The Oldsmobile Banshee is a freak among freaks. Set up similar to an old Baja truck, it’s roughly based on a 1969 Oldsmobile body that is shortened by two feet. They were built by Vic Hickey, a man who had some connections in General Motors and a mind filled with constantly turning gears. The setup is bulletproof: 1 3/4″ chrome moly tube frame, coil front axle, leaf-spring rear, a mid-mounted 455ci Oldsmobile engine that was better suited for the dragstrip than the dirt and a TH400 built like a brick outhouse. Easily able to smack the better end of 140mph, the Banshee needed one hell of a driver to keep the rubber from pointing at the sky, and that driver was none other than James Garner. He ran it for a season in 1972, and later in life Mickey Thompson took a turn behind the wheel as well. That was then, and this is now, as the Banshee is driven by Jay Leno. As usual, Leno covers the history of the car, but the cool part is that he’s cut loose on the streets with this Trophy Truck in disguise, knowing full well that it isn’t legal. The smile on his face is genuine, like a kid who’s living up the day he plays hooky from school, and that’s awesome.
Great Drag Week ride.
He’s having too much fun since leaving the Tonight Show.
Nice to see
Love this car, hung out with it when it was stored at the Mendenhalls Gas Pump Museum in Buelton, CA
Great to see it running!
That’s a 1969 not a 1972.
It may be an optical illusion due to the large wheels and tires,
but has the body been scaled down ?
Got it…..2/3 size.
I remember reading in Hot Rod a few years back they did a story on the Vic Hickey Olds. That is what they need in Trophy Truck, Trophy Cars!