The one-off 1964 Pontiac Banshee coupe concept is once again for sale, this time in a listing at Hemmings. The asking price is a cool $1.2 million.
The Banshee was an early attempt by General Motors to counter the Ford Mustang. Known internally as the XP-833, it was the brainchild of John Z. DeLorean, who was head of Pontiac at the time. More sports car than pony car, it featured sleek fiberglass bodywork that resembles the later C3 Chevrolet Corvette and Opel GT.
Instead of a bespoke sports-car platform, though, the Banshee borrowed mechanical hardware from the first-generation Pontiac Tempest. It used that car’s unusual rear transaxle driven by a flexible metal driveshaft often called a “rope drive” to send power from an inline-6 engine to the rear wheels.
GM nixed the Banshee after two prototypes—this silver coupe and a white convertible—were built, allegedly because executives were concerned that the Pontiac would steal sales from the Corvette. Pontiac instead got the Firebird as its Mustang fighter, sharing the GM F-Body platform with the Chevy Camaro.
Pontiac Banshee coupe
The two Banshee prototypes were hidden away until they could be purchased by GM employees. The coupe stayed with its purchaser until 2006, when it was bought by dealer Len Napoli of Milford, Connecticut, for $210,600 at a Barrett-Jackson auction. Napoli is a noted Pontiac collector whose family ran a Pontiac dealership from 1958 until GM pulled the plug on the division.
Napoli has tried to sell the Banshee coupe multiple times. It first popped up for sale in 2010, and was last listed for sale through Napoli’s Kia dealership in 2020 with a $750,000 asking price. Napoli appears to be the seller once again, as the car is still listed as being sold by a dealer in Milford, Connecticut, with the same 1,498 miles as the last time it surfaced for sale. Will it finally find a buyer this time?
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