Even more musclecars that never were.....

A lot of people don't know about the cool stuff that never makes production for whatever reason. Sometimes the model doesn't sell enough, or is too expensive to build ( Ford lost money on every Boss 429 ) or political maneuvering in the front office, or the bean counters kill them. Any way, heres a few that I thought everyone would find interesting.  # 1. Pontiac XP833. We all know the Mako Shark II 1965 show car based on a Stingray chassis inspired the design that eventually became the 1968 Corvette, and the basic platform lasted until 1982. In 1966-while the proposed '68 Corvette was being developed, John DeLorean, -then president of Pontiac-wanted a two-seat sports car for Pontiac. Using the Corvette / Mako Shark platform, De Lorean, Pete Estes, and a few others that had fathered the GTO actually built two prototypes. One had a 250 cubic inch Overhead cam six-cylinder that made about 215 hp. The other one had a fire-breathing 421 that made about 375 hp. The Chevrolet brass threw a fit, saying that would be a direct competitior for the Corvette. The project was killed by GM brass immediately, which infuriated DeLorean. Ultimately, this led to the wildly successful Firebird. Also in 1966 Chevrolet was developing the Camaro as an answer to the hugely successful Ford Mustang. DeLorean had a meltdown when GM said Pontiac wasn't getting a version of the Camaro. His position to GM brass was "You already screwed me on the two-seat sports car concept because Chevy is the favorite division, I'm not taking the shaft on this." "You want us to sell cars, then give us the cars that will sell." "A Pontiac "Mustang" will be a runaway hit, and you know it." Thus, the go-ahead was given for the Firebird. As for the two-seat 'Vette clone-I think designer Bill Mitchell kept the six-cylinder model, and the 421 model was later sold for the princely sum of $233,000. Too bad-it would have been a cool ride. # 2. Pontiac Tempest "E.T."  In 1968 Plymouth took a strippy two-door Belvedere body, put the heads and cam off the 440 Magnum on a 383, gave it a "Beep-Beep" horn and even had a small decal of the Warner Brothers cartoon character-The Road Runner. The base price was $2,800. Chrysler hoped to sell 10,000 units; the "Road Runner" was a huge hit-they sold 45,000 in 1968 and another 81,000 in 1969. With a dealer network twice the size of Chrysler-Plymouths, Chevrolet only sold 58,000 SS396's in 1968 and 86,000 in 1969. Pontiac had won Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" award in 1968 with the GTO and sold 87,000 units. However in the first quarter of 1969, the Road Runner was outselling the GTO and the SS396 Chevelle by a wide margin. John DeLorean told his engineers to make a stripped-down GTO to combat the budget-priced Road Runner and it's Dodge Super Bee cousin. They took a strippy post-coupe Tempest and gave it a hopped up 350 V8, a four-speed, and a heavy-duty supension, and a bright orange paint job wiht multi-colored stripes. They called it "E.T" for elapsed time. In testing the badass Tempest outran a 383 Road Runner in a 1/4 mile drag race. However, DeLorean changed his mind and said no GTO would have an engine less than 400 cubes, but he liked the trim package. It eventually morphed into a premium performance package with the RAIII 400 std and the RAIV optional and was called the "Judge". ( You remember that don't you? ) The 350HO was optional in the LeMans and Firebird lines in 1968-69, but not many were sold, as hot-rodders all wanted a 400. The basic ET concept-( strippy Tempest coupe with a 350 2bbl V8, a Hurst-shifted three-speed tranny and bench seats standard, with the 400 / 455s optional ) was resurrected in 1970-71 with the T37 package which the magazines called "The Poor Man's GTO ". In 1972 the package was called "LeMans GT".   However, it would have been cool to have a lightweight, budget street-fighter Tempest / LeMans with a fire-breathing 325 hp 350 much like the vaunted "W31" Olds F85 package. # 3. 1989 Buick Reatta. I know, they were an over-priced front-drive sporty coupe with a 3.8 liter V6 that wheezed out about 120 hp. Which is why they didn't sell. However, when the rear-drive "G" bodies were discontinued after 1988, Buick engineers got the bright idea to put the badass Turbocharged Grand National engine into a rear-drive, two-seat sports car. Again-Chevrolet screamed to the high heavens that this would hurt Corvette sales, ( it would have ) and the project was nixed. The swoopy body was put on an existing front-drive chassis, and Yuck.-you know the rest. # 4. 1979 Chrysler 300. I know there was one of these with an anemic 360 V8 and "Rich Corinthian Leather".  However, being painfully aware that Mopar didn't have a performance car since the demise of the Challenger / 'Cuda and Charger / Road Runner in 1974, and that Pontiac and Chevrolet were selling Trans-Ams, Z/28 Camaros, and Corvttes as fast as they could build them in the late '70s, Chrysler decided to resurrect the legendary "300" nameplate. Initially it was supposed to have a 440 V8, and be styled like a Nascar racer on the swoopy Dodge Magnum body. ( That was campaigned in Nascar ) The brass got involved and it ended up being a "Luxury / Appearance" package on the squarish, ugly Cordoba with an anemic 318 or 360 under the hood. Too bad, they'd have been cool.  Mastermind