20k: RPO B2K: 1987 Chevrolet Corvette Callaway Twin Turbo
Racer turned driving instructor 
Reeves Callaway bolted a
turbo system on a BMW 320i and loaned the car to Car and Driver
journalist Don Sherman who wrote a one page article on the beast. At
the time, the number of folks who had the capability to turbocharge a
car without grenading the engine was extremely limited and in 1977
Callaway Cars was incorporated to develop aftermarket turbo kits for the mass market. Several years later, Callaway was working closely wtih OEMs to develop turbo systems for BMW, Volkswagen,
Porsche, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Chevrolet, many of which maintained
factory backed warranty. Callaway eventually became world renowned for
his bonkers twin turbo Corvettes, and this is an example from the first year of Callaway C4 production. Find this 1987 Chevrolet Corvette Callaway Twin Turbo offered for $22,900 in Medford, OR. Tip from FuelTruck.
1987 was the first year that you could selection regular production option (RPO) B2K at your local Corvette dealer, and several weeks later you would receive a twin turbocharged Corvette with an MSRP starting at $50k. The seller of this one claims a new purchase price was $80k.
When new, the entire C4 was shipped directly to Callaway’s Old Lyme, CT facility where its 5.7 liter V8 was built into a twin turbocharged beast pushing out 345 horsepower and 465 ft-lbs of torque.
The C4 retains its original digital gauge setup, which is either a total put off, or radical depending on where you stand on silly gauges from the 80s. Personally, I this is the dash that Elon Musk should have baselined for the Tesla, but instead he put a giant iPad as the center console.
NACA ducts, FTW!
It's less than 30 years on and I can go down to my local car dealer and buy a sedan with as many horsies…! That's amazing to me. Anybody else? Or is that just humdrum to my fellow DTers?
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A run of the mill sedan…and there are plenty of others with even more power!
Maddening really, since I drive lower powered cars that are all about momentum. Drives me nuts when the 300 hp SUV doddles thru corners then accelerates away on the straights.
You're right, as usual G. The hp wars have created a dangerous situation, IMO.
It was especially bad when I would drive my 90 hp mk1 GTI to work. The exit off I-405 to I-90 is a downhill sweeper that goes under 405 and then its a faily steep grade after the corner on 90. The exit is posted at 40, but I had to do 60 thru it in order to maintain the speed limit on 90 up the grade. Fun when you get someone in a hulking 325 hp SUV putting thru the corner at 35, then nailing it out the other side, while I'm dropping down 2 gears and trying to accelerate up the grade.
Aw, poor soul. 😉
And if you go back just a few years before that Callaway, the Porsche 930 Turbo of the mid '70s was considered a miracle worthy of Papal consecration because it had…
….wait for it…
TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR HORSEPOWER.
The best production Corvettes of the day were barely able to wheeze their way to 180.
Good thing the speedometer only goes to 85. Otherwise people might have gone faster. I love the thinking that produced those speedometers, when every 17 year old's first thought was: "Let's peg this thing!"
That was the thinking of Joan Claybrook, the Carter Admin.'s Highway Safety nanny in chief.
Yeah, we pared back the Nixon bumper laws, got rid of the 85mph speedos,
A quarter-century from the introduction of passive restraint laws that led to some really weird seatbelt setups, cars are stuffed to the brim with airbags. Including the Mexican-made Japanese-branded ones that spray you with rusty shrapnel.
I know, let's put a bomb in the center of the steering wheel pointed at the drivers face, yeah, that sounds like a great idea! 😉
A 410-gauge shotgun shell and a whoopee cushion. What's not to like?
Look at that dash! Nightrider (david hasseloff) approved.
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Vette! was one of the best games back in 1989. You could drive all over San Francisco, run over people, and damage you car. The Callaway Vette was only beaten by the 254 MPH "Sledgehammer", which was also a Callaway product.
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