Reeves Callaway, 1947-2023

[Car-Addicted]

After 46 years of developing some of the most exciting cars on the planet, Callaway Cars founder Reeves Callaway died aged 75 on Tuesday, July 11. He passed away at his home in Newport Beach, California, from injuries sustained after a fall. From humble beginnings in 1977, Callaway grew his company into a performance icon bearing his name. The Connecticut native built some of the most well-known aftermarket Corvettes in history, if not the most iconic modified Corvette ever, the twin-turbocharged "Sledgehammer" 1988 C4. He is survived by several family members including his son, the President of Callaway Cars, Peter Reeves Callaway.

Callaway got his start selling turbo kits for the first-generation BMW 3 Series after convincing Car and Driver journalist Don Sherman to review one in 1977. The publicity allowed him to launch Callaway Cars Inc. the same year. He followed up this early success with several more turbo kits for a slew of German cars. Eventually, he moved on to American machines, where he saw the most success.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/reeves...tes-dies-at-75

[Car-Addicted]

Reeves Callaway's BMW connection

Enter Reeves Callaway. In 1970, Reeves was a young man devoted to becoming a professional race car driver. Yet, even after winning the National Championship in SCCA’s Formula Vee, he simply didn’t have the funds to continue. It was a difficult time for the young man just voted one of the best of the new crop of SCCA racing drivers that year. Reeves was considered to have had the best pair of hands in Formula Car racing of any of the young drivers. Contemporaries were notables such as Rick Mears and Emerson Fittipaldi.

Given his options, Reeves did what many race car drivers do; he went to work as a driving instructor. Working for Bob Bondurant, he became familiar with the intricacies of the 3-Series BMW. As the ride & drive tour for BMW Dealers wound down, Reeves asked for the loan of one of the BMW 320i school cars with the intent of turbocharging for more power. Reeves had acquired many skills in his pursuit of becoming a professional race car driver. Among them were engine building, chassis tuning and component fabrication. Plus, he had the advantage of a suitable education, having received a BFA degree from Amherst College in 1970. Reeves knew that he could help the BMW in the horsepower department and took the 320i home to the garage behind his house in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

In the solitude that inventor/craftsman types know, Reeves constructed a prototype turbocharger system. Don Sherman of Car and Driver was offered a test drive. He wrote a one-page article describing how exciting the car was with the new-found power. Don inadvertently made it appear that Callaway was set to deliver turbocharger kits to the BMW community. The truth was that Reeves had barely more than a drill press, much less any of the real means to produce the components. It wasn’t very long before BMW turbo system orders began to pour in and Reeves’ racer resourcefulness was again valuable. Soon, Reeves and his friends were working at the house, in the garage, machining and assembling beautifully fabricated components, keeping up with the demand.

https://www.callawaycars.com/homepage/the-company/

[///MPhatic]

Very sad to hear of his passing. The original Callaway Corvette was a dream car of mine. It looked exactly like a normal Corvette, apart from the awesome Dymag wheels. But under the hood was just wow. Still my favorite Corvette from that era.

[BMWCCA1]

His Dad made nice golf clubs, too. I've met them both.