The early 1990s were a distant 30 years ago and the era is getting farther away with each day. I know when I think “20 years ago” I’m still picturing dustbuster vans and Dodge Neons. Time has marched forward even if our brains have not, and so many of the cars from the 1990s are now well-used piles with hundreds of thousands of miles, rust, multiple colors, and missing parts. Over the weekend, I found a perfect example of a car that perhaps many of us have forgotten about. This 1990 Chevrolet Beretta Indy is a bright yellow time capsule ready to take you back over 30 years.
To show my age a bit, I was born in the early 1990s when cars like these were new. Family friends drove ’90s General Motors front drivers when I was in grade school. Today, I appreciate ’90s cars far more than I did as a kid.
Sadly, looking at them 30 years later means seeing many of these cars when they’re no longer in their prime. Worse, I don’t even remember what these cars looked like in good shape. Over the weekend, my wife and I took a stroll through the Volo Auto Museum. The museum is brilliant in that in addition to permanent displays, it’s also a classic car dealership. So, what’s on display is always changing, making Volo a great place to visit multiple times.
On this visit, Sheryl and I were taken by a beautiful DeLorean for sale in the halls of one of the classic car barns. Say what you will about its factory engine, but this look still rocks. That car was the highlight of our visit until we stepped into the modern car barn, which featured such interesting finds as a Chevy Blazer with just 21 miles and a Plymouth Prowler with just over 300 miles. As someone who never got to appreciate these cars as a kid, my mind was thoroughly blown.
But none of these cars captivated me as much as the yellow Beretta right by the door. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen one of these, let alone one that wasn’t on its last legs.
A Fan Favorite
Believe it or not, versions of the Chevy Beretta and its siblings have been nominated more than once for Holy Grails. Jack Trade and greatfallsgreen have collectively recommended the Corsica LTZ and Beretta Z26. Today’s Beretta is not the sporty Z26, but it’s still a rare variant and it might be one of the cleanest Berettas in the entire world.
The Beretta was a product of a struggling General Motors. As I explained in the retrospective on the Lumina Z34, the 1980s were not kind to the General. Ford launched its Taurus in 1986 and GM just didn’t have a worthy competitor. The Taurus looked like it came from the future while the Chevy Monte Carlo and the Chevy Celebrity were stuck firmly in the 1980s. In 1982, GM started development on the GM-10 program. This $7 billion program was intended to replace the Chevrolet Celebrity, Pontiac 6000, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and Buick Century.
GM’s plan was to beat Ford simply by flooding the market with new models. However, during development, buyers weren’t swayed by General Motors’ wares, and the brand lost ground, from my retrospective:
In its 1984 reorganization, GM’s brands held 44.6 percent of the car market. By GM-10’s launch in 1987, GM struggled with a 36.6 percent market share. CNN explained that in the early 1980s, GM had redesigned its cars to be smaller, more fuel-efficient, and front-wheel-drive. It was a case of bad timing as fuel got cheap again and buyers weren’t all that interested in slow, small cars.
As the Chicago Tribune reported in 1987, General Motors was also developing a replacement for the maligned Citation. The N platform was Oldsmobile’s replacement for the X platform while the L platform was Chevrolet’s equivalent of the same. In 1987, Chevy’s L-body Corsica sedan was launched to fight a lengthy list of competitors including the Dodge Aries, Ford Tempo, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Nissan Stanza, Mazda 626, Plymouth Reliant, and Mercury Topaz. GM projected sales of 600,000 units over 18 months.
The Corsica would have a platform mate in the form of the sporty Beretta two-door coupe. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Beretta’s foes were fierce and included the Acura Integra, Chrysler LeBaron, Ford Mustang, Toyota Celica, and the Nissan Pulsar NX. The newspaper also saw the Beretta bumping up against GM’s own Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, Chevy Camaro, and Pontiac Grand Am. My mind is a bit blown at the idea of the Beretta being seen on the same level as a Mustang. The Beretta and Corsica also had to convince buyers to step up from smaller compacts while getting people to forget the Citation.
