Banshee Firebird arrived late for the 1968 Autorama. The owners are seen waiting for approval to move the car onto to the show floor. Note the snow underneath the car and the heavily-padded roll bar that extends through the roof.
I was in the basement loading dock at the 1968 Detroit Autorama, when these guys showed up with an injected Pontiac Firebird. The show was already open to the public and all of the other cars were set up in their displays.
Some of the officials pointed out that the owners had missed the deadline and attempted to prevent them from bringing the car into the auditorium. Cooler heads realized that the crowd was there to see cars, and the more cars the better. So the Firebird was allowed to join the other exhibits in the lower “overflow” area.
The Firebird looked to be freshly completed. The fact that the car arrived at Cobo Hall after the show opened to the public has always led me to believe the car was thrashed together to make the show.
The Pontiac was known as the Banshee. I’m not sure what class it was built for. It looks like a funny car, but it wouldn’t have been very competitive against the supercharged floppers on the match race circuit. It is possible it was intended for the NASCAR Ultra Stock class, where it would compete against cars like Wayne Gapp’s Super Cat Cougar.
