In 1983, I believe, Gale Banks released a kit for the Camaro/Firebird at the heart of which was one of his famous 750HP twin turbocharged 350 SBCs. The kit included a complete drivetrain to handle the brute engine along with chassis and suspension upgrades, brakes, 16" wheels and tires. It even came with a custom gauge cluster with 200mph speedo and 10K tach.

The kit could be purchased and installed by the buyer, installed by Banks on the purchaser's car or purchased as part of a complete turn key car. The price of the complete car in 1983 was $60,000. This car would be a Ferrari, Lamborgini eating beast. I have no idea how may of these cars may have been made. They were custom order only and I have never actually seen one. I only know about them from a one page feature in an issue of "Supercars" that I bought that year. Has anyone else heard of this car? Has anyone ever seen one?

 

According to a book I have it was in a 1988 GTA that you could get that option. " Full bore performance freaks might be tempeted by the Banks/Pontiac Twin Turbo GTA, whose 7.5 liter mill delivered a 268 mph run at Bonneville, hitting 283 mph along the way." I think there is a video on Youtube on that run.

 

Yeah. Gale Banks really loved the 3rd gen. The first one of his I saw was a twin turbo 82TA that did 230MPH at Bonneville. Im not sure if he built the one that held the stock body land speed record at 304mph. Kurt and Ron Keigel, if I remember correctly, ran it. It was a 91TA with a 1,400HP twin turbo 343CID small block. To make the 304mph average speed they had to run something like 340mph for 15 minutes each way. It may have actually been 370mph.

The "kit" car Im asking about is something different. As I stated above, it was featured in "Supercars" in, I'm pretty certain, 1983. I remember I had just bought my 82TA Crossfire in September of 82. I was reading everything I could get hold of about these cars. The "Supercars" magazine I purchased focused on a challenge between the 83 Z28HO, the Mustang GT, and laughably, the Shelby Charger. In the back cover was the feature on the Banks "kit". It was like **** to me. LOL. I wanted that car so bad.

 

Just watched the video on you tube, much respect for that rare car!

 

Okay, I found the land speed record car I was thinking of in the post above. Wow was I off. The owner/driver was Joe Kugel of Kugel Components. The car was a 1992 Firebird. The speed record was 301+ MPH. The car's actual top speed on record was 307+ mph. I found it through google. I will post a link to the site tomorrow along with more details. It was the first stock body car to break the 300mph barrier.

 

I used to have the Gale Banks brochure from 82 or 83. I'd have to dig it out of one the boxes if I still have it but it was pretty good stuff for back then.

Loved his exhaust. Couple of buds had it, one had the y-pipe with his. He had an 87 350 IROC and the other had a 88 350 IROC. Those were very expensive and one of the best sounding exhausts around. Almost wonder if SLP bought the rights to that as it was very close to their cat back.

 

Iwas just brousing the net looking for any clue about this kit. I found a 1984 Car and Driver magazine article about the "Super Trans Am". The TAs always seemed to be Gale Bank's favorite. It looked alot like the kit car I saw in the Supercars mag. However, Im sure that was a Z28. The engine was a 600hp twin turbo. Thats some serious punch for that time. The cars top speed was 204mph.

Here are the links for the Banks Super TA and the Kugel 92 land speed car. Neat stuff.

www.kugelkomponents.com

www.bankspower.com

 

No luck yet on finding the "Supercars" article from 1983, or even the archives for that mag. Hard to beleive there arent at atleast a few of those bad a** kit cars running around out there.

 

did you ever find it? i'm intrigued by this

 

The book titled "Turbochargers" by HP books (ISBN 0-89586-135-6) shows a picture of a Camaro and all the parts of the kit sitting next to it. It appears to have been a promotional photo. It is found on page 114. The kit includes the engine, Doug Nash 5speed, 9" rear end and a host of suspension parts as well.

 

http://bankspower.com/magazines/show/640-Super-Trans-Am thank you google images

http://www.sportscars.tv/Newfiles/galefirbird2.html

would have loved one haha

 

hmm it had ac, nice