Design of the Beretta was performed in the same GM design house behind the Camaro, Corvette, Monte Carlo, Cavalier, and Corsica. Overseeing the design was Irvin Rybicki, who led GM’s downsizing plans through the 1980s. Rybicki rose from chief designer in the 1960s to eventually taking over vice president of design in 1977, taking the position that was held by Bill Mitchell. From a design perspective, the Beretta was a step forward for GM. The vehicle’s lighting was better integrated with the sleek body and those metal panels were galvanized to help battle rust.
A Time Capsule
In 1988, Chevy sold 275,098 units, proving to be a popular volume seller. It also caught the attention of Fabrica D’Armi Pietro Beretta SpA, the centuries-old owner of Beretta guns. As the Los Angeles Times reported in 1989, the arms manufacturer demanded $250 million in damages. The parties settled and the terms involved a $500,000 donation from GM to the Beretta Foundation for cancer research as well as acknowledgment in GM materials that the Beretta name would be used with permission from the gun manufacturer.
The Beretta continued to sell hundreds of thousands of units and even spawned its own performance versions from the GTZ to the Z26. Today’s car came from 1990 when Berettas were paraded around the Indy 500. The real pace car was a yellow Beretta convertible featuring a 3.4-liter V6 and was driven by General Manager Jim Perkins. Unique to the Indy 500 concept car was an intact B-pillar and roof section, which kept the unibody intact. Other Indy 500 Berettas were used at the track as well.
To commemorate this event, Chevy sold limited edition Indy 500 pace car replica Berettas. The convertible concept was never put into production, but Chevy did make coupes. Reportedly, just 1,500 of them exist in yellow. The rest are turquoise and the number built ranges from 3,000 to 6,000 depending on who you ask. An alleged GM brochure claims 6,000 for the turquoise version. That doesn’t matter as much here because this one is yellow!
This one is for sale at the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois. According to its CarFax, the car was first sold new in Alabama during the summer of 1990. Reported mileage was 44 miles back then. Aside from a recall issued by GM, there wasn’t a single other record until March of this year when the Volo Auto Museum acquired the car. I was not able to get the owner’s story, but someone bought this car new, apparently financed it, and then just never drove it for over 30 years. It looks like the seat belt retractor recall from 1991 wasn’t even fixed.
The vehicle’s window sticker indicates the Indy edition is based on a Beretta GT, a sport trim. Power comes from a multi-port fuel injection 3.1-liter V6 making 135 horsepower and 180 lb-ft of torque. Those thoroughbreds gallop through a five-speed manual and the front wheels. This car is capable of hitting 60 mph in about 8.5 seconds. Not quick, but also not painfully slow!
That said, when Car and Driver put a Beretta GT in a 12-car sport coupe shootout, it placed 9th place. Testers apparently liked the car as a sort of highway cruiser, but the suspension fell flat on rough roads. The magazine says that “despite good test-track numbers, the Beretta is a low-excitement, low-stress, low-aspirations car.” Oof. So, this isn’t a car you’re buying because you want a hot compact.
Also unfortunately, if you want a brand new Beretta Indy today, you’ll have to pay Volo $38,998 for it. Including a destination charge of $445, this car was $16,900 in 1990. That translates to $40,829 today. Hopefully, the owner didn’t save the car as an investment. If they did, these numbers would suggest that they lost money on the car.
Really, this is the sort of car for someone who wants to experience the 1990s again, or maybe have a car they’ve always wanted to buy new but never could. For me, this car was an incredible time capsule. I wasn’t even born yet when this car was new, and most of these today are piles of rust that probably smell like cigarettes.
This car still has new car smell, and wow, new car smell from three decades ago hits different. This car doesn’t have a ding in sight, not a crease in the seats, and not a speck of rust anywhere. It’s as if the car entered a wormhole in 1990 and just emerged today. I am normally a person to say a car should be driven, but I’m glad someone decided to keep this car in perfect shape. A Beretta may be a crapbox today to many, but this one is a total trip.
(Images: Author, unless otherwise noted.)
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The convertible body style on the Beretta was supposed to be introduced as a late 1990 addition. Even in the 1990 Chevrolet Full Line brochure (https://xr793.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/1990-Chevrolet-Full-Line.pdf) you can see on the Beretta page the convertible and a note stating late production. Several of the car mags actually had driven preproduction prototypes before it was supposed to go on sale.
