The one-and-only Callaway Corvette Sledgehammer attracted an eyebrow-raising $500,000 bid during an online auction last week, but somewhat surprisingly, this pricy offer failed to meet the minimum reserve price.
The record-breaking Callaway Corvette Sledgehammer was listed for sale via online auctions site Bring-A-Trailer last week and immediately generated a flurry of interest from both the media and hopeful owners. The Sledgehammer, for those who may not be familiar, is a hugely powerful, twin-turbocharged version of the C4 Corvette Stingray built by Connecticut-based tuning company Callaway Cars. The Sledgehammer was piloted to a top speed of 254.76 mph by late drag racer John Lingenfelter back in October in 1988, cementing its place in the Chevy history books as one of the fastest road-going Vettes to ever exist.
Acquired by its current owner in 2004, the Sledgehammer has been driven very sparingly over the years and now shows just under 2,000 miles on the odometer. It has also been kept in a museum environment for the majority of its life, so it has always been stored in a temperature-controlled room and was meticulously maintained. The current owner was offering it with a CarFax report, a clean Colorado title and full Callaway engineering records. The winning bidder would have also received a car familiarization course from Callaway to acquaint them with the Sledgehammer and how to properly drive and look after it.
It seems as though the lucky owner of this special Callaway Corvette isn’t ready to part with it for only $500,000. It’s not clear what the minimum reserve price was set at, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they were hoping to get as much as $750,000 for it. Regardless, we’ll definitely have our eyes open for a potential future listing in the coming weeks and months.
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Comments
too bad its not the newer version with an lt4, but a great time capsule.
The traditional SBC can make as much HP as any of them though,
LT-4? This car was based on a production 1988 Corvette, but then heavily modified by Callaway. The engine was not based on a production Corvette engine, it was a custom build by John Lingenfelter (who also ended up driving the car on the record run). The body kit on this car was designed by Paul Deutschman. It was again a custom/ prototype “aerobody” kit first used on this car. Later Callaway offered this aerobody kit on other Callaway Corvettes.
The whole goal of this project was to build a car that could be street driven, but also could break speed records, which it did. It was driven 700 miles to and from the TRC in Ohio for the record run.
Being a 1 of 1 car, the value is hard to determine? If 2 wealthy Callaway collectors feel it’s a “must have” for their collection, the price could shoot way, way up?
Also, Sam, no 4th gen Corvette was ever a “Stingray” . Let’s review….”Sting Ray” 2 words was used on ’63-’67 Corvettes. “Stingray” one word was used from ’69-’76 and then returned most recently in 2014.
LFX323HP Nailed it.