Daily Slideshow: Road and Track Drove the Callaway C7 Z06 Aerowagen
Callaway's bonkers, 757 horsepower Corvette wagon isn't your average wood-clad family hauler. In case you needed us to tell you that!
A Different Kind of Wagon
For decades, Callaway has been turning already-fast Corvettes into raging monsters of speed. We've come to expect nothing less from the iconic tuner, and yet, no one could have seen their latest creation coming from a mile away. We're talking about the Aerowagen, a C7-based shooting brake version of America's sports car. But unlike those wood-clad beasts your father used to own, this newfangled wagon is nothing to laugh at. At least, that's what Road & Track found out when they were lucky enough to get behind the wheel of one recently.
One Unique Problem
The problem with the Aerowagen, as R&T quickly discovered, is that it's so fast few people get to appreciate its unique design aesthetic. "I'd like to tell you our fellow 'Vette driver flashed a grin and an enthusiastic thumbs-up as we ripped past," said test driver Bob Sorokanich. "Unfortunately, by the time I found him in my door mirror, he was a vanishing speck. If the AeroWagen's looks didn't register a reaction, its 757 horsepower surely did."
Ludicrous Speed
Obviously, the extra body mass out back is easily overcome by Callaway's SC757 spec upgrades. The star of the show is that massive 2.3-liter supercharger, which deserves to peek at you through the hood. With a free-flowing intake, upgraded intercoolers, and a sports exhaust, the small block produces gains of 107 hp and 127 lb-ft of torque over the stock Z06 mill. Which is good enough to propel the world's fastest(?) wagon to 60 in just 2.8 seconds.
Just like Chevy Builds 'Em
The best thing about all of this goodness is that the Aerowagen even comes with a warranty, and it can be serviced at any regular old Chevy dealer. They've certainly earned that right with decades of reliability, according to Reeves Callaway, founder of Callaway Cars. "We recently had our 30-year warranty review," Reeves told R&T. "We were sweating bullets. It turned out the warranty incidence on Callaway cars, over the whole period, was exactly the same as the standard car. And some of those cars weren't so good, to begin with," he chuckled. "Ours and theirs!" Sure enough, Sorokanich reports that "everything works just as it did from the factory."
Special Kind of Something
And that's the key difference between Callaway and most tuners - they make utterly reliable supercars. "There's always a little bit of engineering headroom left," Reeves noted. "The trick is to use up the headroom without using up the reliability." And that real-world theory doesn't just apply to outright speed. Despite the addition of that fancy, one-piece carbon roof section, Sorokanich reports that the AeroWagen has "exactly the same rearward view from the driver's seat as a standard C7" with a "mild increase in cargo capacity" and "slightly less aerodynamic drag than the stock bodywork." And for those reasons and more, this Corvette wagon is something truly special.
For help with service and maintenance of your Corvette check out the how to section of CorvetteForum.com