With a top speed of nearly 255 mph, the 1988 Chevrolet Corvette Callaway SledgeHammer was one of the fastest cars available during the Reagan era. This modified Corvette has just appeared on Bring a Trailer, and the price has already surged into the six-figure range at the time of posting.
Connecticut-based Callaway Cars was an established tuner in the late 1980s when it launched Project SledgeHammer with the aim of breaking production car speed records. This car began as an original 1988 Corvette coupe but was sent directly to Callaway for modification.
The 5.7-liter Chevrolet V-8 features twin turbochargers, a flat-plane crank, forged pistons, a dry-sump lubrication system, and other modifications. This boosted the output to 880 hp and 772 lb-ft of torque. The car currently has a 6-speed ZF manual transmission, which is not the originally installed gearbox by Callaway.
The SledgeHammer stood out from other C4 Corvettes thanks to a more stylish front fascia incorporating vents and the Corvette logo, functional vents on the front fender and rear panel, and a new rear fascia with an integrated rear wing and quad exhaust. These elements were later offered in limited production as the AeroBody kit for customer Callaway C4 cars.
The car rides on 17-inch Dymag magnesium wheels with Goodyear Eagle tires. However, these tires are not suitable for extreme speeds, as Goodyear manufactured special tires for the 1988 top speed run, according to the listing.
Once completed, the Corvette was driven from Callaway’s workshop in Old Lyme, Connecticut, to the 7.5-mile test track at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, Ohio, where John Lingenfelter drove it to a top speed of 254.76 mph. It was then stored in a museum environment for most of the following three decades and was updated by Callaway in 2018. Now, it’s ready to make you the most popular person at Radwood.
