Rare tuned ’90s F-body featured a stroker 383-cube V8, Hurst-shift manual transmission and custom bodykit
by Chris Chilton
6 hours ago
The late Reeves Callaway, who sadly passed this summer, is most famous for his association with the Corvette, but he also worked wonders on cars from Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, BMW, Cadillac and Mercedes, plus the Corvette’s pony car cousin, the Camaro.
Fans of the modern Camaro will be familiar with Callaway’s C18 package, but anyone following the U.S. tuning scene back in the 1990s, when the catfish Camaro was ripe for modifying, might recall its C8 predecessor. Callaway delivered 18 C8s, each showcasing a full array of visual and mechanical upgrades, and one of those is about to cross the block at Mecum’s Las Vegas sale.
Still wearing the custom CamAero body kit that reminds us of everything from Ferrari’s 275 GTB and 288 GTO to a Mitsubishi FTO and Aston Martin DB7, the C8 looks very different to a stock gen-4 Camaro thanks to its faired headlamps and multiple slatted vents. And though the look is very much a 1990s one, it’s stood the test of time well, unlike many modified cars.
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Related: Legendary Tuner And Motorsports Figure Reeves Callaway Dead At 75
But the real fun stuff us under the skin, where Callaway’s Connecticut team stroked the stock 350 cu-in (5.7-liter) LT1 pushrod V8 to 383 cubes (6.3 liters) with the addition of a forged crank held in place by four-bolt mains. Factor in a 30-thou overbore, a hotter cam, ported heads with bigger valves, and a new airbox that was apparently worth 36 hp (37 PS) on its own, and you were looking at around 420 tuned hp (426 PS) versus the 275 hp (279 PS) produced by a factory Z28 in 1995.
Unfortunately, by the time the Brembo brakes and other bits were accounted for you were also looking at finding more than $36,000 for the conversion on top of the $18,000 needed to buy the stock Z28 donor car. A $54k total then was the equivalent of $109k today, helping explain why the C8 was rare. But it still undercuts the contemporary ZR1 or Viper, and a 4.7-second zero to 60 mph (96 km/h) and 11.3-second quarter mile time meant it was seriously rapid for the time.
The car heading for Mecum, number three of the 18 built, was actually featured on the cover of Road & Track’s March 1995 tuner cars issue and inside Car & Driver magazine later that year. We also found a Craigslist ad from 2014 when it was for sale for $48,900, but a similar silver car sold last year for just $34k, so what price do you think the Mecum example might reach in 2023?