Apparently GM cancelled it at the very last minute. This is a quote from a post on beretta.net
The one of these I drove when I was in college would eat a 78 formula 400 firebird for lunch off the start and would carve mountain roads as good anything or better than anything I can remember then. I would walk those nuspeed accords and civics stoplight 2 stoplight. And if you left hard from anywhere if you weren’t pointing the car exactly where u wanted it the second gear torque shift would try to throw you off the road.
Add me to the nominating committee — I once owned a ’93 Corsica with the Z52 package, the ultimate evolution of the LTZ.
The Beretta’s various sporting and semi-sporting incarnations got all the automotive reviewers’ attention. Some of it good, most of it tepid — I think largely because bashing on anything GM that wasn’t a halo model was fashionable at the time. GM-on-the-ropes pulled out the stops and made a real effort at building better cars. They deserved better.
The rear suspension of Berettas and Corsicas was different. While the geometry was essentially the same, the construction differed. Berettas used a tubular structure for the trailing arms and transverse beam. Corsicas used heavier stampings; the trailing arm sections had a plate welded across the bottom and the stamped U-channel transverse beam had gussets strategically welded in, if I recall correctly. I always suspected that the Beretta rear end may have been more compliant, leading to a nice ride, but a tendency to flex in the wrong ways and get ‘squidgy’ under heavy cornering forces without the springs and shocks being dialed in just right. The Corsica’s rear end was quite stiff, and with the LTZ/Z52 package and the right rubber, would track very predictably under hard maneuvers. And it could be flicked out to cut corners quite nicely if you knew how to set it up going in.
The best interior for both cars was the 1992-onward redesign. Much better-quality materials and switchgear. The original switches and sliders on the ends of the gauge housing were a decent attempt from the same parts bin as the Cavalier and Camero. Under the redesign, the whole dashboard was refined and controls were changed to concentric dials on the ends of a sleeker instrument binnacle. The ergonomics of the new arrangement were excellent and I miss them on newer cars which rely on very typical but fiddly stalks. Also, with the redesign, the seat belts moved back to the B-pillars where they belonged.
My Z52 was capable of 0-60mph in the 6’s — significantly faster than what’s quoted for the Beretta in the article. Either GM’s ongoing evolution of the 3.1L V6 made significant strides overall, or the fuel mapping in the Z52 package was significantly tweaked. Or a bit of both. I’ll say that mine had a notable appetite for high-octane premium fuel. Anything less and performance dropped noticeably. That and keeping the air filter squeaky-clean was essential. The 3.1 was a deep-breathing engine.
I know of no in-depth performance reviews of the LTZ Corsica, and definitely none of the Z52, which wasn’t a named/promoted package — just an option-list item. The few car enthusiasts who took a turn behind the wheel of my Z52 generally reacted with something along the lines of “Damn…!” when they took off. My wife, who once did test driving for Toyota and who’s favorite car was the A70-series Supra, loved the Z52. She needed a daily driver in the late 90s and didn’t like much of anything on the market then, and picked a used V6 ’96 Corsica. By then, it was the redesigned and somewhat blander version of the engine, but it still had plenty of power. And on stock suspension and rubber it still had enough capability to be a quick and safe car.
I agree with you regarding the interiors. The redesign really changed the look inside, much better than the earlier cars.
Thanks for spilling the beans about the Z52 package. I hadn’t heard of that. Good info stored away in my big brain of useless car facts.
I feel like the late 80s/early 90s as a time for a lot of hidden gems from all the automakers. Technology was on an upswing, as was overall handling/performance in ordinary cars. Japanese carmakers were hitting their stride with cars that had even more mainstream appeal. US automakers were figuring out where the imports off both shores had overtaken them — and were learning how to break free of the Malaise Era and build cars that buyers actually wanted.
Car-shopping in the time was very different in terms of choices. Coupes, sedans, wagons, even vying for attention. “Crossovers” weren’t even really a thing except for the oddball like the Tercel wagon or that funky new model from Subaru called a “Forester”… 😉
Agreed. Lots of hidden little gems in that era, from all manufacturers it seems. So much choice in body styles, performance levels, “sporty” trims. I was coming into my driving age at the time, but still couldn’t afford anything new. But that era definitely holds a good place in my heart for all that was available.
