Filed under: Car Buying, Sports/GTs, Auction Action, Pontiac
eBay find of the day: 1964 Pontiac Banshee Prototype XP-833 Coupe, again
Click above for a high-res gallery of the 1964 Pontiac Banshee
The very cool 1964 Pontiac Banshee prototype is being auctioned off, again. Back in November of last year, the super-cool and svelte vehicle was put up on eBay with a Buy-It-Now price of $1.3 million. It didn't sell, so it's back up... with a cool $2 hundred-grand tacked onto the price.
Powered by Pontiac's OHC straight-six engine, the Banshee was intended to compete with the just-introduced Ford Mustang. As an extremely unique piece of automotive history, there are surely a few people out there with very deep pockets who would like to get their hands on the car that GM thought was too close to Corvette territory. Because GM had already committed to the 'Vette as its halo-car, it squashed the Banshee program before John De Lorean, then head of Pontiac, was able to get the Banshee into production.
Look closely and you'll note that many of the design elements introduced on the Banshee prototype were
[Source: eBay via Car Scoop]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Guenther 10:43AM (3/28/2008)
I can't help but think that the American performance market might have developed quite differently if this, instead of the Camaro had been chosen to spar with the Mustang.
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LOs 10:50AM (3/28/2008)
I don't think it would have put up a good fight against the mustang. the lines are too curvy and almost feminine in my eyes.
I think they went the right way with the stockier more muscular looking Camaro/Firebird combo.
This looks more like a Corvette Variant.
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Guenther 12:08PM (3/28/2008)
same designer
elprogramer 3:15PM (3/28/2008)
^In a sense. IIRC, the C3 borrowed heavily from the Banshee I.
Shipey 11:06AM (3/28/2008)
Conjecture about it's potential effects on automotive history aside, this is an astoundingly beautiful design. Definitely one of the best designs of the era, and that's saying something.
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White Goodman 11:24AM (3/28/2008)
First of all, it is a neat little car with interesting history. But am I missing something here? He wins the auction with a $215k bid. This to me says that there was no one else interested in paying more than that for the car. Yet he then puts it up for sale for $1.3M and gets no offers.... surprise surprise. So he FURTHER increases his asking price to $1.5M. Either I am an idiot or he really has no desire to actually sell the car and is just looking for publicity (which autoblog has gifted him). If no one wanted to bid $220k 2 years ago, and no one offered $1.3M just a few months back.... how can he have any expectation that someone will actually pay $1.5M?!?!?!
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993C4S 11:31AM (3/28/2008)
As Donald Trump always says, "If something isn't selling, raise the price." People equate quality, luxury and desire with higher pricing.
DKB_SATX 11:34AM (3/28/2008)
Some people spend $20 and $50 on lotto tickets every week, SURE that they're going to win next time. He's SURE this lotto win is going to come in any auction now...
Derek 11:56AM (3/28/2008)
993C4S: that may be true, but people also equate a seven digit pricetag on ebay with a joke.
The fact that he bought it at Barret Jackson and is selling it on Ebay says something.
LMBVette 11:56AM (3/28/2008)
I agree with what White said. 200k for this car was too much.....but 7.5 times that price is flat out ridiculous.
I went to the Barrett-Jackson auction yesterday here in West Palm Beach and the cars were consistently lower than anticipated. There are repeat cars there. One yesterday sold last year for 50k and this year went for 35k. The exact same car.
There was an Austin Healey that a guy bought 7 months ago for 50k, put a new V8 engine and new paint. He ended up selling it for 45k not to mention the 8% commission he has to pay.
My point is....the car market has been affected by the economy. The real estate market has really sapped a lot of money away from some previous big spenders and it's showing in the car auctions.
If you get Speed Channel, watch the BJ auction and see how hard they're trying to wring every last $$$ for each car. They'd start the bidding at 50k and the first bid would usually be 10k. Heck, I saw a pretty nice 95 SL500 with 60k sell for 18k. That's a pretty nice ride for 18k.
kc 12:08PM (3/28/2008)
An exorbitant asking price just means he wants everyone to know who owns it. It would be like Ron Pratte trying to sell Shelby's Cobra for $10M- no one would buy it and we would all still know who owns it.
r0c5t4r 11:53AM (3/28/2008)
What a douche bag, bought less than 250k a couple years ago and is trying to sell for 1.5 million now? If he wants it at a museum he should give it as charity then. Is there a way to contact this douche?
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Andy 12:12PM (3/28/2008)
Does anybody know if this predated the Opel GT? Similar features, but much smaller tires, etc....my roommate in college had one and it was a scary fun ride on icy Pittsburgh roads.
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Mazdamia 12:37PM (3/28/2008)
Needs more hood...
ksart 3:00PM (3/28/2008)
Is this a car? Another piece of ... american tasteless 'design'. Dont eat so mush hamburgers it's destructing your brians.
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Jason 4:53PM (3/28/2008)
Not eating hamburgers certainly doesn't aide in your ability to spell...
Eek 3:41PM (3/28/2008)
I live in Milford, CT where Napoli is located. Every now and then I'll go there and just check out the great classics they have there. This car is truly worth seeing in person (for those who feasibly can). Really is a beautiful car.
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RLQ 6:24PM (3/28/2008)
To bad this was never put into production.
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