story time, how did berettas earn your intetest?

[bagged_and_loud]

Well, I think it can be agreed upon that it takes a special person to like, let alone love a beretta. Right?Ok, so someone makes a Beretta forum, people join, share their mods, and once a year, for those able, join together to gawk and hang out with other Beretta enthusiasts. Great! But, what is it about berettas get you going? The body line? Door handle placement? Sweet looking factory tail lights? Or something else altogether?

First, my story (long)

Ok, so when I was 15 I got my first vehicle. An 87 Toyota pickup. Nice and all that jazz. Then bought a 92 Mazda b2600i, followed by a 4 Banger ranger, then a 4.0 ranger. (One at a time, either by trading or sell/buy) then, times got rough, 4.0 ranger was getting long in the tooth. Gas went higher and higher. So, I bought a gas saver. A 98 Saturn sl2. Got 35MPG and paid for itself. It blew up with 325,000 miles. So I got the ranger back on the rode and went through a few more vehicles.

Then I started working for halliburton. 167 mile ommute twice a week. Price of gas wasn't an issue with the m]oney I made. I was driving a s10 blazer. But the ride left something to be desired on the 3 hour haul. Time for another car
I thought.

When I came home for a few days off, I seen something interesting. A red two door Chevy something. Price was $850. I called the guy up after looking it over and asked if he'd take $750 before I even looked at it. (All I had to spare at the time) he said Ya so the guy met me where the car was an d I test drove it. Rode like a dream, stopped great and what not. Then I took it on the interstate. Buried the throttle to cut out. Loved it. Went back and gave him cash on spot. When I got the title I found out I had a 95 Beretta z26. Not aesthetically pretty, but perfect for what I wanted. One week after ownership, it blows up. Great.

Well, at the time I wasn't on Beretta forum yet. So I was oblivious to what I had, and it would have been perfect for a 3400 swap.

Any ways, I go on the hunt for another one, with a new goal. To find one in black. Three days on Craigslist I find one. A 96 z26. Called the guy, had him hold it for a week till I got back home. Drove there hours and paid him $1500. Inside wasn't perfect, but I still had the red z, had extra money, and was OK with the way it was. Did some swapping, got a great car. Absolutely loved it. Then it happened.

First day of my new job, got off a little early. Enjoying a country road, still loving the black z, I got an bad feeling. Like someone was about to cut the corner I was about to drive around. BAM! 2012 3/4 cummins with a 16' trailer smashes my car at about 55. Right on the corner of the trailer. I was devastated.

Totaled, gone, destroyed. Buckled the floor boards, twisted the body and so on. After a long legal battle, I got $1500 for the car. Which is what I had in it. But the kicker is, I had to borrow the money to buy it from my dad, and just gave him the final payment to make it truly mine. To boot, it had a full tank of gas in it. I'll never forget the sound of the impact, the air bags, and the radiator screaming steam.

Ok, time to find another one. Found a 91 Gt 5 speed for $650. Ran good and what not. But after the black z26, it fell short of my expectations. So I sold it and went back to an suv. Always wanted to find another z26.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. I had a 98 Jeep Cherokee with a lift yada yada. Been wanting to trade it for a while. And my fiance sends me and ad for a 94 z26 for $3000, or trade for a utility quad. So for SnG 's I text him to see if hed be interested in my Jeep. After a call, he's all over it. Holy S! He traded my Jeep, with a couple problems, for a really tricked out z26. (No, not a quad) (I'll post details of the car when I get the car cleaned up and can talking pics)

so, now I'm back in a z26. 4 Berettas later. Now, this doesn't even begin to replace my black z26, even with all the add ons. But it feels good to have another one.

Oh Ya, my original question. What about Beretta gets it for Ya? For me, almost everything. The body line is unique, tinted tail lights the leo can't say squat about, cool door handles, rides great, corners really well and best of all, good mpgs.

Ok, That's my story, What's yours? The longer the better. Let er rip!

[DanteGTZ]

The first time I actually remember recognizing a Beretta was in about 7th grade or so, somewhere around 1994. I remember a friend and I talking about cars while riding the school bus - At some point, I spotted a white Beretta GTZ. I didn't realize it was a special model, just that it was a Beretta and I thought it looked cool.

