Junkyard Find: 1992 Chevrolet Beretta GT

by Murilee Martin

May 30th, 2012 9:20 PM

The Chevrolet Division hit one of its all-too-common low points in the early 1990s; the early-80s-design Camaro and Corvette looked more dated by the minute, the Cavalier was a laughingstock, the Lumina might as well have had gigantic “RENTAL CAR” badging on the decklid, and minivan shoppers ignored the confusingly-named Lumina APV in their mad rush to the nearest Chrysler dealership.

And then there was the Beretta GT. While not as quick as the Quad 4-equipped Beretta GTZ, the GT came with a 135-horsepower, 3.1 liter pushrod V6 that moved its 2,700 pounds pretty briskly.

Berettas mostly ended up being treated as throwaway cars, but this one soldiered on for a very impressive 260,000 miles.

The turquoise-and-pink “Flashdance”-style GT decals would have looked dated in 1986. In 1992, they may have passed as retro-nostalgic. The decade-nostalgia cycle really speeded up starting with the 1990s, and the 80s were already big by ’92.

Few remember the Beretta just 20 years later. Does it deserve to be forgotten?

#1990s #1992 #1992ChevroletBeretta #Beretta #Chevrolet #ChevroletBeretta #Denver #DownOnTheJunkyard #Junkyard #JunkyardFind #MurileeMartin

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3 of 51 comments

Nrd515 on Jun 01, 2012

A friend of ours had a silver Beretta for years and years, it had some pretty bad rust but it was bulletproof mechanically. It had about 240K on it when some drunk smashed into it just after my friend and his GF (now wife) got out of it. It wasn't worth fixing and went to the scrapyard. He replaced it with a 2007? Camry, and it wasn't nearly as good mechanically as the old Beretta was. The Camry just got traded in on a Grand Cherokee.

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Patrick McCall on Jun 02, 2012

Is that GT really supposed to be the only emblem on that door panel? The "flashdance" writing takes me back to GT versions of everything, particularly the early 90's full size trucks (think Sierra GT and Yukon GT), but mainly the GMC Syclone, Typhoon, and Sonoma GT trucks with their totally 90's plastic body cladding, a point of contention on the Junkyard Finds forum. By no means an appropriate comparison, seeing the window lines of the Beretta always made me long for seeing the Buick LeSabre and/or Oldsmobile Eighty Eight coupes instead.

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- NormSV650 on Jun 02, 2012
  
  GT on the Beretta was bigger sway bars, different shocks, bigger wheels ans tires. GTZ was even bigger suspension stuff. So it actually was Grand Touring at it's best as it was comparable to sports car level in it's results. The Beretta GTZ ad showing a GTZ as a $20,000 discounted M3 at the time was the real deal. A few tweaks like 1", rear sway bar and Cavalier convertible upper and lower sway bar put the sub 2700 lbs V6 in the fight.
  
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