Story and good info on the Porsche 944 Callaway Turbo, Also willing to sell

A short time ago, a friend of mine was just leaving from a local library parking lot in his 83 NA 944 when something that was in the back yard of a near by home, caught his eye. It looked to be the front corner of a 944, poking out from under a car cover. As he approached the house, the owner happened to be outside and asked him, “So do you like these kinda cars?” referring to the yellow 944 my friend was driving. The owner was an older retired gentleman who had a passion for Alfa Romeos. He owner around 7 of them and 2 were fully restored. He removed the car cover to reveal a 1983 Porsche 944 Callaway turbo. He explained that he had taken the car 4 years ago as a trade for an Alfa he once owned. He explained that the car was simply sitting for that period of time as he gave more attention to his Alfas. He pulled the turbo out to simply examine it and it was still out of the car. The car was White with a Brown interior and had only 61K original miles. That low mileage really showed itself in the interior. The only sign of any age was the faded carpet that was in the back of the car. A few weeks later the car was at my friend’s house and we were thrilled to have another 944.



After researching the car, we found that only about 38 Callaway 944s were ever made. Just to have the Callaway system installed on the car was $8000 because the entire engine had to be disassembled. Callaway installed an IHI RHB6 turbo along with lower compression pistons. The block was also sleeved with steel liners. At 10 PSI, the car produced around 285 HP and you could adjust the boost levels with a setscrew on top of the waste gate. The internals could take 13-15 PSI with a good high-octane fuel. There were other trick parts such as a 5th fuel injector to feed the motor the right amount of fuel when it needed it. The car is truly great.


Unfortunately, the decision to sell the car has been made. I really do hate to see it go but there is no way either my friend or I would be able to keep it. I for one have no room with 4 cars and only a 3-car garage. The car was being kept at a 3rd parties house under a car cover but the owner of that house is now moving. This car is quite unique, and I for one absolutely love the styling of the 944. If anyone would happen to be interested in purchasing this Callaway 944, my good friend’s asking price is $8400. The one flawed area on the car is the paint. It is no horrid but it is not perfect. It is peeling in some areas and is a tad faded in others. That is how we received the car. As the turbo was already out of the car, we had it sent to Turbo City to have it fully rebuilt. It does not even have 500 miles on it. The seats are near perfect and there is no damage in the interior. Again, the only area that shows wear is the carpet that covers the rear of the car. This would be a fantastic car for the 944 enthusiast as it is such a rare find. If interested, please PM or post. I will try to get pictures up soon if anyone would like



Does anyone else happen to own a Callaway 944 or any other Callaway car? I found this terrific website were you can find some great info on the Callaway 944. ( http://members.rennlist.com/tholyoak/callaway.html ) Iv heard that the Callaway vetts are quite popular and one of them held a speed record but im not sure which one. Have any other 944 owners out there seen a Callaway 944?

 

Terrific, I will work on getting photos up.

As far as the cosmetic, the only issues were as I stated, one the paint. I will get pictures to show you the trouble spots. It’s not major but its there. The car has never had any body repair work done to and it has never been in any kind of accident. The interior is very nice, and has only faded carpet in the back. There are only 2 modifications done to the car. First of, being a turbo setup, it needed a blow off valve. It is now equipped with a HKS super sequential blow off valve. This as you may know is one of the best blow off valves on the market. The car did not have a BOV so we felt it was necessary to add one. The only other modification is the radiator. Some time, maybe when the previous owner was working on it, one of the small plastic hose fitting on the radiator broke, thus causing it to leek. A large aluminum unit was put it its place. It will also be equipped with a brand new electric fan. We can not use the original because of the added thickness of the new radiator, it hits the charge pipes.

When we were looking the car over at the previous owner house, he has said he did a compression test and all the cylinders checked out and were exactly the same. He had many cars in his barn that he was working on and it seemed he knew what he was doing. The car was drained and filled with mobile one synth 2 times. The turbo was also freshly rebuilt by Turbo City and they did a great job. Since we have had the car, I don’t think we have put even 500 miles on it. It was only taken out maybe every other weekend to simply go and get something to eat or visit a friend. The longest trip it took was about 65 miles round trip. Anyhow, the only trouble we have had with it was the radiator leek, which is now taken care of with the new aluminum unit. I will post more details when I get the pictures up. Thanks for your interest!

 

My apologies on the late response. My computer crashed, again, and i cant seem to locate my high res camera. Anyhow, here is a quick snap shot of the car......

http://www.clublexus.com/gallery/data/500/944_0001.jpg
http://www.clublexus.com/gallery/data/500/Img_0001.jpg


The car has been sitting for a few months as you see it in the first pic, tucked away under a warm blanket. It has not been driving because there is no fan on the new radiator. I thought i could simply buy a fan that was thinner then the stock ones, but the charge pipes are still in the way. I was thinking to buy a new oem radiator and putting the stock fans back in. So that is the only reason it has not been driven. If you would like to see the car, please feel free to let me know. I can sell it as is if you would like to fit a fan in it. The car is in Hemet, So. Cali. Zip, 92544