Callaway Cars Inc. is an American specialty vehicle manufacturer and engineering company that designs, develops, and manufactures high-performance product packages for cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs. They specialize in Corvettes and GM vehicles. New GM vehicles are delivered to Callaway facilities where these special packages and components are installed. Then the vehicles are delivered to GM new car dealers where they are sold to retail customers, branded as Callaway. Callaway Cars is one of four core Callaway companies, including Callaway Engineering, Callaway Carbon and Callaway Competition.
n 1973 Reeves Callaway (full name Ely Reeves Callaway III), son of Callaway Golf founder Ely Callaway Jr., was not in a financial position to start the racing career he was aspiring to. Instead, he went to work as a driving instructor at Bob Bondurant's racing school. While using the newly launched BMW 320i as a school car, he became familiar with its intricacies and deficiencies, and later convinced BMW to let him take one of its cars to his garage in Old Lyme, Connecticut, to tune it for more power.
As a result, Callaway constructed and installed his first prototype turbocharger system and offered Car and Driver journalist Don Sherman the opportunity to drive the car resulting in a one-page article, giving the modified car great acclaim. Realizing its commercial potential, he told Sherman that he could make turbocharger kits available to the BMW community despite not having the necessary equipment to manufacture the components including a drill press. In 1977, he founded Callaway Cars, Inc.
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 produced twin turbo conversions of the Alfa Romeo GTV6 for Alfa Romeo USA - 35 Twin Turbo GTV6 were produced, most of which still exist in 2023. This attracted the attention of GM engineering, which led Callaway to become famous in 1987 when they adapted the twin turbo conversion for the Corvette. Built under Regular Production Option (RPO) B2K, the Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette was available through Chevrolet dealers as a factory option. Callaway sold 510 of them over a period of five years.
