Junkyard Find: 1996 Chevrolet Beretta Z26

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

You want rare? This car is rare!

1996 was the last year for the Chevy Beretta, and the Z26 was available only for the final few years of production. With 155 horsepower out of the 3100 V6, the Z26 has 25 fewer horses than its Quad 4-powered GTZ predecessor. It did, however, get the same style of 80s-esque door decals as the Beretta GT.

I haven’t seen a Z26 anywhere for at least a decade, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find that this car is much rarer today than, say, a numbers-matching 1970 SS 454 Chevelle.

Does that mean that a well-preserved, low-mile Beretta Z26 will be worth big bucks someday? You never know!

Those wheels might look interesting on an early-80s Buick Skylark.







Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Gleech180 Gleech180 on Oct 23, 2012

    Believe it or not, I have one of these cars in near perfect condition. Won't ever equal a Ferrari Daytona, but not the worst car ever made. Where is the boneyard car at?

  • 91blackgtz 91blackgtz on Aug 13, 2014

    LOL...Just found this thread...I had a black/black 91 GTZ with the 2.3 Quad4 and a 5 speed manual. My first brand new car... One week old, the passenger door jammed shut because the pos rocker panel had warped. Quick for its time - jumped many an unsuspecting 5.0 Mustang and 300ZX. Still not the worst car I've owned...

  • Calrson Fan Jeff - Agree with what you said. I think currently an EV pick-up could work in a commercial/fleet application. As someone on this site stated, w/current tech. battery vehicles just do not scale well. EBFlex - No one wanted to hate the Cyber Truck more than me but I can't ignore all the new technology and innovative thinking that went into it. There is a lot I like about it. GM, Ford & Ram should incorporate some it's design cues into their ICE trucks.
  • Michael S6 Very confusing if the move is permanent or temporary.
  • Jrhurren Worked in Detroit 18 years, live 20 minutes away. Ren Cen is a gem, but a very terrible design inside. I’m surprised GM stuck it out as long as they did there.
  • Carson D I thought that this was going to be a comparison of BFGoodrich's different truck tires.
  • Tassos Jong-iL North Korea is saving pokemon cards and amibos to buy GM in 10 years, we hope.
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