Cool cars that were killed before they were launched....

There are a lot of cool rides that manufacturers considered and then, for whatever reason-fear of insurance and safety nazis, resistance from bean counters, whatever-caused them to change their mind at the last minute, which denied enthusiasts of some really cool stuff.  #1. Pontiac Banshee. In 1966 Pontiac was developing a two-seat sports car code-named XP-833 that closely resembled the Mako Shark show car-which basically became the 1968 Corvette. Two prototypes were built one with the 230 inch overhead cam six that was later available in the Firebird and one with a 326 V8. The one with the 326 was noteworthy because Pontiac V8s are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. This means they could have easily dropped in the mighty 421 into the light fiberglass roadster-which would certainly have been a competitor for the 427 Corvette, and would have undoubtedly cut into 'Vette sales. Chevrolet brass howled to the high heavens, and the project was killed. One good thing that came from this-when work began on the Mustang fighter-i.e. the Camaro-John DeLorean-then president of Pontiac- loudly protested and said since Pontiac had been screwed on the XP-833 / Banshee-that they damn sure should have a piece of the Camaro program. The Firebird was born-and the rest is history. If the XP-833 hadn't been killed, we might never have had the Trans-Am. Still, a 421 powered two seat Poncho sportster would have been cool.... # 2. 1970 LS6 Camaro SS and Nova SS. Initially the mighty 450 hp LS6 454 was slated to be optional in the Nova SS and the Camaro SS as well as the Chevelle. Since both cars already had the 396 as an option-it would have been a bolt-in. Development got so far as production LS6 Chevelles had a flat intake manifold designed to clear the low hood of the new for 1970 Camaro. Fuel actually had to flow uphill from the carb to the intake ports. The taller 1966-69 396 / 427 manifold is said to be worth 15-20 hp more than the low-rise LS6 intake. Also-Zora-Arkus Duntov-chief Corvette engineer-fully expected the much more radical LS7-( 12.25:1 compression, ultra-hot L88 cam, etc ) to make production as the 'Vette's top option, so he saw no need to offer the LS6. At the last minute, the brass decided to cut down on "model proliferation"-whatever that means-and the LS7 was nixed. It was sold as a crate engine over the counter to racers and enthusiasts for years. They also killed the LS6 for the Camaro and Nova, leaving only the Chevelle SS and and a Few El Caminos with the LS6. Oddly-things were reversed in 1971-the LS6 now rated at 425 hp with 9:01 compression instead of 450 and 11:1-was only available in the Corvette. It was listed in early 1971 Chevelle sales literature but never made production. Anyhow-since a Nova weighs 600 lbs less than a Chevelle-how badass would an LS6 Nova have been? Can you say 12s off the showroom floor?  11s with headers and slicks? Sadly-we'll never know. # 3. 1971 Boss 429 Mustang. 1969-70 Boss 429s were actually 428 models that were converted by Kar Kraft and Ford lost money on every one. The larger 1971 Mustang was designed to swallow a 429. The Boss Nine would have fit easily and could have been built on Ford Production lines. However-Ford decided to cut back on it's racing programs-both in Trans-Am and NASCAR. With no need to sell cars to the public to homologate the engines for racing-the Boss 302 and 429 were killed. Since you could get a 426 Hemi or a 440 in a Challenger or 'Cuda, and a 455 in a Firebird Formula and Trans-Am, Ford offered the "regular" 429 CJ in the '71 Mustang-but very few were built. For '72 the largest engine in a Mach 1 was the 351C. Too bad. The larger, longer, better balanced '71-73 Mustang would have awesome with a Boss 429. Damn.  # 4. 1977 AMX. By 1975-the GTO and Chevelle SS were no more, the 'Cuda and Challenger were gone, the Road Runner was an apperance option on the large Sport Fury, the Charger was a re-badged Chrysler Cordoba-yuk-and the Mustang was more Pinto than Mustang. The Javelin was no more-which was a mystery-like Pontiac did with the T/A-the Javelin could have continued unchanged until 1979-with a 401 V8 and a 4-speed or an auto and no competition!! But AMC stepped on their dick twice-once in 1975 when they dropped the Javelin and again in 1977 when they nixed a T/A fighter that would have succeeded. The largest engine available in a Corvette was a 350-and the Z/28 took a 2 1/2 year hiatus from 1974-77. Musclecar buyers didn't magically go away after 1974-the manufacturers stopped making cars that they wanted to buy. This was why Pontiac Trans-Am sales doubled or tripled every year since 1973. They sold 50,000 in 1976-and 68,000 in 1977-and that was BEFORE "Smokey and the Bandit" which was released in May 1977-it's impact on sales wouldn't be felt until the 1978 model year when they sold 93,000 units. Anyhow in April 1977-Chevrolet quickly resurected the Z/28 Camaro-with T/A style graphics and spoilers and a 350 V8 and a 4-speed with 3.73:1 gears or a TH350 with 3.42:1 gears to fight back. 1978 was actually a record year for Camaro sales.  Every automaker was scrambling to find a Trans-Am fighter. AMC came out with a handling and appearance package on the compact Hornet. Since AMC engines are like Pontiacs-externally identical from a 290 to a 401-the engineers got a brilliant idea-the 304 was available in the Hornet. The 401 was available in big cars like the Ambassador and Jeep Pickups and Waggonneers. If they stuffed the 401 into the compact Hornet-which weighed about 3,000 lbs-it would have blown the doors off a 400 powered Trans-Am that weighed about 3,800. It wouldn't have been sexy-but like the '68 Road Runner-it would have been a badass, stripped down street fighter. The AMC brass nixed it-saying the public only cared about appearance. The Hornet AMX was released with cool graphics and a great heandling chassis and a 258 inch six cylinder or a 2bbl 304 V8 that wheezed out about 120 hp. There wasn't even a manual transmission option. And they were perplexed that they didn't sell. Decisions like this are why AMC went bankrupt. #5. 1977 Hurst /Olds. A prototype was actually built with a 403 V8, a TH350 with a 2,400 rpm converter, 3.42:1 gears,NASCAR inspired styling-ala Richard Petty's Cutlass-and Trans-Am front and rear sway bars, and a killer silver and black paint job recalling the legendary '68 model. The buff magazines raved-saying it was faster and better handling than a T/A or a Z/28. Sadly- for whatever reason-it was never released by Oldsmobile.  # 5. 1989 Buick Reatta. Buick engineers wanted to make the swoopy Reatta rear-wheel drive and put the badass Turbo GN powerplant-which lived on in the 20th Anniversary T/A in it. Again-Chevrolet brass lost their mind-that would certainly hurt Corvette sales. The GM brass caved and killed it.  And again-like Delorean griped in 1966-the public lost. The Reatta was released as a front wheel drive two-seater with a normally aspirated 3.8 V6 that wheezed out about 140 hp. And they wondered why they didn't sell.  Anyhow-too bad ome of these cool cars didn't come to market. Mastermind