Fast forward to 1999 -- I was 17 and in need of a car. Graciously, my parents went shopping for used cars for both myself and my sister. I came home from school and they asked me if I liked Berettas. Next thing I know, we jumped in the car and headed down to the dealer - They found a black 1990 GT for me and a garnet 1990 base for my sister. I was hooked. While my GT was pretty much a stripped down model (steel 15" wheels, crank windows), I loved it.

My GT lasted until the next Spring/Summer when the engine block cracked. At that point, I'd already found Beretta.Net and had learned quite a lot about them and about the various Beretta models. After buying and selling a 1992 Camaro RS, I wound up looking for a Beretta GTZ. The closest one to me was in Helena, MT - Price was $4971 - It was a Quasar GTZ w/ blue interior. It had 79,808 miles on it. I bought it sight unseen!

Even after foolishly selling that car in 2005, I always loved Berettas. This past January, I found my current GTZ. It is virtually identical to my old one, except this one has gray interior.

I'm never letting this one go. It would really be too hard to replace.

[woody90gtz]

I stopped in at a local used car dealer to buy an 88 Monte Carlo SS when I was 16. Turns out that was the mechanic's new project car and he was selling his driver: a 90 GTZ. I thought it looked cool and took it for a test drive. I was young & dumb so I thought the Quad4 was super fast! haha

Bought that car and found Beretta.net and became obsessed with it (being 16 with my own car and all.) It ate an oil pump that cost big money to fix because I didnt have a garage then, and needed valve seals cause it burned oil like crazy and smoked on startup. Had a bra on the front too and I took it off for a good wash job once and found out the lower bumper was duct taped together. Did some stupid high school stuff like stickers and mirror tint, and put Z26 wheels on it. I beat the PISS out of that car (16 and 7000 redline) and it was pretty rough. I sold it to buy a black 95 Z26 while I was in college.

Blacked out the Z26 and did a full suspension job with some 17s and an exhaust. Swapped in a 3400 and got it to run a 14.9@93. Looking back, I neglected it some as my DD while I was hot rodding the Camaro and it rotted out from under me thanks to 6 NY winters. I already had a lot of money in parts on it, so I bought a rolling shell to replace the body and kept everything I could from it.

The new car was a rust-free 91 GT body with no engine and rattle can primer paint. Spent 9 months building it from the ground up...laying down the paint, doing the full suspension, custom interior, fabbing mounts, swapping my 3400 in, LSD in the trans and bulletproof axles. Idea was to build it in an OEM style as the "SS" Chevy should have built. The end result was nice enough that I decided not to drive it in the winter and bought a truck for snow duty to keep the Beretta rust-free.

They have all driven me nuts at times, but the fact that I still have one tells me the addiction is uncurable.

[bagged_and_loud]

Dante and woody, those are great stories. I can't wait to hear more stories from members.

Woody,

That white gtz looks really nice, mirror tint and all Lol. Is that a pic at your high school football field? I seen the thread on your black z, rip. That thing looked amazing x1,000. Hope you don't mInd, I made it my back ground in my phone!

Keep them coming guys!

[3X00-Modified]

Jeep them coming guys!

no jeeps


this is a beretta forum...

[bagged_and_loud]

Jeep them coming guys!

no jeeps


this is a beretta forum...

Hello, my name is Toby. Part of Beretta anonymous. What's your story? Lol

[woody90gtz]

Dante and woody, those are great stories. I can't wait to hear more stories from members.

Woody,

That white gtz looks really nice, mirror tint and all Lol. Is that a pic at your high school football field? I seen the thread on your black z, rip. That thing looked amazing x1,000. Hope you don't mInd, I made it my back ground in my phone!

Keep them coming guys!

Actually that's at the county fairgrounds...but it did get some pics by the football field in my jacket because I was a badass. haha Even put our record on the back window in static letters and updated each week. I'm doing a "build" thread for that car while I've driving done memory lane anyway...

[Asylum]

Well it was 1992 and I was wandering around the showroom at Herron Motors in Mississauga Ontario and noticed a beautiful White GTZ with blue interior.

As we were in the market for a new car I inquired about it.

