[TransAmer99]

I came across this while doing a little research. Officially classified as the XP-798, it was another John Z. DeLorean creation - this one from 1966. Sources on the internet most commonly refer to it as the "Banshee II", but at least two sources named it the "Scorpion". Look how the doors open out wide and forward of the A-pillar!

http://www.carstyling.ru/en/car/1966_pontiac_banshee_xp_798/

The news release, dated April 8, 1966 reads:
"LATEST FROM PONTIAC -- The Banshee, labeled after the Marine jet fighter plane, is the newest Pontiac Motor Division dream car. The aerodynamically-styled four-seater is built on a 109-inch wheel base. Overall length is 196.7 inches while overall height is but 49.8 inches. Doors, which are about 20 inched longer than conventional doors, open by sliding parallel to the body. To improve rear seat entry, there are two gull-winged flippers which open perpendicular to the roof line. Headlamps of the Banshee retract into the hood surface and taillights are semi-concealed."

Sounds like a precurser to t-tops and blacked-out taillight lenses!

Also, speaking of John Z. DeLorean, here's this week's feature from PontiacsOnline:

http://www.pontiacsonline.com/JOHN%20DELOREAN.htm

Note that the year for "Banshee I" is in error - that prototype was built in 1964.

 

[Pete W]

Thanks Jim! Didn't know about this car and the article on DeLorean is a good read.

 

[1tinindian]

Dig those wide meats!

 

[1993TransAm]

The guy sure did have a flair for designing cars that just looked different, unlike anything else on the road...a true characteristic of Pontiac.

 

[BLyons]

Definitely interesting. That exhaust is really low though.

 

[Formula71]

Interesting. Other than the doors, roof and the fastback window, it could easily be a customized Firebird at any carshow today. It's nice to see that many of John DeLorean's early designs made into the production models.

Thanks for sharing Jim.

 

[birdsanctuary]

I like it. Nice looking design. Nice article too.

 

[69_Rag_Top]

Jim,

Thanks for the articles and links on the XP-798 concept car. Interesting that one says that the car is a four seater and the other says the car is a two seater.

I can see why GM would not want to build the car since this would have killed off the Corvette sales with such sporty styling and performance.

If you look at the door to the rear of the car you can see how Buick and Oldsmobile stole the styling for their personal 2 door luxury cars the Riviera and the Tornado.

The news release, dated April 8, 1966 reads:
"LATEST FROM PONTIAC -- The Banshee, labeled after the Marine jet fighter plane, is the newest Pontiac Motor Division dream car. The aerodynamically-styled four-seater is built on a 109-inch wheel base. Overall length is 196.7 inches while overall height is but 49.8 inches. Doors, which are about 20 inched longer than conventional doors, open by sliding parallel to the body. To improve rear seat entry, there are two gull-winged flippers which open perpendicular to the roof line. Headlamps of the Banshee retract into the hood surface and taillights are semi-concealed."

The 1966 XP-798 two seat concept

 

[TransAmer99]

The earlier 1964 Banshee Prototypes (coupe and convertible) were two seaters. The 1966 Banshee Show Car (killed by GM and never actually 'shown' to the public) was a 4-seater. Here's a weblink that has a cutaway illustration of the powertrain in which you can see the rear seat (also the reason for the roof hatches - to access the rear seating area).

http://www.carstyling.ru/en/car/1966_pontiac_banshee_xp_798/

The narrative also describes them as 'fold-down rear seats'. It is clear that DeLorean was angry with GM management for killing his ideas then stealing them for use by the other divisions. Perhaps that is the reason why, in 1973 - when he had become head of Chevrolet and was being groomed for the top spot at GM - he abruptly quit to go form DMC. He was going to bring his vision of a 2-seater to market and he wasn't going to give GM the pleasure of profiting from it. But as GM top boss, he would have been able to dictate his whims and have the corporate backing to do it right. You'll recall that it was his 'creative financing' and the use of alleged drug money that led to the demise of DMC. DeLorean was too smart to be a cokehead himself, but he took the risk of using cocaine money from the syndicate to keep his company solvent. It didn't work.

People talk about how oil companies stiffle innovation outside petroleum-powered internal combustion engines. The claims are without merit. But GM definately destroyed one of it's most prolific, creative and visionary leaders to ever ascend to power within the company. Because he was a non-conformist, he had to go. And he became the metaphor for Pontiac itself.

For reference, here are sites featuring the 2-seater Banshees from 1964.

http://bortzautocollection.com/news/64pontiacjune2010/index.htm
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150490497996%29#v4-37

Being as how you're not far from Milford, CT, Larry, I'd sure like to have some detailed photos of the coupe. I have no doubt it will eventially sell and then we face the spectre of it disappearing for a while. Sure wish I had the means with which to pony up the bread for that car - I'd do it in a heartbeat!

 

[TransAmer99]

additional images of the XP-798:

Note the illustration in the next-to-bottom image above that the car either had or was envisioned to have a tri-power setup. This was going to be DeLorean's "screamin' demon"!

 

[jeffmoto]

Makes me think of the Riviera, I really like those Buicks.

 

[joesperformance]

For reference, here are sites featuring the 2-seater Banshees from 1964.

http://bortzautocoll...e2010/index.htm

At the bottom of that link, it also mentions teh 4-seater banshee, its in the square blue box, towards the very bottom....... labelled "What is a Concept Car?"

 

[TransAmer99]

If you look at the illustration of the 1966 XP-798 Banshee, you can see that it did have a back seat. That was the reason for the pop-up roof panels and the extra-long doors that opened outward and slid forward.

The XP-833 (built as both a coupe and a roadster in 1964) was a two-seat concept. They are commonly mistaken as "Banshee's" today because Somebody acquired the Banshee badges from a pile of old prototype parts and put them on the cars after they were in a private collection. John DeLorean never christened the XP-833's as "Banshees". His first Banshee designation was for the 1966 XP-798 prototype. It was THIS car that he intended to make into the Firebird until GM forced him to use the Camaro platform instead.

Nevertheless, early and future Firebird styling can be seen in both the XP-833's and the XP-798.

 

[TransAmer99]

My information comes from a personal conversation with John Schinella at the 2010 TA Nats in Dayton, Ohio. He told the audience, and confirmed to me when I asked him, that it was he (John Schinella) who applied the Banshee badges to the cars now residing in CT and in Joe Bortz's collection. He did this after finding a stash of those badges in an abandoned file cabinet long after John DeLorean left Pontiac. His reasoning was that everybody in the division associated with the prototypes WANTED those cars to become the Firebird. But DeLorean himself, and then GM brass had other ideas. (Note that prior to August, 2010, I too referred to the XP-833 cars as 'Banshees'.)

He also reasoned that the two XP-833 cars deserved the recognition simply because they were not destroyed like most of the other prototypes (including the XP-798) had been. When John DeLorean left Pontiac, the company lost it's soul. That the Firebird and other performance models continued to be produced was something of a miracle because top management and the beancounters fought them tooth and nail. GM protected it's Corvette image car, but every other sense of the word 'performance' was unwelcome inside the halls of head office.