Famed Corvette Craftsman Reeves Callaway Dead At 75

Reeves Callaway, the man behind Callaway cars, has died at 75 years old at his home in California. Callaway was the son of Ely Callaway Jr. the founder of Callaway Golf, but instead of taking up the family business, Reeves started working on cars. Although the company got its start in modifying Volkswagen and BMW cars, and Porsche motors, Callaway was most famous for its modifications to Corvettes. Reeves Callaway's most notorious project was the 1988 Corvette Sledgehammer. It was based on a fourth generation Corvette, yet utilized a twin-turbo powerplant that generated 880 horsepower and could rocket the 'Vette to 254.76 miles per hour. 

In recent years, Callaway Cars worked its magic on all things Chevy, ranging from a supercharged 602 horsepower truck in the Callaway Chevy Silverado SC602 Signature Edition to the Corvette AeroWagen, a shooting brake conversion for the seventh-generation Corvette. Plus, the company offered a series of substantial aerodynamic modifications for the midengine C8 Corvette.

Callaway Cars paved the way for aftermarket performance companies like Hennessey Performance, and was one of the scant few performance houses around that could take an already famous car like the Corvette and make it better. More than forty years later, the company Reeves Callaway founded is still going strong with locations in its native Old Lyme, Connecticut, Temecula, California, and its racing division on Leingarten, Germany. And the company is more than happy to supercharge a GMC Yukon, Chevy Tahoe, offer a kitted-out 'Vette, and keep a vast storehouse of parts for older Callaway specials.

Reeves Callaway and his Corvettes are well regarded by Corvette fans. In 2021, a Corvette Sledgehammer went up for auction and reached $500,000 before the auction ended without meeting reserve. Still, it's not unusual for Callaway-modded 'Vettes to break six-figures at auction. Callaway will be remembered as a pioneer in the custom Corvette scene and his company's Corvette Sledgehammer is forever immortalized in automotive history for reaching astronomical top speeds before anyone thought it was possible.