Slide Inside the Mad Genius of the Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette
When the team of tuners Callaway got their hands on a C4 Corvette, they went full throttle with a groundbreaking turbo ‘Vette.
The mid- to late-1980s saw Corvette in a good place. Good, but not great. A redesigned and decidedly more modern C4 Corvette rolled off the line in 1984; each subsequent model year seeing an increase in power. Chevrolet had a well established, respected, and solid performer in the Corvette. But, this was the house that Zora-Arkus Duntov built. Good just isn’t enough. In that spirit, risks needed to be taken and maybe a few rules thrown out the window. One way to ensure a better performance was to take it to new limits. And the team at Callaway Cars were primed to unleash some major fire.
Callaway had already proven they could turn out exceptional rides with their work on Porsche, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and more. Their turbocharger systems brought the boost.
General Motors teamed up with Callaway in 1987 to develop a special edition C4 Corvette. The result was the earth-quaking Twin Turbo Callaway Corvette. Produced from 1987 to 1991, the turbo Corvette was offered as a Regular Production Option (RPO) from select dealers in limited numbers.
Hard to come by, and impossible to ignore; this 1988 Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette is currently for sale at RK Motors. Completely original, it is a perfect example of the beast.
It bears the distinction of being both one of 105 1988 Callaway Twin Turbo Corvettes ordered through Chevrolet dealers, as well as one of 125 1988 Callaway Twin Turbo Corvettes produced. Clean as a whistle it has only 14,828 miles on the ticker.
Under the hood is where the true genius lies. Taking Chevy’s 350 cubic inch twin-turbocharged L98 V8 small block marvel, the Callaway TT produced a scorching 382 horses with 562 lb-ft. of torque.
Paired to a Doug Nash 4+3-speed manual overdrive transmission, the B2K ‘Vette came fully stocked with Z52 performance suspension, 17-inch Callaway Dymag wheels with Goodyear Eagle tires, power rack-and-pinion steering, 4-wheel power disc brakes, and more.
As a special edition, it has special badging and lots of lush and tasty amenities.
Finding a ’88 Callaway Corvette in flawless condition is certainly rare. Plus, this particular Corvette has the distinction of gracing the cover of AutoWeek.
The Twin Turbo Corvette was the beginning of a long and productive relationship between Callaway and General Motors. Each Callaway Corvette daring to go further by pushing and refining the LS power, speed, and raw fury inherent to the Corvette nameplate.
Photos: RK Motors
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