These photos were sent by a former VR owner from MA. They were taken when the car was new in 1988.
Heres the story straight from Joe:
I purchased the car new in March of '88 and the pictures that I sent you
were taken in May. I had seen a review a few weeks earlier in the Boston Globe.
The dealer had several cars and wagons on his lot. The dealer added on options
sticker was in the $21,000 range, I got it for $18,800 after hours of being
held hostage at the dealership and being double teamed. I vowed never again
would that happen to me.
I had called AutoStyle at least twice with questions back in 1988. If you
notice, on the drivers side door "Eurosport VR" is missing. (In
my case "VR" stands for Very Red quoting Car & Driver). The
passenger side door has it but not the drivers side. It was installed after
Jim Luikens mailed it to me. The car had the standard Chevy Eurosport options,
2.8 litre, a/c, am/fm cassette.
I removed the rear cup holders to make for more room for the passengers.
The car went through 12 or 13 alternators, several starters and water pumps.
Batteries lasted 3 yrs at best. The throttle body was giving me trouble,the
a/c kept leaking freon, the clear coat paint was turning white and flaking
off, the body was rusting. The interior was in excellent shape except for
the headliner which was replaced but poor quality job.
I was the original owner, she had 120K on it and after I installed my 12th
alternator it was time to get a dependable car. When I traded it in for a
new 2001 Dodge Intrepid SE (I know your sitting down for this) I got $100
trade-in value. I would have liked to have kept it but I already had a 1968
Chevy Impala SS in my garage (original owner) and had no place to store it
out of view. I could not sell the car privately "as is" as my state
has strict guidelines. I never saw it again.
The reason they stopped making the cars in 1988, the Baretta was becoming
a hot sales item so they (GM) made the Baretta GTU instead. AutoStyle made
590 1988 models before switching to the Baretta GTU according to my notes
from a phone conversation (in 1988) with Jim at AutoStyle.
Jim had said GM wanted to go with the Baretta GTU since that car was becoming
a hot seller and drop the VR. The Baretta GTU was made at Car and Concepts
(see link: http://www.oneinfo.org/motors/chevrolet-beretta.htm
)
Out of the cars I have owned: 1968 Olds 442, 1980 Mustang, the VR was my overall favorite car.