Pontiac Phantom
Pontiac Phantom General Motors Phantom | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Overview | |
Manufacturer | General Motors |
Production | 1977 |
Designer | Bill Mitchell Bill Davis |
Body and chassis | |
Class | Concept car |
Powertrain | |
Engine | none |
Transmission | none |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Pontiac Banshee |
Successor | Trans Sport Concept |
ThePontiac Phantom(also called theGeneral Motors Phantomand given the internal code name "Madame X") is aconcept carcreated byGeneral Motors(GM) in 1977.[1][2]
The Phantom was designed byBill Mitchelland Bill Davis at Mitchell's "Studio X".[3]Mitchell was an accomplished designer for GM who had designed the 1938Cadillac Sixty Special,addedtailfinsto the 1948 Cadillacs, and designed both the 1963 and 1968Chevrolet Corvettes.[1][4]
The Phantom was conceived by Mitchell as a retirement gift to himself and was also the last project for his Studio X, which had reopened to design the car.[3][5]The lines of the Phantom are evocative of the late-1930s Cadillacs that Mitchell had designed earlier in his career.[2]
The Phantom is afastbacktwo-seatcoupebuilt on the chassis of aPontiac Grand Prix.[2][5]It only consists of afiberglassshell and does not have adrivetrain,rendering it inoperable.[1][2]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/1977_Buick_Phantom_%286335042601%29.jpg/220px-1977_Buick_Phantom_%286335042601%29.jpg)
The car was considered a "personal expression" of Mitchell's.[1]He described the Phantom as "the kind of car I'd like to drive".[4]Mitchell elaborated that "with theenergy crisisand other considerations, the glamour car would not be around for long. I wanted to leave a memory at General Motors of the kind of cars I love. "[2]In the words ofJerry Hirshberg,who would later become head of design atNissan,Mitchell "was fighting old battles and withdrawing increasingly from a world that was being redefined byconsumerism,Naderismand an emergingconsciousness of the environment".[2]
The Phantom project was initially supported byPontiac,although they did not maintain support throughout development.[3]Mitchell sent the car to theMilford Proving Groundswith the goal of impressing GM's board of directors. However, when executive vice president of product planning and technical staffs Howard Kehrl saw the car, he ordered it to be removed from the proving grounds immediately.[2]
After designing the Phantom, Mitchell retired in 1977, holding the position of director of the General Motors Styling Division at the time.[1][2]The car is currently in the collection of theSloan MuseuminFlint, Michigan.[2][3][5]
References
[edit]- ^abcde"1977 GM Phantom".Sloan Museum.RetrievedJune 27,2021.
- ^abcdefghiSchreiber, Ronnie (August 31, 2014)."Bill Mitchell's Swan Song: The Phantom".The Truth About Cars.RetrievedJune 27,2021.
- ^abcdWitzenburg, Gary (December 27, 2017)."From the Pontiac Phantom to the Mini-Camaro and Monza GT: The Cars of Studio X".Motor Trend.RetrievedJune 27,2021.
- ^abPevos, Edward (February 7, 2017)."Rare and iconic Buick vehicles on display in Flint".MLive.RetrievedJune 27,2021.
- ^abcSzymkowski, Sean (January 2, 2018)."GM Chief Designer Bill Mitchell Operated A Secret Design Studio".GM Authority.RetrievedJune 27,2021.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)