Callaway Visits Austin to Show Off its Awesome AeroWagen
Unlike the SC757 upgrade, the AeroWagen mod is available on regular C7 Corvette coupes as well as Callaway SC627 Stingray/Grand Sport and SC757 Z06 coupes. The $14,990 painted and installed conversion package includes the hatch assembly with tempered glass, halo bar, rear and upper spoilers, and badging. (A DIY AeroWagen kit is available for $13,115.) According to the company, “The AeroWagen hatch assembly is a part-for-part replacement of the original equipment Corvette rear hatch, using the original hardware and latching mechanisms.” Pete Callaway told me that installing the new lid takes about three hours. Putting on the large carbon fiber rear spoiler that the AeroWagen press car was sporting took 4.5 because technicians needed to remove the rear bumper and taillights first.
Callaway didn’t touch the Z06’s Magnetic Selective Ride Control suspension, but swapped out its wheels for lighter black chrome wheels ($6,280) of its own design. They’re a great mix of form and function, cutting two to three pounds of unsprung weight at each corner. Callaway also bolted in a $2,995 one-mode sport exhaust that was designed to sound its best all the time, not just when it’s fully open like a dual-mode setup.
As much as I enjoyed the tour and tech talk, I was even more interested in getting behind the wheel. Pete handed me the keys and after taking the AeroWagen through a car wash to knock off the annoying green pollen that seems to cover every car in Austin right now, I headed west on SH 71. Aside from the floor and trunk mats and a Callaway badge under the HVAC controls, my surroundings were stock Z06. That familiarity was part of the AeroWagen’s charm. Callaway changed the Z06 both mechanically and visually, but it didn’t ruin the Corvette’s daily driver qualities or try to fix what wasn’t broken. Tour mode was stiff without jolting my spine. Its steering was light enough for pleasant commuting yet satisfyingly quick and responsive. It was casually in control — the steering equivalent of “The Wolf” from Pulp Fiction.
Callaway’s lighter black chrome wheels are a great mix of form and function, cutting two to three pounds of unsprung weight at each corner.
For most of my lunch hour drive through the Hill Country, I had the AeroWagen in its Sport setting. It proved to be surprisingly civilized and cooperative. The carbon ceramic brakes never once squealed or snatched or made the car herk and jerk. They started clamping down almost immediately after I pressed the left pedal and did their job smoothly and linearly. Sport mode steering was firm — an impressive combination of weight and fast reactions. It made me picture a Bullmastiff watching someone dangle and wave a piece of raw steak above them, jinking right and left with every swing of the delicious pendulum in hopes of catching it in their mouth.
The AeroWagen’s refinement was matched by the mechanical savagery Callaway screwed and bolted into it. Under heavy throttle, the exhaust let out a guttural bark that hit my ears at an odd angle. I knew I was getting an earful of a 6.2-liter V8, but it was unlike any I had ever heard before. It was familiar and foreign at the same time, as if a dog that had been bitten by a werewolf was about to attack me.
