1988 Pro/Street Beretta

 

 

Back in the 1980's the Pro/Street trend was running hot across America and by the 1990's it was across the whole world. No car was off limits and people dared to be different. The builds were over the top, the cars had eye popping paint and mile-high air-induction systems. It wasn't about how much horsepower you had under the hood or sticking out, it was about who could outdo the next guy at the car show.  

Other build styles were still going on at the time like traditional hot rod building and simple street machines were still prowling the streets. But Pro/Street was its own special thing and it still is but with a modern twist. 

All the major car magazines featured Pro/Street builds from cover to cover and all the readers drooled over them. I know I did and dreamed to own one day. Car Craft, Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding & Super Chevy magazine were the go to publications each month to get your horsepower fix !

I recently came across this 1988 Chevy Beretta that is currently for sale. I remember seeing this car in Hot Rod and Car Craft back in the late 80's. I thought it was really cool because it was originally a front-wheel drive car. When I saw this car, I knew I had to share this with my readers.

This car looks exactly the way it was back in the day, it only has a few hundred miles on it since it was built as it was trailer-ed to and from car shows and was only driven on the street a few times.   

The Beretta is powered by an eye-grabbing Chevrolet based 540 big-block with a highly polished  8/71 BDS Blower, on the dyno it made  850 horsepower to the rear wheels on a mild tune. This bad boy is still street legal and still has its original VIN plate.

 

                                              An MSD Ignition Pro-Billet Distributor & Blaster HVC II Coil light the fire with Accell 10.4 MM Plug Wires. 

 

 The engine features aluminum heads that were heavily ported, the bottom end starts with a Gen-V  block with a forged Callies 4.250 stroke crankshaft, JE pistons and a blower grind roller camshaft bumps the valves. A dry-sump oil system keeps the oil flowing. The air enters a BDS scoop then gets mixed with fuel with a set of 750 CFM Demon blower carburetors. Big tube custom headers were ceramic coated and get the fumes out in  hurry.

 

The rest of the drive train consists of a Turbo-400 transmission that's equipped with a trans brake and a Neil Chance converter. A Hurst shifter changes the gears and sends the power to a Dana-60 rear end filled with 4:56 gears and Strange axles-all swinging on a set of custom 4-link bars.

                The rear wing was custom built and takes the race car look and puts it on the street along with a parachute and chrome plated wheelie bars.

 The body is all factory steel except for the hood and trunk lid. it's mounted to a custom tube chassis certified to 8.50 seconds. For a street car car it was over built but it shows that the car is filled with high quality engineering making this car race ready.

 

 The chassis also features front A-Arm suspension with QA1 adjustable coil-over shocks front & rear and Wilwood disk brakes front & rear give it some woah. 

The interior is all customwith a color matched roll cage and 5-inch Autometer gauges. The tin work has been fully polished to a mirror shine.

 

 

The Beretta rolls on Weld Racing forged aluminum Pro-Star wheels with new M/T 33X21.50-15 Pro Sportsman tires. The front Tires are 26.5-15 Pro Sportsman's.

 

 

                                Click watch on Youtube to hear this car running!