It's The Little Things That Count, My 1987 Beretta GT

[Wanako]

Hi guys, I've been part of the Beretta community for years now but have never actually shown my car to this board. I am more active on BStuff, so some of you will recognize me from there.

This is my 1987 Chevy Beretta GT. She's been in my family for over 20 years. I first laid eyes on it when I was 6 years old and thought it was the coolest car ever. When I turned 18 in 2004 she was still there and dad gave me the keys and have been driving it since. I pretty much grew up in this car. She's currently got 253,000 miles but still running quite strong.

circa 1992-93


2004-2007 She looked quite tired by this time...





2008: After suspension upgrades and re-paint






Yours truly:


2009:

[Money pit Beretta]

Ah yes, I have seen you over there on Bstuff. Wow that thing looks great now that you have put all that work into it. My friends dad has those wheels on his Beretta. How are the door panels?

[Barry]

I love it. Its so simple and clean. PLus those wheels look really good

[Wanako]

MPB, thanks dude, I've been working on this thing for years, making it better slowly but surely. The door panels and the early style (seatbelt in the B pillar) and tan and in need of replacement. I have not yet been able to find a new pair. It's Damn near impossible.

Barry, thank to you too man, You're GTZ looks quite badass too. Love that blue.

The wheels my dad bought when he first got the car. At first I wanted to get larger diameter wheels like 17's or something but I then saw that these old wheels fit the car better than any new wheels out there. They gradually grew on me. It gives her that aftermarket 80's look. I also came to love me some sidewallz.

[Money pit Beretta]

Yeah I know what your talking about. I never did find any for my 90GT. The tray was the worst part, it looked like crap with the washers I had to use to hold it on. Gregtheskin has just redone his and they look great. I had 213K on my 90 when I lost it, but I got it in 96. It didn't have the history that yours has that's great.

[weba]

You Still need to adjust that rear bumper.

[michi]

i know that feeling man, i just bought my dads 91 GT back which i grew up in

nice car man, looks like its still pretty much clean

[lmnjlo]

Where did you have the car repainted?

[Wanako]

i got it at a place called 1-Day Paint or something like that. It's like Maaco. Not something all high quality or whatever. My dad and I did the preperation on it, down to near the metal, got rid of all the dents but there are still quite a few imperfections once you look at it closely. Later on once I got the full on project going I'll be giving it a proper paint job

[Money pit Beretta]

Man that paint looks good to me. I've never had a Beretta with good paint. The 90GT had ok paint in some areas. I could see the metal in other areas. The 95's paint is mostly there, but it looks like there was a bad prep job or something. What have you been working on these days?

[Wanako]

unfortunately, I haven't done anything to it. I've wanted to work on it so bad, but I've got no place to work on it, except the street, and what I can do there is limited. Another problem I'm facing is that Berettas are damn near impossible to find in the junkyards around here. I think I may be 1 of 5 Beretta owners in So. Cal, including Chad (lmnjlo) and the other 3 may not know what the hell it is they're driving.

I've been wanting to get new headlights and taillights, get a nice shiny black rear filler panel and some dew strips and I'm hoping to GOD to find some 87-88 style tan door panels. The rear lights are cracked, the fronts are getting crusty and yellow, The rear filler is my old cracked clear one with Matte Black Rustoleum on it, the dew strips are shot and cracked and other misc. little stuff I wanna do to it. Headlights, I'm specifically looking for the ones with the black rubber ring thing around them or "eyeliner" as my wife referred to them once. I'll would be happy to take donations anyone? lol

[lmnjlo]

unfortunately, I haven't done anything to it. I've wanted to work on it so bad, but I've got no place to work on it, except the street, and what I can do there is limited. Another problem I'm facing is that Berettas are damn near impossible to find in the junkyards around here. I think I may be 1 of 5 Beretta owners in So. Cal, including Chad (lmnjlo) and the other 3 may not know what the hell it is they're driving.

I've been wanting to get new headlights and taillights, get a nice shiny black rear filler panel and some dew strips and I'm hoping to GOD to find some 87-88 style tan door panels. The rear lights are cracked, the fronts are getting crusty and yellow, The rear filler is my old cracked clear one with Matte Black Rustoleum on it, the dew strips are shot and cracked and other misc. little stuff I wanna do to it. Headlights, I'm specifically looking for the ones with the black rubber ring thing around them or "eyeliner" as my wife referred to them once. I'll would be happy to take donations anyone? lol

LOL. Your not far off there. There only a handful of us on the road here in SoCal. Hell, I go tot AutoZone to ask for parts and the employees say 'whats a Beretta"....People, you have no idea what us Cal folk have to put up with. I bet the other 3 think they are driving a Saturn. lol. If you makes you feel any better I own two Beretta's. lol As far as getting parts there are a TON of them out in the Midwest. I suggest you start connecting with a few of them, making a list and having them get them from a junk yard for you. Just remember, its cold and snowing in most of the Midwest. I will also agree with you....there are no junkyards here and the few that there are do not have Beretta's. As far as the headlights with the black ring....GL my friend. I tried finding those my self years ago. They only came on the '87-'89s I believe. Any year will work, just hard to find those. My dew strips have been shot for YEARS. I just cut them off. I'll have to swing up there some day to meet you. Or....come down here and help me get my engine in.

[Wanako]

unfortunately, I haven't done anything to it. I've wanted to work on it so bad, but I've got no place to work on it, except the street, and what I can do there is limited. Another problem I'm facing is that Berettas are damn near impossible to find in the junkyards around here. I think I may be 1 of 5 Beretta owners in So. Cal, including Chad (lmnjlo) and the other 3 may not know what the hell it is they're driving.

