, if not the most expensive cars ever offered for sale by a Kia dealer – which typically deal in budget-friendly car sales exclusively.
The dealership says it is open to discussing trades for the car, as well, but we can’t imagine what they’d be willing to take in exchange for this rolling piece of GM history.
Check out the dealer listing at this link for some additional information and photos of the world’s only Pontiac Banshee hardtop.
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Comments
Interesting vehicle. In 1964, the Corvette had a still new and very beautiful design that’s considered a high-water-mark shape to this day. Although the 64’s had dropped the famous split rear window, the C2 is renowned for that daring design element and it’s gorgeous overall shape.
This Banshee would have been making the rounds looking completely new and different and nothing like a Corvette. However it’s shape presaged the one coming for the Corvette’s ‘68 redesign. What Pontiac was showing in 1964 may not have made it to production as a Mustang fighter for the Poncho brand but the design essentially became the shape of the C3 Corvette.
I’ve seen images of the Banshee before but never understood the timeline of its debut and thus didn’t realize what a harbinger it was for the also gorgeous 1968 “Mako-Shark” inspired Corvettes.
I’m sure GM management was right in this case; Banshee would’ve stolen the thunder of Corvette. However, it probably also would’ve put Corvette on a different design path and the C3 which established the “Corvette look” that endured for the next four generations (C4-C7) likely would’ve never looked the way it did. Bill Mitchell wouldn’t have wanted the Corvette to look just like a Banshee. That would mean none of the shapes we know as Corvette would’ve been born.
The truth is if Pontiac had done this car it would have been a lot of fun. But the harsh reality would have been GM would have ended up killing both cars.
The two would have made weak sales numbers for both once they both had been out for a while.
As it is the Corvette avoided cancelation several times by a thin margin.
Sports cars are a limited market and at lower cost difficult to make money with. This is why so many live short lives.
By the way this car has been for sale for a few years. Someone over paid and is trying to recover the money.
The power train was a 428 big block rated over 400+Hp with a Muncie 4speed trans, 4.11 rear end gear on a wheel base the size of a Miata. 0-60 times were a low 4 seconds with never a run at the top speed. This car had break neck acceleration and handled like a rail. The last time I heard this car was started and run it was in a private collection of a collector out of Northern Illinois. It was covered by a journalist from the Chicago Sun Times in the early 2000’s not too long before John Deloreans passing. The journalist said that once the collector had warmed up the big block it sounded really strong and scared the crap out of him!
Actually I know Don Keefe the author. This car was not the same car as Bortz has the roadster. This is a hard top fastback that can be removed.
The Truth is both cars were early prototypes that are not well sorted out. They were drivable but as to handling like on rails not so much.
These cars are a mix of A body parts on old bias tires that were never fully tuned for handling.
These cars were so early prototypes that if you look at huge coupe it has Cadilkac seat belts.
The reason these are not well sorted is due to tgem being build in hiding at the tech center and not being tested. GM saw them and rejected them ordered them destroyed. They then were put into hiding by the designers who,later were able to buy them quietly at a later time.
I know these cars well and have loved them for years. But the truth is they may looked finished but they were just really well presented early prototypes.
As for Don he was not scared. He has driven most of the great Pontiac and GM show cars and even some of the race cars. He never takes them to a point that he would scare himself due to his respect of the value.
Note too that this car was the product of Bill Collins Pontiac Engineer and he owned the roadster V8.
Also note Bortz is unsure of the actual engine size as no one recalls for sure and he has not rebuilt the engine as it rund]s fine. It could be anything from 326 as most claims to a 421. The 428 did not exist till a few years later after the car was in hiding.
The true history of these cars are out there as lots of false info. Use care in what you ready hat does not include Bill Collins input.
Thank you 2M6… Fiero right?
35 year owner.
Rearview looks like 1966 Olds Toronado. DeLores was true car guy. Too bad he came up short with his own brand.
Agree. The front end is similar to the ’68 ‘Vette and the rear is most certainly, ’66 Tornado. Delorean, was light years ahead of most GM designers. Too bad he wound up butting heads with the Brass. If he had had the proper backing, his own creation would have been way different. Unfortunately, those fun days are all but gone. Can you say, SUV and CUV, Hybrid? Just sayin’
Actually there were many bits reused in this car on later models. The first and second gen Firebirds for one.
GM never threw away styling.
Note that even the 1990 Fiero that was canceled was reused got the 4th gen F body.
If DeLorean had had his way we would have had FI, DOHC, 4 wheel disc, electronic ignition and even composite lights on the GTO and other cars.
GM had a very conservative culture and you did not step out of line. If you did it was frowned upon. John broke rules and lived a very high profile life in a group of repressive stuffed shirts.
If he had just toned it down a little he would have lead GM vs being pressured to the point of resigning.
John was a very smart man and understood the market from all sides. But his ego and stubbornness got him. He even admitted so later in life. He really became a humble man that regretted hurting those around him.
This is why today we still don’t see many step out of line. Lutz had little to lose at GM but the lifers like Reuss know they can be shown the door fast as his father was Grand National success or not.
Thanks for the insight 2M6. GM is a very sad company. They probably have some of the best designers and engineers in the industry but they are constantly kept down by overly conservative management. I tend to think that’s a recent phenomenon that has precipitated their dramatic downfall but DeLoren, the GTO story, and Fiero illustrates the overly conservative culture has been around for a while. I guess they’ve added an obsession with cheap and total shareholder focused short-sightedness to the toxic mix today that’s lead to further shrinkage of the company under Barra’s sad reign.
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