1990 Chevrolet Beretta GT Indy - Bad Then, Worse Now

 

I remember these from the time my younger brother bought a '90 Beretta brand new out of a long since closed Chevrolet dealership back in Baldwin, New York. I went with him on the test drive of the car he would eventually get and his sales person joked to us that he could get him into one of these for less than what he was going to pay for the all but bone stripper he was getting. He wasn't kidding either. 

It's funny - things like this simply don't age well. And if you think this looks ridiculous now, it looked ridiculous back then too. Chevrolet only built 1,500 of these Indy Car replica's, yes, a Beretta was the pace car of the 1990 Indianapolis 500 albeit it was a convertible. All of these day-glo Beretta's were coupes. 

Produced between 1987 and 1996, Beretta's, which replaced the Citation in Chevrolet's mid-to-late 1980's stable, were powered by a wide variety of GM engines and transmissions; all "Indy's" were powered by GM's all but ubiquitous 3.1 liter, 60 degree V-6. Making all of 135 horsepower, it felt like it had decent enough poke since its torque curve was low and flat at low rpm's. The more it revved the quicker it ran out of steam. The fact these weighted just 2,700 pounds soaking wet helped them feel as though they were faster or "snappier" than they actually were. 

I forgot just how sparse and cheap the interior of these cars were and the snazzy neon seat inserts go a long way towards dressing this up. That steering wheel looks like an air bag equipped wheel but it's not. Hard to imagine a car built in the 1990's not having at least one air bag but we are talking the early '90's which was really an extension of the late '80's. These didn't come with ABS brakes either. Late '80's/early '90's GM cheapness rearing its ugly head once again. These Beretta's shared their "N platform" with the Chevrolet Corsica, Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile Ciera and Pontiac Grand Am.

These weren't the worst looking Chevrolet of the era, it's sibling the Corsica was, but Chevrolet didn't replace them; technically speaking anyway. When the Malibu rolled out for 1997 it took the place of the Corsica and the Beretta and there was no two-door coupe. Another chink in the armor for us coupe lovers.