Autoblog

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 stolen carried-over to the 1968 Corvette, along with the tail-end of the Banshee ending up on the new-for-1970 Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am. We're big fans of the Pontiac Banshee prototype, and current owner Len Napoli, a Connecticut car dealer, is understandably aiming to capitalize on the unbelievable deal he got when he snatched the car up for a mere $214,500 at the 2006 Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale. That, as they say, was well bought, indeed. In a December 2007 conversation with Automotive News, Napoli said that he hadn't gotten any offers at his then-$1.3M asking price and that he'd like to see the car go to a museum. If you have a museum and want to add the Banshee as an exhibit, it's there for the taking. Just bring money.


[Source: eBay via Car Scoop]

It'd take a special kind of person to draw inspiration from the life of John DeLorean, who despite creating two highly iconic sportscars, is also remembered for his shady business dealings and narcotics wrap. Leave it to a Welsh guitarist and a Hollywood producer, then. Gruff Rhys, know to some as the front-man for a band called Super Furry Animal, is collaborating with Los Angeles music producer Boom Bip (seriously, we couldn't make up names like those) on an electro-pop album called Stainless Style, inspired by DeLorean's life's work.

The album is due to hit the shelves of music stores all around Wales the world in late February. The duo calls themselves Neon Neon, and as our British compatriots point out, likely won't feature any covers of Huey Lewis' The Power of Love or any of the other songs we know from the Back to the Future trilogy...just the car on the cover.

[Source: WhatCar?]