This design has really aged well, except for the swishy paintbrush style “Indy” graphic lettering that was everywhere in the 90’s.
Are you really a gear head if you have not been partially strangled by a door-mounted motorized seatbelt?
I remember walking around Berettas and Corsicas in the mall in the 1980s when they were released and very new. In my head, Berettas are also a bit in the 80s cars for me.
I’d like a red Barchetta.
Best I can do is a yellow Beretta.
Criminally underrated comment right there
—the gearhead equivalent of ‘champagne taste on a Mad Dog 20/20 budget’
I just got a chub. I’ll take it. I miss mine, woman ran a red light and T’d me. spun me around a full 180 and slammed into a telphone pole backwards. After all was said and done, the pole was in the back seat.
Is that an aftermarket sunroof? It looks like it in the pic with the sagging headliner. Thanks for posting this. It’s too bad these didn’t get the hot Quad 4 engine. As has been posted here before, those engines put down impressive power for the time even thought they were NVH and head gasket nightmares.
That interior pic gave me flashbacks to the sticky hard plastic McDonalds play-places of my youth, and I feel the need to wash my hands just looking at it.
Fill it with multicolored plastic balls and the faint smell of urine, and the effect is complete.
Yellow though, eww. I truly did kind of like the Monochrome Baretta GTU, or better the later GTZ with Quad 4 and Manual trans.
I kept scrolling to find the price, knowing it would be bonkers. $39,000 for this pile of ill-fitting GM hard plastic with tacky styling and a truck engine still made my eyes pop. People actually paid the equivalent of $40,000 for these heaps new? I gotta hand it to the General; they know their marks and how to reel them in.
Bring back low belt lines.
For some reason I feel like the end stage for almost all Corsica’s and Beretta’s involved some type of criminal activity.
Glad to see a survivor.
I DON’T KNOW WHY I WANT THIS CAR SO BAD
As a former Corsica owner and liker, I approve this car!
What a waste. Drive your cars people!
I love looking at these cars because when they look new, it brings me right back to the 1990s and I immediately think of the people who owned these in high school. It triggers something that it wouldn’t if I were to see a beat up version on the highway.
So to me, it’s not a waste. It brings me back and I’m thankful to whoever had the weirdness of spirit and dedication to save this thing. For some reason they loved it, and they saved it. Whatever it took to do that wasn’t a waste.
I absolutely love seeing old normal 80’s and 90’s cars that you never see anymore, so I get what you’re saying. You can save it while still driving it though. Drive it in nice weather and park it in the rain and snow. This same car with 30k-40k miles right now could still look like an incredible time capsule, but have been enjoyed along the way.
I thought that just as the Probe was originally to be the Mustang replacement, that the Beretta was to be a Camaro…until, just like the Ford, the idea of going front-wheel-drive became exponential heresy and both makers’ plans were scrapped.
These cars were fun and quick in the day, especially with the 3.1 engine. And a great sounding exhaust note. Wouldn’t win a 1/4 mile race, but off the line torque was excellent. And that’s what you feel when scooting around at legal speeds.
I’ve seen a handful of these in the wild in yellow. Never seen a teal one. I can see how someone might drive it home from the dealer and essentially preserve it. It was a very special limited edition. Now the K5 Blazer was everywhere. As to driving it home from the dealer and parking it to preserve, all I can think is maybe the buyer died and the vehicle just became a time capsule.
I’m loving this run of OBD1 GM articles.
Interestingly, I’ve only ever seen the teal version, but I think the yellow looks better.
The 3.1 V6’s exhaust note always had a nice, throaty burble that could turn into a grin-inducing snarl when you put your foot in it.
Neat! I always love odd duck time capsules like this.
So what would be the 2000, 2010 and 2020, “Huh, someone saved that?” cars?
2000: Dodge Avenger, available in only coupe form.
Oh man, it’d be off by one model year, but I wonder how many mint 2001 Hyundai XGs will end up surviving. I imagine every single one of those was beat to death.
I haven’t thought about that car in years – excellent call. A Korean attempt at a Lincoln LS!
