Automotive engineer and turbocharging pioneer Reeves Callaway handed away right this moment at his residence in Laguna Hills, California. The founding father of Callaway Automobiles, maybe finest identified for its twin-turbo Corvettes, was 75 years previous. His passing was sudden, attributed to accidents sustained after a fall.
Born Ely Reeves Callaway III in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, however raised in Darien, Connecticut, he had what is likely to be thought-about a privileged East Coast upbringing. His father, Ely Callaway, Jr., fashioned the namesake golf membership firm, well-known for its “Huge Bertha” driver.
However younger Reeves was a driver of a special form. He grew up racing go karts, and after graduating from Amherst school in 1970 he moved to SCCA Components Vee racing, successful the nationwide championship in 1973. He would later go on to change into a driving teacher for Bob Bondurant’s excessive efficiency driving college.
Earlier than he was well-known for creating twin-turbo V8s, he minimize his enamel on smaller engines in the course of the “malaise days” of the mid-‘70s. His first mission was a BMW 320i, adopted by an intercooled aftermarket equipment for the Rabbit GTI and a bunch of different smaller, emissions-choked European fashions. Ultimately his twin-turbo conversion for the Alfa Romeo GTV-6 obtained manufacturing facility approval, being accessible from North American Alfa sellers between 1984 and 1986.
However it was the Corvette – and ultimately a lot of the Chevy V8 lineup – that made Callaway a family identify, at the very least amongst automobile fanatics. First utilized to the 5.7L C4 Vette, Callaway’s twin-turbo bundle elevated the game coupe from 254 hp to only over 400, reworking it. The one-off Sledgehammer, based mostly on a 1989 Corvette, reached 254 in official testing and had extra within the holster if solely the take a look at observe had been massive sufficient.
Callaway’s newer efforts included the last-generation Camaro in addition to Chevrolet and GMC pickups. It doesn’t matter what he utilized his magic to, high quality, reliability and authorized compliance had been an inherent a part of each Callaway Automobiles mission. His loss shall be felt throughout the trade. Our ideas are along with his household and staff.