Feretta: The FWD Car That Nearly Replaced The Camaro
Feretta is a one-off FWD Isuzu V8-powered concept car that may have been slated to replace the Camaro. It also was once a poker game prize!
In the world of concept cars that actually got built, very few have the same kind of checkered history as this. While it never came to be a production model, the Feretta is a GM brainchild that is rumored to have been a proposed replacement for the F body Camaro. That’s a tough sell in our minds. Replacing the Camaro with a front-wheel-drive spicy econobox is a bit of a stretch. At least it has a V8!
The Drive brought this wild story to our attention. Though this concept car with a one-off fiberglass wide-bodied L body dream machine never was meant for the public, it wound up in the hands of several private owners. So strap in and prepare for the story of a wild fall from grace on one of the most bizarre-yet-feasible concept cars there ever was.
First Off, What Is it?
The story goes that the Feretta was planned to replace the Camaro. As such, you’d expect to find a V8 engine under the hood. Great news! You will! However, it is not what you might expect. Given the Feretta’s starting point, the Chevy Beretta, and its model year, 1987, you’d expect to find a small block Chevrolet 350 cubic-inch engine. It’s the standard GM V8 of the time, after all. However, what you find instead is an Isuzu sourced V8 that is around 3.5-liters of displacement. Additionally, the five-speed manual transmission is also sourced from Isuzu. That’s just about all the data we have on the old Feretta in terms of specs. It has no title, no safety info, and it doesn’t even have a complete VIN. This is a full-blown concept car that is now in the hands of a private owner.
The car itself is quirky and fun, the story of how it wound up with a private owner. Furthermore, its storyline since then has been quite a wild ride.
Victim of the 2008 Global Recession
After the hit of the recession, GM filed for bankruptcy. Remarkably, this bizarre little concept car wound up making its way to the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction in 2009. Believe it or not, it sold for just $6,600. It was then registered as a kit car in the state of Florida, where it received its first full VIN. Unfortunately, the original purchaser passed away, and the vehicle was sold by their estate. This, however, is where things take a bit of a wild turn.
The person who bought it from the estate of the late previous owner is said to have lost it in a poker game, according to The Drive’s article. The lucky winner of that pot treated it just like a normal car, leaving it parked outside and casually driving it. It even wound up on eBay in 2015 with a listing price of $26,000, according to an old Bang Shift article. Finally, the car wound up in the hands of its current owner Tyler Pitman, who intends to restore it.
Considering the non-existent part availability and no others to use as a point of reference, Pitman is in for quite a challenge. We definitely applaud his willingness to save it, though! We also appreciate the chance to check this thing out. It may not be a super low mileage 69 Camaro SS or a barn-find C1 Corvette, but it is still a collectible piece of GM history.
Photos: The Drive
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