The Callaway B2K Option was a GM Option
GM contracted with Callaway Cars back in the 1980s for some very special Corvettes that you could buy at your local dealer. GM even covered these Callaway Corvette with a full GM warranty. This had never been done before. GM would never do it again either. Things may have gotten a little confusing for both Callaway and GM but the cars they produced may well be one of the most desirable C4 Corvettes you can own.
The 1984 Corvette made no pretense of being fast. The Corvette team simply borrowed the engine left over from the 1982 Corvette. Dave McLellan and his Corvette team knew this wasn’t enough. They knew the C4 Corvette had to be the fastest car on the planet. The only question was how this could be accomplished.While the engineers at GM Powertrain were trying to figure out how to make the Corvette faster Reeves Callaway was up in Old Lyme Connecticut trying to figure out how to make an Alfa Romeo go faster. Actually he had already figured it out and was producing a limited run of turbocharged Alfas. Prior to the Alfas Reeves had been building turbo charged VWs and BMWs.
The Corvette engineering team had also been working with turbocharging for a while. They did a huge amount of development work on a turbocharged V6. At one time it appeared that the Corvette would get a turbocharged V6. At the last minute Chevrolet decided that a V6 would be a really hard sell to the Corvette community even if the turbocharged V6 produced more power than the V8.
Then it suddenly occurred to everyone that they could build a twin-turbo V8. The only problem was that GM really wasn’t equipped to do this. Then Dave McLellan remembered a small shop based in Old Lyme Connecticut that was very experienced in building turbocharged cars. Some guy named Reeves Callaway.
B2K Production
When McLellan made that first phone call to Reeves Callaway he outlined how he wanted Reeves to do for the Corvette what he had been doing for BMW, VW and Alfa. This time he would get a factory contract from GM. Reeves Callaway was about to enter the big leagues. The B2K option put Callaway Engineering on the map with the largest contract they had ever received.
The Man Behind the Car
Reeves Callaway never really had a career plan. Indeed very few things in his life were well planned. When Reeves graduated from Amherst College in 1970 he knew exactly what he was going to do. Reeves was going to become a world class race car driver. He would win LeMans and also become a Formula 1 world champion.
He's just needed to drive a race car. Any race car. Ray Caldwell, the founder of Autodynamics in Marblehead, Massachusetts, gave Reeves a job sweeping floors. He must have done a good job because he was able to get a factory Formula Vee ride from Autodynamics. Not only was Reeves the best floor sweeper Ray Caldwell had ever hired but he was now the factory driver for the company.
All went according to plan when he won the SCCA national championship for Formula Vee racing in 1973. There was one small problem though. Even though Autodynamics had constructed over a thousand race cars things were not going well for this small company. Autodynamics was going out of business. Just as things were starting to look up for Reeves the doors were closed at Autodynamics. Reeves had once again run out of money and he had no experience racing at the professional level. He was just one more SCCA champion.
It became increasingly obvious that good will and a lot of enthusiasm wouldn’t make a career. Reeves had discovered though that he enjoyed the process of creating something. The only problem was he also needed to make some money. With no job, no food and no shelter Reeves had a problem.
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| A Callaway VW GTi |
These ride-and-drives in turn led to Reeves getting his hands on a BMW 320 to install a turbocharger on the car. Then Don Sherman of Car and Driver magazine wrote about this really fast BMW from Connecticut. Reeves even convinced Sherman that Callaway Cars was a real company. The truth was this company consisted of Reeves and a few friends working out of a home garage that was actually under construction at the time.
The cars were great but this was when Reeves discovered that you had to actually sell the cars to make money. This BMW experience convinced Reeves that he would never be able to solve the distribution and marketing problems. Creating really neat cars was one thing but actually selling them required another level of expertise. He knew he needed to connect with a major manufacturer.
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| Callaway Alfa Romeo |
About this same time Alfa Romeo was trying to sell the GTV-6. They were encountering sales issues because of the Maserati Bi-Turbo. Turbocharging was the new hot thing. Alfa management decided that if turbocharging was the question then this young hotshot in Old Lyme was the answer. Reeves found the connection he was looking for and Alfa found the speed and power it was looking for. Everyone was happy. At least for a while.
Alfa Romeo was getting out of the United States market. Not even turbocharged cars could save them in the North American market. Callaway Engineering had found the connection it so desperately needed but after only38 cars it was all over.
The Callaway Corvettes
Just as it seemed to be all over for Callaway Cars the phone rang. It was Dave McLellan, the Chief Engineer for the Corvette. In 1985 the Corvette team had purchased a Callaway Alfa and taken it apart. They were all impressed. The 1985 Corvette was almost identical in performance to the twin turbo Alfa. Now they were asking if Reeves could that turbocharging thing with the Chevrolet Corvette.
By November of 1986 the Callaway team had built the initial prototype twin turbo B2K. Actually several prototypes were built. At this point in history everyone seems to lost track of them. I’m sure they exist but I’m not sure where. One of these 1986 B2K built and sold to a customer. That car was very close to the earlier prototypes. Again, it seems to have disappeared. The biggest engineering problem was getting the Corvette engine to pass the 200-hour dyno test that had been used with the Alfa Romeos. The engines they received from GM wouldn’t even come close. No one had anticipated that the Corvette engine was going to less robust than the Alfa engines.