I was well known due to my past racing exposure with my Nova and was often there buying parts and was a member of their in house Car Club named "Motion Inc."

Hal Pells was the sales guy, and a friend of my father, and steered me away from the GTZ saying "We have had a lot of trouble with that engine."

He did show me a Quazar GT 3.1 auto which was mine about 45 minutes later.

That is the car that became the first ever 3500 swap into a Beretta. But not until after I won numerous Bracket championships, A Super Chevy Show DOT-tire Bracket Class event. 3 Driver of the Year awards, and a record for Cayuga with a total of 14 perfect .000 reaction times in eliminations.

It's been estimated I have been down that track 20,000 times over 45 years of racing and it will continue both this weekend with the Quad, FOR IT'S FIRST EVER PASS, and then when it is re-born as an LS-3 Fred Smith conversion in 2014.

I lost the '92 due to a very unfortunate marital dispute a couple years ago, but I'm still a Beretta owner.

Have flown to California TWICE to buy rust free Berettas and drove them back to Canada. (~3000 miles)

My Quad is one, and Rodney's now 3500 turbo, intercooled offering is the other.

I guess you could say I'm somewhat dedicated.

Cheers

[bagged_and_loud]

Can't wait to see the thread Woody.

Asylum,

You're very dedicated and one of the hard core enthusiast I remember from last year when I was here under a different name. As well as woody and Mr.pink. maybe a few more, but I just woke up. Lol

[Echoes71]

It's funny when I think back to the first time I saw a Beretta, probably 1988, and I saw the back and thought it looked... weird... I kinda chuckled and told my girlfriend at the time "You'll never see me in one of those!" Fast forward to 1991 and I was looking for a new car. The more I saw of the Beretta the more I liked it, so I began a quest - hitting 17 different Chevy dealers - my job at the time had me on the road two days a week - and I kept getting these offers that were just too much to pay.

Finally I found a book written by an ex-car salesman and in this book he explained every little trick that salesmen do and he said when they start doing their little tricks... like going to see their manager or one of the plethora of things they do, that's when you should get up and walk out. Interesting idea, I thought, but why not try it?

So I went to a Chevy dealer in Liberty, about 15 minutes away, and test drove a brand new black GT. The car had 3 miles on it and I added 6 on the test drive. I had a woman for a salesperson... so we get back to the dealer, she keeps telling me that she could only go down so far and she'd get up to leave to "talk with her manager" and once she left the room, I got up and started walking out. This happened three times but by the end of this little game, I walked out with a brand new GT and paid $4,400.00 less than sticker. I was happy and I felt the $4.99 I invested in the book was a good and wise investment.

I had that GT for 21 1/2 years and she had over 214,000 miles on it when I came across my current Z26. I had always wanted a Z26 and just had kind of given up hope of finding one in really good condition. Suffice to say that my Z26 is in near mint condition and runs like a charm! MoneyPitBeretta, who lives about 20 minutes away from me, has gone for a drive with me and he seemed to really appreciate the car.

Everywhere I go I get compliments on it. One day at the car wash an older guy was drying off his 2006 Corvette and even he complimented my Z26. It's funny... I went from saying I would never be caught dead in a Beretta to it's the only car I have had since 1991. From GT to Z26... so yeah, I think it's safe to say that I LOVE these cars! And I love that I found this site, so cool to meet other Beretta fans!!!

[3X00-Modified]

Will find earlier pics to insert here...

Quick story... Needed car for college (1999-2000 Purchased), saw Red 95 Beretta at local used lot, Didn't know much about them but they appealed to me so we bought it. Used it for my last year in HS and then drove it for 4 years in college. Back and forth from Plainfield CT to Warwick RI every day. Did a 3400 top end on the stock 3100 and some other misc stupid mods... Got clipped leaving the parking lot one morning... Thought the car was done, but found a 94 on my way home that night on the side of the road... ALSO red. Perfect parts donor.














Came out better than before though when done...









trans dropped on me shortly after, John Carter who helped me strip the parts car also took the trans for a rebuild and helped me swap it out... Continued to drive it till 215k miles on original bottom end then Finally did a full 3400 engine build for it. And put the Nitrous on it... 13.996 here we come! lol








Had another trans issue with the diff, so I had to learn how to build one on my own... And added the EP LSD to this build...

