Bradan Donaldson
The legendary 255-MPH 1988 Corvette Callaway SledgeHammer has officially hit the auction block on the Bring a Trailer website
If you were a young kid growing up in the nineties, chances are, you had a poster of this legendary Corvette on your wall. Until 1999, the Callaway Sledgehammer Corvette held the World Street Legal speed record of 254.76 mph propelling it elite status among the cream-of-the-crop Corvettes.
This morning, the car was released for sale in a premium listing on the Bring a Trailer website by a private owner in Colorado. As of this writing, the current bid is already up to $100,255. Below is an excellent historical synopsis of the car from the listing:
This 1988 Corvette coupe was dealer-ordered by Reeves Callaway with Regular Production Option code B2K and shipped to Callaway Engineering in Old Lyme, Connecticut, where it was built as the 51st Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette for the model year and selected as the donor vehicle for Callaway’s Project SledgeHammer.
The project set out to produce a car capable of breaking production car top speed records while retaining street car amenities. In October 1988, the car was driven round-trip from Callaway headquarters in Connecticut to the Transportation Research Center’s 7.5-mile oval track in Ohio and piloted by John Lingenfelter to a record-breaking speed of 254.76 mph.
Power is from a hand-built twin-turbocharged and intercooled 5.7-liter V8 paired with a ZF six-speed manual transmission, and the car is finished in silver with a Paul Deutschman-designed Callaway AeroBody. The Delco Bose cassette stereo, power-adjustable sport seats trimmed in black leather, and air conditioning functionality were retained, and additional equipment includes an FX3 Selective Ride Control suspension, a custom stainless-steel exhaust system, Callaway-branded Dymag magnesium wheels, and a roll hoop and five-point harnesses.
Click on the images below for a larger view:
The car is said to have been stored in a museum environment for much of the past three decades since the record-breaking run, and it was acquired by the current owner in 2004. It now shows 2k miles, and Callaway Cars refreshed the installation in October 2018 with replacement hoses, couplings, and fittings.
The record-breaking Callaway SledgeHammer Corvette is now offered on behalf of its current owner by Callaway Cars founder Reeves Callaway with engineering records, a window sticker, a car familiarization course from Callaway Cars, an accident-free Carfax report, and a clean Colorado title.
According to Callaway, Project SledgeHammer was intended to be continually developed to participate in multiple top speed challenges that were popular in the automotive media in the 1980s. Previous Callaway top-speed projects were developed on GM experimental platforms that needed to be returned to GM and crushed in accordance with corporate policy, which proved expensive for the company annually. The car is finished in Silver Metallic (13U) and features aerodynamic body elements designed by Paul Deutschman, including a revised nose and front grille treatment, functional fender and quarter panel vents, wider door caps, and a rear spoiler incorporated to a revised rear fascia which utilized factory Corvette taillights. The overall design elements later went into production as the AeroBody on subsequent C4 Corvettes built by Callaway, and the front fascia utilized in the record run was later replaced with a production AeroBody component.
For a more details and a ton of high quality photos, check out the listing!
Source: Bring a Trailer
Additional Resources: Callaway Corvette Tech Center
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