The Banshee is a collaboration...
The Banshee is a collaboration of Restore a Muscle Car and Hermance Design, the same Trans Am aficionados that organize the annual Bandit Run. "The Banshee Appearance Package package for production Camaros is intended to fill the void left by the demise of Pontiac," RAMC President Dave Hall says. "It's the marriage of truly innovative design and the experience of dedicated Pontiac experts that distinguishes this package from the rest of the crowd."
"Though I like all of the retro-designed, Fifth-Gen-Camaro-based T/As I've seen to date, I feel the Pontiac hobby needs a Firebird of the future, not a re-creation of a Trans Am from the past. That's what really helped me steer the unique design direction of the Banshee," says Dave Hall, president of Restore a Muscle Car, regarding his company's latest creation. Before we delve into the details of the new design, let's get the backstory on the Banshee.
History Of The Pontiac Banshees
In the early '60s, Pontiac Chief Engineer John Z. DeLorean and his team began a project assigned internal GM code-name XP-798. Pontiac called it Banshee, a blatant reference to the McDonnell F2H Banshee single-seat, carrier-based jet-fighter aircraft campaigned by the U.S. Navy from 1948-1961. (The etymology of the word Banshee dates to old Gaelic legends, which define it as a female ghost whose wail or scream signals an upcoming death.)
GM's Engineering Policy Committee expli-citly told DeLorean not to proceed with the XP-798 Banshee, but he didn't listen. He continued work on the ponycar prototype in secret-violating GM's rules by equipping it with the 421 H.O. Tri-Power engine offered on full-size production Pontiacs.
After DeLorean was promoted to Pontiac general manager in 1965, he began bragging to the automotive press that his XP-798 Banshee was a "Mustang-beater," and he-despite General Motors' direct order-was prepared to push it into '67 production and compete against the Camaro in its market segment. He also sent a clear message to General Motors that it and Chevrolet could do whatever they wanted with the Camaro, because he and Pontiac wanted nothing to do with it.
Pontiac General Manager John...
Pontiac General Manager John DeLorean is due credit (or blame, given the controversy surrounding it) for the creation of the Banshee, also known as the XP-798. "The problem was the '66 Banshee didn't fit into General Motors' long-term plans for Pontiac," HPP contributor Don Keefe says. "But it looked enough like the upcoming F-body that show-goers at the '66 New York Auto Show would draw the inevitable conclusion that the Banshee was related to it. It wasn't. The Banshee was a sophisticated, high-performance vehicle with a 421 H.O., manual four-speed, independent rear suspension, and a front mid-engine layout similar to a Jaguar E-Type. The Firebird would be a more conventional machine." Copyright GM LLC
DeLorean sent a production-ready Banshee to the New York Auto Show for a press introduction and product announcement on March 3, 1966. By all indications, it looked like he had another huge success on his hands-just like the GTO.
GM Chairman James Roche, however, had entirely different ideas about the future of the Camaro-killer Banshee. "When Roche heard it was going to be in the auto show, he said, 'I thought I told Pontiac it was not going to have a Banshee,' recalls GM Central Office Sales, Pricing, and Volume Analyst Ben Harrison.
That's when the Banshee's head was handed to DeLorean on a plate. "Roche saw the Banshee and ordered it off Pontiac's display turntable at the show," says HPP contributor Don Keefe. "DeLorean ordered it back on, and when Roche saw it, he blew his stack. A heated argument ensued between Roche and DeLorean; Roche pulled rank on him. He prevented the XP-798 Banshee from being seen publicly and banished it to a New Jersey warehouse with the rest of the show equipment. Eventually, it went back to General Motors and stayed there until it was destroyed in the early '80s."
In 1968, Pontiac created the Banshee II, a show-car based off a production Firebird 400, which explored new design directions but had no serious chance of being produced.
Pontiac Chief Designer Studio...
Pontiac Chief Designer Studio 2 John Schinella led the team that created the '73 Banshee. Though the car was never intended to reach production, Schinella notes it as the recipient of the first prototype set of Pontiac snowflake cast-aluminum wheels, and its wraparound rear window and front styling were introduced into production Firebirds/Trans Ams in '75 and '77, respectively. Copyright GM LLC
Half a decade later, Pontiac Chief Designer Studio 2 John Schinella was asked by General Motors Vice President and Director of Styling William Mitchell to create a unique show car with strong Pontiac-brand character, which Schinella also named Banshee. Based on an F-body chassis, the design featured a "sheer, subtle roundness and curvaceous musclecar look," Schinella recalls.
In the mid-'80s, Pontiac's Design Studio began work on a new Banshee, "a futuristic show car that was said to predict the direction Firebirds would take," Keefe says. "The styling of the new Banshee was radical, with swoopy, curving body lines that incorporated some familiar Pontiac styling cues, such as the beaked nose, split-grille openings, and slotted taillamps. The roofline was a bubble design that incorporated B-pillars into a V-shaped support structure."
Though the '66, '73, and '88 Banshees shared no physical resemblance to each other, Keefe notes, as did Schinella, that they all predict some of the styling cues used on future Firebirds. "A toned-down version of the Banshee's front end did appear on '91 Firebirds, and when the Fourth-Generation Firebirds arrived in 1993, there were some obvious similarities to the Banshee. Nevertheless, like all show cars, the Banshees showed the public that Pontiac designers and engineers were more than able to produce some incredibly exciting machines, even if the accountants wouldn't let them," he says.