Went to Pittsburgh in 06 with it.... 6th from the end in the back row.





OBDII swapped the engine harness and Bought DHP, Bought $500 S&S headers BRAND NEW and cut them to fit the car... Bugged the hell out of DHP to expand the table support on the 96... got some...






Then I got pissed off at the bitch telling me I could do stuff so I just bought engines to do what I wanted...







Built my first "hybrid" engine with Stage 1 Milzy Motorsports cam... Only cam's available at the time of the build. Before WOT-Tech started doing re-grinds.






















Installed Hybrid...






Did interior stuff




Realized the rust situation and Daily Driving it was wasting my money, so Jeff Baryla found me a 96 in CT that was near rust free... Had some surface in the rear but nothing I couldn't fix and stop.

Then red car had the Hybrid removed, and the 3100 from Pink installed... Pulled that shortly after due to ping issues and put the original 3400 that was in it (freshened up) and drove that for a Daily driver for a while.






Last day it looked pretty...





And then the Pink started.......





And today...





There is info in my other threads on the pinks journey to what it is today. Built it in late 07-08, drove it to Bfest in 08 two tone and has been to every one since.
Oh and red is still rotting in my driveway... Soon to be drive-line and front suspension pulled and scrapped. I've sheltered the mice for long enough.

[Tylerlp]

Oh i remember back when i was 13 years old and eager to get my first car to buy. Although i was only 13 i knew that i wanted to get some form of gm and i hopped on craigslist and got to searching for one. I searched and I searched and i came across a plethra of corsicas and out of nowhere came up a decent looking red car that i had never seen before. It was posted for only $300 so i just had to go look at it. Not knowing what a beretta was i was pretty impressed with the first time i saw it. I went ahead and brought it home, found bstuff, and began my work on it. That car is still with me today and started as a 2.2 crank window base, then went to a 3400 power window "Z", and is now under the knife to become a 3500 turbo. I have also owned a 1994 aqua Z and a 1991 base 3.1 5 speed. I currently own a 1989 GTU 3.1 5 speed swapped, a 1990 GTZ, and of course my 1995 base. As for non L body family cars i have a 1990 TGP, 1985 Jetta diesel, and a 1978 Camaro. My 18th birthday is next month and I'd say Ive got a pretty good start and to think it all started because of the one bright red beauty!

[Amateur]

It went just like this. Replace that chick with me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oMublVhRpo

In reality, I was in H.S. in 2005 and my 1991 Lumina Euro was on its last leg and getting way to problematic for me. I began my quest for a new car. I wanted something that looked good, had 2 doors, and had a manual transmission. It was narrowed down to a Toyota Celica, A Dodge Avenger, and A Chevy Beretta. I saw in the local Auto Trader that a woman was selling one nearby for $1500. It was a 1995 Cayenne Red, L4 5 spd. I had my dad with me as I didn't know how to drive stick. We bought the car and I learned how to drive stick on it and loved it to death. I obviously have a 1995 medium adriatic blue one now with the same L4/5 spd combo. But I always think, what If I bought that red avenger I test drove before I got around to the Beretta...I probably wouldn't be here right now lol.

[SummitBalt08]

But I always think, what If I bought that red avenger I test drove before I got around to the Beretta...I probably wouldn't be here right now lol.

Trust me you didn't want that Dodge Avenger.. they are underpowered, overweight and problematic POSs...

I had a 97 Avenger ES... Yeah it looked good but didn't get good gas mileage at all and was slow as hell even with the V6.
Berettas yes they do rust.. but have you ever looked up what happens when a Avenger rusts? The door literally rust off them. The panel that the door hinges bolt on to rusts out and the door falls off. It happened to my 97.. I took it into my auto collision lab welded the hell out of it and got rid of it.

Sent from my EVO LTE using Tapatalk 2

[Amateur]

^^That probably explains the fact of why I haven't seen a single avenger in my area for at least the better part of 2 years. Since they were practically Mitsubishi Eclipses underneath that sheet metal, I expected more out of it. Oh well, at least I dodged that bullet (pun intended).