For 2010, how about a Kia Forte Koup? Nobody in the target market was really interested in them as coupes were kinda outta step with the times, so fairly rare even back then.
There is one at a local general auction right now. It’s beat up but still running. Bid is currently under $100, I’m tempted to buy it, drive it for 2 weeks on temporary plates and scrap it for more than that.
Yep, what I figured happened to XGs — the ones that are left compete with scrap value. A mint one would be wild to see. I bet none exist.
2000: Daewoo Lanos
2010: Chevy Aveo
2020: Chrysler 200 or Dodge Journey
BERETTIANDY
Hopefully this site can avoid the “Why?” And “What a POS.” comments. I have a very nice condition 64,000 mile 1990 Pontiac Sunbird that I really enjoy for whatever odd reason my mind chooses, and a video of it went viral on social media in 2021. The amount of hate comments I got was astounding. Never understood why people can’t just let others enjoy things, but I have hope that The Autopian is different.
Also, it’s a slight shame this one still somehow manages to suffer the slight dashboard warpage that affects the entirety of the pre-1991 Berettas (1991-1996 had the refreshed interior with the driver’s side airbag). GM gonna GM. 🙂
You won’t hear it from me! This car was surrounded by rare Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and the sorts of cars you find in a Need For Speed game. Those cars are great for sure, but it was the yellow Beretta that drew me in.
This car, your Sunbird, my Smarts, Gossin’s fleet, all of them are proof that enthusiasts are a diverse set of people and that all cars are worthy of some love. It shouldn’t matter what you drive, what matters is if you’re happy with it!
And that is why you, and this site, are awesome! 🙂
> all cars are worthy of some love
Except the Cadillac Cimarron.
I for one loved the Sunbird, and even the later Sunfire, then and now. The Sunbird’s dash is so amazingly Pontiac, blocky and ’80s futuristic…OMG the buttons.
I really miss what they represented (and why I appreciate SW Gossin’s tastes so much)…a fun car that’s easy to own, doesn’t look like something your parents would drive, and provides at least a modicum of fun when using it for the everyday driving for which it’s meant. They offered a wonderfully democratic thing, a reasonably fun and stylish driving experience that anyone who worked for a living could afford. Sadly, that doesn’t really exist anymore.
Had an ’89 Sunbird. It rattled from day 1. To say the upholstery was mouse fur would be an insult to mice. It still had its original clutch when I gave it to my brother-in-law at 150,000 miles. Never required more than a new valve cover gasket in the time I owned it.
An absolute piece of crap with 96 horsepower. But it was a terrific piece of crap. And absolutely reliable.
I just put a valve cover gasket on mine a couple of years ago. It was $1.60 from RockAuto.
I can’t personally understand it, but of all the questionable cars from the 1990s, the Sunbird looked the best. You do you and f the haters.
I really love the interior shots Mercedes – totally takes me back to my own (lesser) Beretta! Mine was bright red b/c I was a kid buying his first car.
I do give Chevy props for trying to create a driver-focused interior on both the Beretta and Corsica. I’m not sure it was totally successful, but appreciated that there was a real effort put in to make things feel less economy and more sporting…quite a feat for 1980s/1990s GM.
The controls were very intuitive and most of the critical ones were right in your sight line, clustered around the sides of the gauge pod. I recall the stalk was only for the turn signals even.
And woo hoo! to see the old accordion-booted shifter again! Rubbery, sure, but it really held up unlike the bags on the cars I’ve bought since.
Rear end is still totally striking. Great design.
Well I was approaching 30 when these things came out and yes they were uniformly hated and dismissed as yet another underpowered American car unable to perform to its looks. People didn’t detest or hate small cars they detested heavy small underpowered bricks and still do. Now Miata small light and sporty sells okay but what besides the vetted is actually powered and light. The mustang was a secretary car when designed. But American fast on the straightforward roads none ever designed a spritely car for curves and mountain climbing. And yes a dragster on a quarter mile is fun a 2 seater convertible tearing up mountain roads is far more entertaining. But I do get the fun of watching an American idiot doing donuts in a mustang and destroying their car.
It should be Teal, I remember at the time these came out somebody said Beretta should make a cheap gun and call it the Chevrolet
Slightly more teal ones were made than yellow, actually, IIRC.