I've been wanting to get new headlights and taillights, get a nice shiny black rear filler panel and some dew strips and I'm hoping to GOD to find some 87-88 style tan door panels. The rear lights are cracked, the fronts are getting crusty and yellow, The rear filler is my old cracked clear one with Matte Black Rustoleum on it, the dew strips are shot and cracked and other misc. little stuff I wanna do to it. Headlights, I'm specifically looking for the ones with the black rubber ring thing around them or "eyeliner" as my wife referred to them once. I'll would be happy to take donations anyone? lol

LOL. Your not far off there. There only a handful of us on the road here in SoCal. Hell, I go tot AutoZone to ask for parts and the employees say 'whats a Beretta"....People, you have no idea what us Cal folk have to put up with. I bet the other 3 think they are driving a Saturn. lol. If you makes you feel any better I own two Beretta's. lol As far as getting parts there are a TON of them out in the Midwest. I suggest you start connecting with a few of them, making a list and having them get them from a junk yard for you. Just remember, its cold and snowing in most of the Midwest. I will also agree with you....there are no junkyards here and the few that there are do not have Beretta's. As far as the headlights with the black ring....GL my friend. I tried finding those my self years ago. They only came on the '87-'89s I believe. Any year will work, just hard to find those. My dew strips have been shot for YEARS. I just cut them off. I'll have to swing up there some day to meet you. Or....come down here and help me get my engine in.

ain't it the truth, A couple of months back my passenger's side CV Axle imploded on itself, changing it out was not my problem, trying to find the goddamn thing was what I was cringing at. I tried about 10 AutoParts stores within a 10-15 mile radius, absolutely NONE of them had it except ONE Kragen that had ONE more. That was a pain. When I lived in Oxnard with my parents, I needed to change the brake shoes in the back, called 5 stores and the AutoZone furthest away from me had them. Hell, I went to the yard yesterday were they had 3 or 4 Berettas last time, and this time they had like 7 Corsicas and not one damn Beretta. This made me so sad. I should've taken those parts that I wanted while I had the chance. I'm kicking myself over it. But yeah dude, we really ought to meet up sometime.

[lmnjlo]

unfortunately, I haven't done anything to it. I've wanted to work on it so bad, but I've got no place to work on it, except the street, and what I can do there is limited. Another problem I'm facing is that Berettas are damn near impossible to find in the junkyards around here. I think I may be 1 of 5 Beretta owners in So. Cal, including Chad (lmnjlo) and the other 3 may not know what the hell it is they're driving.

I've been wanting to get new headlights and taillights, get a nice shiny black rear filler panel and some dew strips and I'm hoping to GOD to find some 87-88 style tan door panels. The rear lights are cracked, the fronts are getting crusty and yellow, The rear filler is my old cracked clear one with Matte Black Rustoleum on it, the dew strips are shot and cracked and other misc. little stuff I wanna do to it. Headlights, I'm specifically looking for the ones with the black rubber ring thing around them or "eyeliner" as my wife referred to them once. I'll would be happy to take donations anyone? lol

LOL. Your not far off there. There only a handful of us on the road here in SoCal. Hell, I go tot AutoZone to ask for parts and the employees say 'whats a Beretta"....People, you have no idea what us Cal folk have to put up with. I bet the other 3 think they are driving a Saturn. lol. If you makes you feel any better I own two Beretta's. lol As far as getting parts there are a TON of them out in the Midwest. I suggest you start connecting with a few of them, making a list and having them get them from a junk yard for you. Just remember, its cold and snowing in most of the Midwest. I will also agree with you....there are no junkyards here and the few that there are do not have Beretta's. As far as the headlights with the black ring....GL my friend. I tried finding those my self years ago. They only came on the '87-'89s I believe. Any year will work, just hard to find those. My dew strips have been shot for YEARS. I just cut them off. I'll have to swing up there some day to meet you. Or....come down here and help me get my engine in.

ain't it the truth, A couple of months back my passenger's side CV Axle imploded on itself, changing it out was not my problem, trying to find the goddamn thing was what I was cringing at. I tried about 10 AutoParts stores within a 10-15 mile radius, absolutely NONE of them had it except ONE Kragen that had ONE more. That was a pain. When I lived in Oxnard with my parents, I needed to change the brake shoes in the back, called 5 stores and the AutoZone furthest away from me had them. Hell, I went to the yard yesterday were they had 3 or 4 Berettas last time, and this time they had like 7 Corsicas and not one damn Beretta. This made me so sad. I should've taken those parts that I wanted while I had the chance. I'm kicking myself over it. But yeah dude, we really ought to meet up sometime.

Just say when...I am unemployed. The Z26 needs some work (the gf drives it ) the '89 is getting the engine swap and the truck works great. I'm free whenever.

[Wanako]

This is something I've been wanting to do for a while, and I don't think I've seen anyone do this yet. Maybe someone has, but I haven't seen it.
So I went to another yard today to search for Berettas. Nothing. I Did find a '02 Impala and it had a leather shift boot. I thought, "hmmm... that looks like a good size. So I took it home and after a little modification of the boot, I put it on my car. I've been wanting to do something like this FOREVER, but never found something I liked or that would fit, so when I found the Impala today, it reminded me of it.

Before:


After:



I think it just adds that little extra to it. Sure, it's not the best, but I personally love how it came out.
Now if I could find a leather shift knob that fits my '87, It would be complete. Yea, Cack told me that the leather knobs you guys have will fits all years EXCEPT my '87.

I'm lovin' it though!