Callaway’s Legendary SledgeHammer For Sale (Bidding’s Already Near $500K)

Back in 1988, John Lingenfelter drove his SledgeHammer to 255 miles per hour. That speed raised the bar for decades to come.

When it comes to C4 Corvettes, there’s not too many that are more famous or coveted than the Callaway Sledgehammer. It’s not just because the car was cool; with new aero and turbo V8 power, it oozes coolness. But instead, this car instilled a sense of pride. Here was an American underdog, able to not only beat, but downright thrash competition from European exotics. This car is a hero.

And now, this iconic C4 Corvette is ready to find a new place in your garage. Being sold by Reeves Callaway himself, this C4 comes with some serious clout. Reeves placed his order for the car in 1988, according to Road & Track. From there, he fitted the Callaway AeroBody kit which helped reduce drag from the C4 by a significant margin.

Before it hit the test track, it received two turbos, which gave the 5.7 liter engine 898 horsepower, and 772 lb/ft of grunt. That’s an impressive number today. It was from another planet over 30 years ago.

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Needless to say this car was living out the ethos of the ZR1, and in October of ’88, Lingenfelter strapped himself in for a record setting run. At the Transportation Research Center in Ohio, he’d plant his foot to the floor and ultimately reach 254.76. The competitors? They weren’t even close.

And now this icon of a car can be bought. It can literally be parked in your garage provided you hike over enough dough to win the bid. From the time we became aware of this car through R&T to the time of writing, the price of this car has absolutely soared. Right now it sits at $425,476. Which is kind of an odd number, but Bring A Trailer is known for that.

One bidder who goes by 1988callaway32 isn’t playing games. While other bidders increase the price in $5,000 increments, this bidder just went and shot $70,000 into the asking price. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one, because there’s still over a week of bidding left. Could this end up being the first million dollar C4 Corvette? Will other AeroBody or Callaway tuned cars see a bit of a market increase? We’ll have to find out!

Photos: Bring a Trailer

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