Callaway Cars - History

History

In 1973, Reeves Callaway, not in a financial position to be able to start his dream of embarking on a racing career, did what many aspiring drivers do- Callaway went to work as a driving instructor for Bob Bondurant's racing school.

While using the newly launched BMW 320i as a school car, he became familiar with its intricacies and deficiencies, he later took hold of one of its cars to his garage in Old Lyme with the intention of tuning for more power.

As a result, Callaway constructed and installed his first prototype turbocharger system and offered Car and Driver journalist Don Sherman to drive the car resulting in a one-page article, giving the modified car great acclaim. Realising its commercial potential, Sherman told Callaway that he could make turbocharger kits available to the BMW community but he didn't even have the equipment to manufacture the components including a drill press. As business began to arrive, Callaway formed Callaway Cars, Inc in 1977.

Over the years, Callaway developed turbocharger kits for BMW, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. He also developed the HH IndyCar V8 engine and later a twin turbo kit for the Alfa Romeo GTV6. The company would become famous in 1987 when they developed a twin turbo kit for the Corvette. As they were dealer options, Callaway sold 500 of them over a period of five years.

Callaway was also commissioned by Aston Martin to build the 5.3L V8 engine from the newly launched Virage for its AMR1 Group C racer.

Callaway Cars headquarters is in Old Lyme, Connecticut with West Coast facilities in Orange County, California, and European facilities in Leingarten, Germany. Its current project is the C16, a supercharged C6 Corvette