A forged crankshaft and eight Mahle pistons solved most of the issues but not all of them. In the end Callaway had to almost totally reconfigure the L98 Corvette engine. Getting both performance and reliability out of the Corvette engine turned into a major engineering project.
While the engineering work was going on in Connecticut out in Detroit Chevrolet was putting a marketing program in place. The Callaway was to be an optional engine placed into the standard Corvette. Everything but the engine was to be the same as any other Corvette. Even the standard GM warranty would stay in place.
The initial concept called for Callaway to construct fifty cars. Chevrolet dealers reacted to all the media rumors about this new hot Corvette and had taken orders for 184 cars. At the time is was seen as a minor issue. No one at the time knew this was going to become the prelude to a crisis.
Optimism not based on fact is exuberance. Exuberance can lead to failure. The marketing people at GM suddenly decided that they could sell 400 Callaway Corvettes a year. No one is quite sure how they arrived at that number but then again these were marketing people. GM marketing has always lived in its own little world. A non-factual world.This huge miscalculation meant Reeves Callaway got stuck with a lot of cars that he couldn’t move. In typical GM fashion their mistake was turned into a Callaway problem. Back in this time period GM thought they were invincible and could never make a mistake. All these extra cars were now Reeve’s problem. GM’s only response was “Deal with it.”
The Callaway Aerobody Solves a Problem
There was now a parking lot of unsold cars sitting around the Callaway Cars office. It got so bad the future of Callaway was on the line. What had once been viewed as a dream come true was now a nightmare. Reeves Callaway had just discovered what it meant to be a GM supplier
GM would make the very same mistake when they released the ZR-1 but. The arrogance of GM was ultimately to be their downfall but back in the 1980s they really believed people would pay $20,000 extra for an engine that no one could see.
You could almost understand the B2K mistake. But when you make the mistake twice in the same decade there’s a problem. These problems became so great that GM ultimately had to be bailed out by the government. Arrogance is a bitch.
Reeves Callaway was smart enough to know how to sell a vey expensive Corvette. It had to look special. Thus we got the Callaway Aerobody and they could clear out the parking lot in Old Lyme.
Reeves Callaway was also smart enough to never sell Aerobody body kits. He had no interest in becoming an Eckler’s. Callaway never wanted to be in the parts business. He has always sold complete cars. John Lingenfelter once pointed out to me what a stroke of genius that was. Prior to Callaway everyone was selling parts.
The only way you could buy an Aerobody part was to supply Callaway with your car’s VIN. They were very tough on this. Trust me I tried to buy some Aerobody parts for my C4 and I even knew Reeves at the time. It as always a no-go. Reeves was always a lot smarter than I was.
B2K Performance
The Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette was available from 1987-1991 as option (RPO) B2K and could be ordered from select dealers in the US. Stock Corvettes were shipped from the Bowling Green facility to Callaway Cars in Old Lyme, Connecticut for the Twin Turbo conversion.
Once these cars were converted, and tested, they were shipped to dealers for delivery. Dealer repairs of the Callaway Twin Turbo option were covered by the standard GM, 12-month/12,000 mile warranty with Callaway Cars Inc., reimbursing the dealers for time and materials on rany warranty repairs. This was the first and only time were GM has offered an optional performance enhancement on the Corvette that was not installed at the factory.
On the performance side, the 1987 production version of the Callaway Twin Turbo B2K option provided 345 HP/465 Ft. Lb of Torque, on a stock car with a top speed of 178 MPH. The price of the B2K option was $19,995.00 that raised the total price just over $50,000.
For 1988, Callaway increased the stock performance of the Twin Turbo Corvette, producing 382 bhp and 586 lb-ft of torque. The 1988 B2K was also installed on seven of the 35th Anniversary cars; making them one of the rarest Corvettes ever built.
By 1991, the stock Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette produced 403 bhp and 575 lb-ft of torque, providing a top speed of 192 MPH.
B2K Maintenance Issues
A lot of the parts for the Callaway Corvettes were made in very small numbers. In addition a lot of the parts were assembled with a great deal of care. Not every shop has the same skill and experience as the folks at the Old Lyme shop.
The good part thought is that the B2K option is only an engine package. Callway also stocks a lot of the original parts. All of the interior and suspension parts are standard Corvette parts. Any shop that is familiar with the C4 Corvette can handle the basics. Routine maintenance is also very basic.
The only time you’ll encounter a problem is with the engine. Pistons and crankshafts are no longer available but you can make substitutions with current aftermarket parts.
Many of the parts for the Callaway C4 Corvettes were made in very small numbers. In addition a lot of the parts were assembled with a great deal of care. Not every shop has the same skill and experience as the folks had at the Old Lyme shop. You don't want to use a shop that's never worked on a B2k engine before.
All of the interior and suspension parts are standard Corvette parts. Any shop that is familiar with the C4 Corvette can handle the basics. Routine maintenance is also very basic. The only time you’ll encounter a problem is with the engine. Pistons and crankshafts are no longer available but you can make substitutions with current aftermarket parts.
The Corvette B2K should be a 200,000 mile car if they’re properly maintained. Keep in mind though that the C4 is starting to encounter some parts shortages with a variety of solenoids and such. They may be standard GM parts but they’re no longer available and no one is reproducing them.
