1961 Pontiac XP-758 Scorpion
 

I've never known of this vehicle before. Anyone know the history and/or backstory?

http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/c...corpion_01.jpg

No but I bet it got crushed in '62.. GM didn't let many of these concepts hang around very long..

I remember reading about it, but I think it was just a styling exercise - I don't think it ever was turned into a running and driving car.

I recognize the brick pavers and turntable as the Patio at the GM Design Dome (which is a secured area). I think the car and pavement were inserted into the background in that top photo.

I sent a note to my guy at the Heritage Center to see if he knows anything or can dig something up.

K

(the car pictured below is a fiberglass "buck", or mockup; not a real vehicle)

That Russian car styling website has another photo of it with 8 lug wheels:

http://www.carstyling.ru/Static/SIMG...EA5F73FB7D92F0

That makes the Batmobile look like a Corgi Car........wait....it IS....

Nice. You can see the GM Design Dome in the background of that photo.

Bill Mitchell loved that "boat tail" roof design, didn't he?

It's odd to me that I love it on the '63-'67 Corvette coupes but pretty much hate it everywhere else. Perhaps because it is so iconic as associated with the Corvette.

Interesting to see it in black. The styling cars were usually Silver (or light colored) to show off the body lines better (see: Cadillac Cyclone, '59 Corvette Sting Ray racer).

K

Keith was correct when he said the first photo had an airbrushed background. Here's the original photo, which shows the styling dome in the background.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...4&d=1443194223

BOOM baby!!

That's why I make those big bucks.


































Not really.

On either count.

K

I find it interesting that the same turntable and the same pavers are still in place 50 years later. You'd think at some point someone would have wanted to remodel.

A lot of the GM Tech Center is a designated historical site and remodeling is not allowed.

Harley Earl's office (now occupied by Ed Welburn), the Design Center lobby and the Design Dome all are examples which fall under those protections. I'm not sure if the patio is fair game, but I doubt it (due to its close proximity to the Dome).

K

In fact, they just had a ceremony a couple weeks ago to dedicate some new plaques and historic markers.

I don't know who they expect to be able to get past the security gate to read all those (...except for me, of course)*.

K

*I have a reputation for not being able to pass up a historic marker. I have to read every word on every plaque, as did my father before me.

Per the GM Heritage Center the car never progressed beyond the fiberglass buck stage and was scrapped after it fulfilled its usage.

K

http://oldconceptcars.com/1930-2004/...cept-car-1966/

This is the one I was thinking about... Pontiac wanted to build this but got the back of someone's hand on it.

They did build two of them, one convertible and one hardtop. Both cars exist to this day and are in private ownership.

1964 Banshee
 

The owner of the OHC Powered 1964 Banshee concept is a POCI/OHC Club Member.
http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/p...NSHEE%2044.jpg

IIRC the Black mockup shown above was to be a 3rd version that never came to be.
Below are a few images of mock ups I have on file showing some of the concepts on the above described turntables as well as a drawing showing consideration of alternative engine placement.

The V8 version is owned by Joe Bortz of Chicago.

K

The black car was the XP-798 Scorpion, renamed "Banshee" for the 1966 New York Auto Show press release, but was not based on the earlier 2-seater Banshee. The Scorpion used a Corvette independent rear and a torque tube transaxle setup.

The XP-798 Scorpion was the final chapter of the whole Banshee story. The Scorpion (renamed Banshee) was the car that DeLorean made one last gasp presentation to GM in hope that he could build the car, but GM slapped him down, arguments and shouting reportedly ensued, and GM demanded that DeLorean proceed immediately with work on the Pontiac version of the Camaro. Because of DeLorean's stubbornness to give up on his Banshee/Scorpion project, the 1967 Firebird would not debut alongside the Camaro, but months later.

The Banshee design was based on the 1962 Chevrolet Monza SS design, and contrary to popular belief, the Banshee design was not "stolen" by Chevrolet to build the 1968 Corvette, and Chevrolet didn't kill the Banshee, claiming that Corvette sales would suffer. It was GM's decision to not build the Banshee, and it was a correct one at the time.

There's a ton of misinformation about the Banshee floating around the web, information based on 1990's articles that had a serious bias towards Pontiac propaganda. That misinformation keeps getting repeated whenever the Banshee topic pops up.

Mike