Pace car special editions are a dealership marketer’s dream come true, as a few special colors and graphics package can help move a car whose luster may otherwise be waning among customers. 7,500 Chevy Beretta Indy editions were made, with the majority of them painted teal blue. They show up for sale less and less frequently, especially cars in decent condition like this example here on eBay for $1,500.
The Indy Berettas have an interesting backstory, unlike most pace car replicas, as the concept vehicle used to lead the field was actually a convertible. Sporing a thick rollbar and hard plastic tonneau cover, the Beretta drop-top was a seriously good looking concept but was scuttled due to massive chassis flex introduced when the roof was cut. That’s why we have here a run-of-the-mill Beretta coupe gussied up with some graphics and color-matched wheels.
The Indy edition was available in the teal color seen here, or far in far more limited numbers in yellow. The seller notes that the paint isn’t great on this example, with clear coat peel and fading throughout. Still, it looks more than presentable for the time being, and the price is low enough that you could allocate for paintwork should you need to own a perfect example. Reproduction graphic kits are available, but these are holding up well.
Inside, the Indy treatment continued to the front buckets and rear bench seat. The seller notes this car is loaded up nicely, with upgraded audio components, a digital cluster and folding rear seat. While the Beretta is not currently running, it was when it was parked and parts availability is still quite good should you need to hunt down some spares. If you can snag this for a grand or less, it looks like a worthwhile project considering the body remains straight and rust-free. Would you throw an $800 offer at it?
My friend had a new Beretta. In about a year his dash curled up blocking view. Dealer refused fixing said it was caused from sun !!!! No that’s poor quality
Pontiac Grand Am’s were notorious for that as well. In fact I’ve never seen one that the dash wasn’t sun-curled.
I had a 1988 Grand Am that never curled. I owned it until about 1994 and it had about 80,000 miles on it. The quad 4 had a head gasket the would “curl”, if you know what I mean, but the interior was fine.
Seemingly nice driveable example of a car you just don’t see any more. They were good looking cars then and I think the look has aged better than many others of the era. The color is dated but you wouldn’t feel like an aging freak due to the styling.
$800 bucks is barely the cost of an upholstery kit for a ’70 Chevelle. So heck yeah. A yellow one sold at Gateway Classics in St Louis that had a $5,995 ask. Granted, that one had 61,000 miles on it and looked mint but I don’t know how you go wrong at this price if you like these.
my son’s first car was a ’91 Beretta…always liked those cars…ran well and these Indy ones are somewhat appealing…like Super said above…not so awful to look at even after all these years…probably the only front wheel car I’d like to try and save it if I had a choice in the matter…
My auto class in Lakewood Ohio had one of these exact same color outside with custom interior. It was a convertible. GM donated it to our class. It could have been the concept car mentioned above. Pretty sure it had less than 1000 miles on it.
Hey Clinton,
Do you remember exactly what auto shop it was at? GM made almost 100 cars, and when they scrapped the convertible project, they donated most of them to schools as a tax write-off. The majority we’re teal, like the one at your school. Most schools have scrapped theirs by now, as was part of the agreement, but a few still exist. I would like to follow up on this one and find out its story.
$800 for a non-running Beretta? That depends, how much is it worth in scrap?
That part is kind of questionable but these are not exactly complicated cars. We’re not dealing with a late 1990s Mercedes S-Class here. It might be kind of a fun project to try to get it running again. And the 2.8/3.1 V6 was common as dirt so there’s plenty of parts available. And for cheap.
worth getting her going at 800$ but now shes at 1500$ no thanks!
I throw a brick at it. Some of the worst built GM cars. My drivers ED in high school used Corsicas, Lumina’s & a few Berettas. I think they had an accessory hydraulic brake for the instructor.
Most were 4&6 cylinder cars, the Berretas that I recall were 4’s maybe?
I do remember our Super Beetle having more power 😂. Also poor handling at best. I can’t imagine a slower pace car. Red flag car maybe…
I hope I never ride in one again.
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-1990-chevy-beretta-gtz-was-a-vehicular-gem-among-fi-1731715352
“With its standard GM FE7 suspension, the car was capable of 0.92 G on the skid pad, better that all FWD car ever tested by Motor Trend at this time.”
If it’s teal with fushia graphics it must be the 90’s
The Beretta/Corsica twins were terrible cars. Even with a rare trim package, it’s essentially worthless… It’s not even worth $800 in parts.
I had an ’88 Beretta with a 4 cylinder and automatic. Very comfortable car.. It did have a few quirks that needed attention, the power steering rack that went south in two years, the coil packs that malfunctioned and..the door hinges (on both doors) that literally fell apart the day that I received a recall notice about bad door hinges. All that said.. I put 260,000 on that car..even hit a deer (full adult buck) with it and it kept running. At just about Midnight December 24 into 25 1995..it gave up the ghost..threw a rod. I’d be tempted to get another.. but no room in the yard right now.
How hard to swap an LS in one?
Agree with most other’s comments here…these were horrible cars. In high school in the early 90’s these were all over the place. The looked decent (especially the GTZ version) but were poorly engineered junk. So many back then, so few now…there’s a reason for that.
I had same car it was a blast with the 5 speed. Miss it