Chevrolet Beretta Indy 500 Pace Car 1990

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The87Dodge

The87Dodge

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rizkeat
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The 1990 Chevrolet Beretta was a very unique pace car for a NASCAR event. Usually, faster, muscle-type cars were used, and people were shocked to see a middle class sedan as a pace car. This Beretta paced the 74th Indy 500 on May 27, 1990. Unfortunately, due to quality issues, no Beretta pace cars were put into production, but there are an estimated 7,500 replicas.

Specs
Unfortunately, detailed specs were not available.
All that I could find out was that the Beretta had a 3.5L V6, and it went about 135 mph.
If anyone could find specs for this car, please post them,

Photos
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Ummmmm..........well, its OK I guess
 
...135mph? I can just imagine all the NASCAR drivers stuck behind this thing, complaining how slow it is...:lol:
 
CowboyAce57
Ummmmm..........well, its OK I guess
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It's a boring sedan "souped up" I guess. There were many "souped up" Berettas. RS, GTU, and the Z26 are just a few.
 
JKgo
...135mph? I can just imagine all the NASCAR drivers stuck behind this thing, complaining how slow it is...:lol:
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Website said "225 km/h". I think that's around 135 mph.
 
The87Dodge
It's a boring sedan "souped up" I guess. There were many "souped up" Berettas. RS, GTU, and the Z26 are just a few.
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Other than that yellow color, it looks alright 👍
 
CowboyAce57
Other than that yellow color, it looks alright 👍
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6,000 replicas were made sea foam green, and 1,500 were yellow. In the race, the lead car was yellow and the two behind it were sea foam green.
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"Quality issues" meaning that even with the big basket handle GM weren't able to design a convertible of the Beretta without the chassis potentially twisting itself in half.
 
Tornado
"Quality issues" meaning that even with the big basket handle they couldn't design a convertible of the Beretta without the chassis potentially twisting itself in half.
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All covertible Beretta pace cars are replicas. Obviously, the three Berettas used were hard topped coupes.
 
....Hey, didn't GM get sued their nuts off by the Italian gun maker back in 89? Anyone?
 
JKgo
....Hey, didn't GM get sued their nuts off by the Italian gun maker back in 89? Anyone?
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They did. Don't exactly remember why they were sued, though.
 
The87Dodge
They did. Don't exactly remember why they were sued, though.
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...Uhh, the hints in the name of this car??

beretta_elite_ii_177_cal_bb_co2_pistol_black1.jpg

...That's a Beretta Elite II pistol...see.
 
JKgo
...Uhh, the hints in the name of this car??

beretta_elite_ii_177_cal_bb_co2_pistol_black1.jpg

...That's a Beretta Elite II pistol...see.
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Oh right, the Beretta gun. Out of all the names, I don't get why GM chose "Beretta" for a mid size coupe and sedan.
 
JKgo
....Hey, didn't GM get sued their nuts off by the Italian gun maker back in 89? Anyone?
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Yes
The87Dodge
They did. Don't exactly remember why they were sued, though.
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Because the name of the car was the same as the Italian gun manufacturer "Beretta".
 
The87Dodge
Oh right, the Beretta gun. Out of all the names, I don't get why GM chose "Beretta" for a mid size coupe and sedan.
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....Hah, I can now sorta imagine bunch of GM bean counters sitting in a boardroom with a copy of "All The Cool Names In Da World".
They just picked it 'cuz it sounded cool. No other reason. Probably.
 
The convertible was the one that paced the race. The whole thing ended up being an embarrassment for GM at the time since the pace car was supposed to preview the ultimately cancelled production convertible.
 
Tornado
The convertible was the one that paced the race. The whole thing ended up being an embarrassment for GM at the time since the pace car was supposed to preview the ultimately cancelled production convertible.
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My bad, all the pace cars that weren't convertibles are replicas.
JKgo
....Hah, I can now sorta imagine bunch of GM bean counters sitting in a boardroom with a copy of "All The Cool Names In Da World".
They just picked it 'cuz it sounded cool. No other reason. Probably.
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The Beretta isn't that bad of a name.
 
JKgo
...Yeah, it's Italian. Like French, they tend to make everything sound so...bellissimo!!
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Sorry for being off topic, but I'm curious what bellissimo means in Italian.
 
The87Dodge
Sorry for being off topic, but I'm curious what bellissimo means in Italian.
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....Loosely translated, it can mean "beautiful", mostly directed at a....pretty gal. Get my drift? ;)
 
I owned one of these, great car! Mine was one of the few (1500) yellow Berettas, with the only option....Sunroof.
The seats were special, front and rear and the trim was charcoal instead of black (on the normal models). Not very powerful but I did race a Camaro RS and a Shelby Dakota with a v8, kept up with the Camaro and beat the Dakota.
I actually miss the car as I had a ton of fun in it, the GTZ model with a Quad 4 and manual trans was faster though.
Not a car for everyone, and personally did not like the teal version.

It also had nothing to do with NASCAR as they did not go to Indy until 1994. It was the Indy 500 Pace Car, from what I was to understand at the time, it needed to be able to average a lap of atleast 140mph to be the pace car. Not totally sure how true that is though.
 
Bowtie-muscle
I owned one of these, great car! Mine was one of the few (1500) yellow Berettas, with the only option....Sunroof.
The seats were special, front and rear and the trim was charcoal instead of black (on the normal models). Not very powerful but I did race a Camaro RS and a Shelby Dakota with a v8, kept up with the Camaro and beat the Dakota.
I actually miss the car as I had a ton of fun in it, the GTZ model with a Quad 4 and manual trans was faster though.
Not a car for everyone, and personally did not like the teal version.

It also had nothing to do with NASCAR as they did not go to Indy until 1994. It was the Indy 500 Pace Car, from what I was to understand at the time, it needed to be able to average a lap of atleast 140mph to be the pace car. Not totally sure how true that is though.
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Pretty cool that you owned it. Was it your daily driver, and how fast was it?
 
Daily driver for almost 14 years. Was not that fast. 3.1l V6
 
Bowtie-muscle
Daily driver for almost 14 years. Was not that fast. 3.1l V6
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The ones used at the Indy 500 used a 3.5L V6. Yours must've had the regular Beretta engine.
 
Street versions did, weren't convertibles either. Still, fun car.
 
Bowtie-muscle
Street versions did, weren't convertibles either. Still, fun car.
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Do you know how much horsepower these Berettas had. What's crazy is that even though the Berettas may have been fun to drive, they looked the same all the way until 1996, and the design became dated.
 
....Pace car's 3.5 were derived from the regular 3.1L. Pretty much same motor, in other words, besides the increased capacity.
 
JKgo
....Pace car's 3.5 were derived from the regular 3.1L. Pretty much same motor, in other words, besides the increased capacity.
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Yes, they had engine work. The Indy 500 Berettas were originally planned to have a supercharged engine, but to save money GM modified the normal 3.1L Beretta engine.
 
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