NASCAR Beretta

[Fat Brian]

In my current state of ADD NASCAR has again come to the forefront of my interest. It doen't help that stock car kits are very cheap right now. I've begun collecting cars from my early experiences with racing and some of the first kits I ever built, the early eighties to early nineties are my primary focus. In doing research about when the Lumina first replaced the Monte Carlo I found a few articles about the Beretta that was run in some of the lower series but wasn't cleared for the Cup series. That thing is BAD, does anyone make a resin body for it?

http://www.stockcarracing.com/thehistoryof/32356_chevy_beretta/index.html

[iBorg]

I'd look for the Revell Beretta Street machine. Body has over sized wheel wells and doesn't quite look stock. The wheelbase might be a problem.

[Fat Brian]

The prototype for NASCAR was stretched ten inches and widened eight inches. The front kind of looks like a Grand Prix, when I get a Grand Prix kit in my hands I will see how much it needs to be changed to make it reasonably close. I was hoping it was in resin so I could just pay for it.

[Scuderia]

Thats a cool story i never knew that, and that Riverside Parts Beretta would be a great unique build. From the looks of the guts the 90s Lumina kit would be a simplistic donor. Maybe even the body too with a stock beretta nose.

[bbowser]

Kinda goes along with this previous thread: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58025

I never knew they considered the Beretta.

[Fat Brian]

I thought about that thread too.

[Johnny Racer]

Anyone that owned a Beretta will remember they had a really oddly shaped rear window. It almost curved in on itself as it met the trunk lid. I think the only real way to duplicate that Riverside car would be to widen and stretch a Revell Pro Street kit then modify the sides a bit to more represent what was in that pic. I think it could be done and would make a good master for someone to cast. If it was made right, the Lumina kits could be donor chassis. Would be killer, I'd buy one or 5. LOL

[MarkJ]

I owned a 75 beretta v8 with a 4 speed. It would have been way to small to run in nascars bigger series. It was like the size of todays cruze.

[jeffs396]

I owned a 75 beretta v8 with a 4 speed. It would have been way to small to run in nascars bigger series. It was like the size of todays cruze.

Mark, do you mean '95???

Berettas were only produced from 1987-1996, I've owned two, with one still in the garage...

[mgguy]

I was a part of the Riverside team when that car was built. It was totally a one-off and there was never plans for any other one to be built, or for the car to run more than one to 2 seasons. GM paid to have the car built as a test mule to take to the wind tunnel (which they did twice) to gain data for development of the Lumina, and it was OK'd for use only in ARCA and never to be used on the superspeedways, only on the midsized tracks (wasn't stable enough to run those tracks anyway). The car was areodynamically superior to the other cars at the time, and was fast on it's own, but was very unstable around other cars due to the short trunk lid. I don't think the car ran more than a half dozen times or so before getting destroyed in a wreck at Atlanta in which the driver of the other car involved was killed.

[MarkJ]

On 6/21/2012 at 1:09 AM, jeffs396 said:

 

Mark, do you mean '95???

 

Berettas were only produced from 1987-1996, I've owned two, with one still in the garage...

I messed up . It was a 75 chevy Monza. 

another senior moment for me.

[RancheroSteve]

Of course, the Beretta was raced in IMSA GTU and SCCA TransAm in the late 80s-early 90s and won championships in both:

https://bringatrailer.com/2017/10/02/first-v6-trans-am-champ-canepa-restored-1990-chevy-beretta/