The ad for today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Callaway Corvette claims the twin-turbo convertible to be #51 out of just 184 produced. Let’s see if this storied, and long-stored car comes with a price that makes it feel like #2 in your estimation.
The light went out for yesterday’s 1992 Plymouth Laser RS Turbo, at least at its $14,000 asking. Yes, it was a version of a beloved car—albeit the least desirable version—and it did appear to be all kinds of hooker-you-can’t-afford levels of nice. That simply wasn’t enough to justify Kia money though, and it fell in a massive 89-percent Crack Pipe loss. I felt bad for the little Laser so I rounded that down.
You know what you don’t see ‘round very much? That’s right, Callaway Corvettes. That’s because they didn’t make a ton of them, and the ones they did are too damn fast.
Woooosh! There goes one… I think.
Here we have one of the first Callaway ‘Vettes ever built, according to the ad in fact, the very first convertible edition. This 1987 Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette not only drops its top, but it could conceivably drop the hammer owing to what’s on the other end of that go pedal.
At the time of its creation, the Callaway Corvette was one of the most powerful street legal cars in the U.S.. Not only that, but the heavily modded 5.7-litre double-dutch turbo-equipped V8 was factory backed as a regular production option. All one needed to do was check the RPO B2K option box and slap down an extra $27K on top of whatever Chevy wanted for the standard C4.
That got you 345 horsepower, engorged by a pair of top-mounted air-to-air intercoolers fed through a duo of hood-venting NACA ducts. And as we all know, NACA ducts are the best ducts.
Callaway didn’t just blow the engine and call it a day either. Oh, nae nae, my friends. They stripped the engines down to the bare block and then converted the mains to four bolts and mounted a forged crank in that now sturdy bed. New rods and low-compression Mahle pistons were added up above, while even higher up stainless steel valves wrapped in heavy duty valve springs showed up for work. Fatter intake and exhaust tubing got the job of ushering gasses in and out, in a marvel of retrofit packaging.
Backing up the pressure cooker V8 is a Doug Nash 4+3, but it doesn’t seem that you’d be 4+3-ing this B2K right away as it’s been sitting—untouched save for the copious generations of spider that may have taken up residence in its various nooks and crannies—for “close to 20 years.
Shee-it, that’s a long time in Corvette years. In fact, the top on this drop top is looking all kinds of moth-eaten, and is said to require replacement. Aside from that, the car looks to be in pretty good shape. The paint holds its shine like Jim Dandy to the Rescue, and the two-piece basketweave wheels look to be perfectly serviceable.
The car comes with a rather ostentatiously old school body kit. That includes a rear wing obviously cribbed from the doodle of a bored 12 year old with aspirations of mullet-dom. Keeping up with the theme, the interior is more ‘80s than doing a line of blow off Erika Eleniak’s ass.
The early C4 Corvettes had this crazy digital dash on the one side of the cabin, and some sort of tumorous growth—remarkably with an air vent insitu—on the other. The only analog gauge in here comes by way of the magic makers at Callaway Cars, that being a boost gauge installed next to the air vents.
Everything looks a bit tired, but not majorly messed up. All in all, it’s something you could work with.
The car comes with 31K on the clock, and all the paperwork since new. The ad says it could use a “tune.” I’m guessing that it in fact needs a good bit more than that owing to not having been started in 20 years. That’s a shitty way to treat a car, but if any car could take it, I’m guessing the Callaway Corvette would be on the list of contenders. As noted, this is #51 out of a total production run of 184 for 1987, and that makes it a pretty rare bird.
Of course, if you like your fowl rare then you’re likely on the fickle finger of fate’s list of food poisoning victims. Wouldn’t you rather roll the dice with this Callaway instead?
To do so, you’ll need to come up with $18,500 and probably a trailer as you wouldn’t want to temp that fate before actually getting your ‘Vette home.
What’s your take on this Rip Vette Winkle and that $18,500 price? Does that seem reasonable for a blown C4? Or, for that much, is this a Callaway that you would callously let get away.
You decide!
Chicago, IL Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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