If you had been in attendance at the 1954 General Motors Motorama, a new and dream car showcase that toured the country, you would have seen not just one but four versions of the Chevrolet Corvette.
There was a white roadster that had just gone into production, plus three concepts — a creamy yellow hardtop coupe, a pale blue fastback version badged as the Corvair, and something that looked like a station wagon, with a long white roofline poised over a dark blue body.
Chevy called the Corvette wagon the Nomad.
Fast forward 60 years and there’s another wagon-style version, but this time it’s a version of the brand new C7 Corvette. This one — the C7 Corvette AeroWagon — comes via the automotive aftermarket, from long-time Corvette specialist Callaway Cars of Old Lyme, Conn.
Callaway’s history with the Corvette stretches back through three generations of America’s sports car. The most recent chapter in their relationship was written just a few weeks ago when Callaway Competition won the FIA GT3 world championship for Chevrolet with a C6 Corvette. Callaway has begun preparing the new C7 for the world sports car racing circuit and also is working on products to enhance the look and/or performance of the new road-going C7.
One of those enhancements is the AeroWagon roofline. Some will see this as a station wagon but auto enthusiasts will recognize it as a “shooting brake.” A brake in this case is the historic British term for a coach used to teach horses to pull a carriage, with the shooting added in the 20th century to describe a style of sports car built with room behind the seats for hunting dogs and firearms.
The AeroWagon is created by removing the rear hatch from the C7 and replacing it with the wagon-style Callaway panel.
“One of the dangers” in creating revised body panels for a car such as the Corvette, said Reeves Callaway, “is that the car has been a platform for limitless bad taste.”
Callaway not only loves the design of the new C7, but thinks that because of its longer roofline, his AeroWagon roof might even give the car even better aerodynamic efficiency.
He also realized that the C7 “already has best-in-class interior volume, and by a huge margin. It’s the only sports car that will handle two full-size golf bags.”
The AeroWagon figures to provide a little more room for cargo, but that really wasn’t the point of the exercise, Callaway said.
“This was an exercise in styling and coolness and exclusivity.”
It also is a way for Callaway to showcase the work of its new Callaway Carbon company, which has developed new carbon fiber manufacturing capabilities. For example, he said, the whole assembly of the AeroWagon — “the inner and outer are finished in one shot. This is big news for the carbon industry in general,” he continued, noting that Callaway Carbon not only is supplying the auto industry, but the military, aerospace and medical equipment manufacturers.
“We’ve dramatically lowered the cost of producing such a complicated, structural piece,” he said. “The AeroWagon is a capability statement that is appealing to many other industries.”
And, he hopes, to a sufficient number of C7 Corvette buyers.
Production — Callaway can build one AeroWagon roof per day — begins early in 2014. At first, buyers will take their C7 Corvettes to one of the two Callaway Engineering facilities — in Old Lyme, Conn., and in Santa Ana, Calif. — where the factory rear hatch will be removed and the AeroWagon roofline will be installed. Eventually, the installation may be available at Chevrolet dealers that sell Callaway products.
If ordered with a natural carbon fiber finish, the installation will be done in less than two hours, Callaway said. The AeroWagon also will be available in C7 body colors.
Pricing is $15,000 for the AeroWagon and another $1,500 for a body color-matching painted finish. The entire AeroWagon section will be hinged just like the factory hatch and thus will provide easy access to the cargo compartment.
In addition to the AeroWagon, Callaway is working on other products for the C7, including a supercharger for the engine.
For information, visit the
www.callawaycars.com.
