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68 pontiac banshee update 8/23 Finished moved to under glass


customsrus

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here is my version of a 1968 pontiac banshee. revell 68 corvette with the 63 cougar top grafted to the body, this allows me to use the cougar doors and interior also. engine taken from a 1966 gto kit. wheels and tires are from my parts box.gto scoop molded to corvette hood.

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Edited by customsrus
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do not know why the pictures did not work. for some reason can not get this to work. the pictures are on another site whos name I can not mention, if you want to see this. also I put a mid engine corvette on this other site. I will try to redo these and see what happens. Sorry

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  • 3 months later...

It's been awhile since any work has been done to this model,but I finally got to do a little work to it.Only thing I have worked on lately is the motor but at least it is near completion, only thing left is a little wiring and pick which air cleaner I want to use. Maybe you guys can help me with that dicision. First off this is the engine out of the Revells 66 GTO. scratch built throttle linkage, fuel lines, power steering and alternator brackets. I took apart the kit supplied belt and pullies, separating them into individual pieces, made fan belts out of masking tape. added an aftermarket distributor and wires. Made plug boots out of wiring insulation, oh well you get the picture.So on with the pictures.

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Here are pictures of the air cleaners which one do you think I should use. The first one is one I built that is just a normal air cleaner, The second one is one I made to mimmick the GTO hood scoop that I used on the corvette hood.

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This is what the motor looks like in the car with both air cleaners used.

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I will have to paint the second cleaner to match the color of the car.

Edited by customsrus
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  • 2 weeks later...

Did some work over the weekend. I made new exhaust out of copper wire. I attached the engine and radiator to the chassis, also added heater hoses and radiator hoses made from wire insulation.Made some rocker molding to break up all the space under the doors.Also modified the front of the car to look a little pontiac-isch. Critics welcome.

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Edited by customsrus
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Yeah, use the Pontiac wheels. They are looking very good. Body is nice too, I love your work so far. Engine looks sharp and chassis is nice too. This will be interesting to watch, don't stop now making the progress, it just looks so good now. :)

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Looks like a great project! I definitely favor the Pontiac wheels.

Yeah, use the Pontiac wheels. They are looking very good. Body is nice too, I love your work so far. Engine looks sharp and chassis is nice too. This will be interesting to watch, don't stop now making the progress, it just looks so good now. :lol:

I have got to agree with you guys, I am building a concept car that Pontiac might have made and not a custom car. Thanks Guys

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So was this Pontiacs version of the Corvette? I've never heard of it before.

I have had a few people ask me about the Pontiac Banshee, rather if it was a real car or not. Yes it is real. But you have to remember that I am not building mine as a replica of the real car. The real Banshee was not based on the corvette. I found this article on the net.

The Banshee project, known internally by its styling code, XP-833, began in August 1963. Designed by Roger Hughet and Ned Nickles, it was a compact fastback coupe, looking something like a miniature Corvette Sting Ray. It used a fiberglass body with a steel floorpan, although it borrowed most of its running gear from the new A-body Tempest. The OHC six was to be the base engine, although the second prototype was powered by a Pontiac V8. DeLorean conceived it as an inexpensive sports car, a competitor for the new Ford Mustang.

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There were two running Banshee prototypes (not counting earlier non-running mock-ups), a coupe and a roadster. The coupe was powered by a base one-barrel OHC six, while the roadster was originally powered by a 326 cu. in. (5.4 L) V8, which probably would have been optional if the Banshee had made it to production. (Photo © 2009 EvThoMcC; used by permission)

GM management was unenthusiastic about the Banshee, preferring Pontiac to join Chevrolet's new F-body sporty-car program. Estes and DeLorean still believed the XP-833 was a viable concept, but they realized that the corporation would kill it if they continued developing it through normal channels. DeLorean assigned Advanced Engineering chief Bill Collins to oversee the project, which proceeded with great secrecy.

In the summer of 1965, DeLorean was promoted to general manager of Pontiac. Seeing his opportunity, DeLorean had Bill Collins show off the two fully finished XP-833 prototypes to senior management. Collins made a thorough presentation, describing the Banshee's expected market position, tooling costs (a modest $20 million), and projected sales (about 32,000 a year). With a starting price of $2,500, the Banshee would compete directly with the Mustang, and it would help to bolster Pontiac's sporty image.

Unfortunately, GM chairman Jim Roche and president Frederic Donner were not interested. They thought the XP-833's lack of rear seats would limit its sales potential, and said it would cannibalize sales of the more expensive and more profitable Chevrolet Corvette. DeLorean continued fighting for the Banshee until the spring of 1966, but Ed Cole, GM's executive vice president, finally ordered him to forget it and develop a Pontiac version of the F-body, which became the 1967 Firebird.

To DeLorean and Collins' great annoyance, not long after rejecting the XP-833 project, Roche and Donner approved production of the conceptually similar (and similar-looking) Opel GT, based on the European Opel Kadett sedan. The GT was roughly the same size as the Banshee, but it used a steel body and four-cylinder engines. To add insult to injury, it was sold in the U.S. through Buick dealers, not by Pontiac.

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I hope this helps.

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John DeLorean was heading Pontiac at the time and tried a coupla times to get a sports car for Pontiac, but GM never agreed. A couple of Banshees were prototyped, one an OHC six, then this one, GM brass still resisted, gave Pontiac a Camaro variant instead, it became the Firebird, they did well with it.

Edited by Rick R
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  • 2 weeks later...

Done a little work to this last night so there is not much progress but thought I would share what I did. Fisrt I completed the firewall adding brake lines and some wiring, also made a rear bumper out plastic stock. Thanks for looking.

Firewall.

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Rear Bumper

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  • 1 month later...

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