Click on the image above for our 12-image high-resolution gallery from the Montreal launch.
Legendary Corvette tuner Callaway's latest creation, the C16, was unveiled in pre-production guise at the LA show back in November, but the final production version made its debut at the Montreal auto show, of all places. Why Montreal? Company founder Reeves Callaway, who was on hand together with designer Paul Deutschman to unveil the new car, explained that because Montreal is Deutschman's home town, it was only fitting. (If the C16 hadn't already made its big splash in LA, we're sure they wouldn't have shown it first at such a minor show as Montreal.)
There were only a few differences between the orange pre-production car shown in LA and the red, final version unveiled in Montreal. The LA car had a custom brake package, while the Montreal car's were stock; the orange car had a custom interior, while the red car's cabin was unmolested; and around back the distinctive chome-tipped "Double-D" exhaust outlets were enlarged on the Montreal car to what the boys from the factory jovially called the "Triple-D" exhaust. If it seems backwards that they left the brakes and interior stock; remember that each Callaway creation is built to order, and evidently this customer didn't want to spring for the upgraded stopping power and custom cabin.
Like the LA show car, this C16 features a supercharged six-liter Corvette V8 pumping out a whopping 616 horses, enough to propel this Callaway to sixty in less than three-and-a-half seconds. Apart from the roof, greenhouse glass and side mirrors, every body panel on the C16 is changed from the C6 Corvette on which it's based, and the result is a car that looks half Corvette, half Ferrari, but distinctively Callaway.
(We had a chance to talk with Reeves Callaway at the launch... watch this space for the highlights.)
Click here or on any of the images below for our 12-image high-resolution gallery from the Montreal launch.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sarah @ Jan 23rd 2007 11:03AM
Freaking hot. Awesome performance too.
G @ Jan 23rd 2007 11:30AM
Pretty weak on the design front. I know its a performance car, but did they have to make a cheap copy of the Aston front end with a bit of Ferrari? I think the original Corvette body looks 10 times better.
KillerGreen @ Jan 23rd 2007 11:37AM
Ya, I've gotta agree with G- I would definitely take the normal C6 body style over this. The performance is probably amazing but it looks like a mash-up of other cars.
A-man @ Jan 23rd 2007 11:41AM
yeah, but it's all about exclusivity. if it's rare, it looks good. why do you think Spyker is still alive?
DoubleD @ Jan 23rd 2007 11:48AM
It's a Callarrari!
FireSermon @ Jan 23rd 2007 12:27PM
"...but did they have to make a cheap copy of the Aston front end..."
They didn't, that's a Callaway front end. Do a search for their early 90s Camaros and Corvettes and you'll see they were using that face well before the new-design Aston Martins started appearing. It's more likely that they took cues from classic Jaguars and Ferraris back around that time.
Richard @ Jan 23rd 2007 1:45PM
Hmmmmm.
Generational change going on in Autoblog readership?
The front looks like the top end Callaway always has to me.
Lee @ Jan 23rd 2007 2:22PM
It has a Pokemon face.
A-man @ Jan 23rd 2007 2:47PM
looks like a british domestic designed by the japanese and engineered by the germans
a-man @ Jan 23rd 2007 2:48PM
good observation, lee. are you japanese or 6 years old?
Car Designer @ Jan 23rd 2007 3:41PM
Any body else think last generation camaro when they see this?
MosquitoControl @ Jan 23rd 2007 4:04PM
Yes, I did think Last-Gen Camaro.
It looks horribly dated, like Callaway hasn't regressed and is taking design cues from the ever-so-futuristic Ford Taurus. The traditional grill is there, but the headlights don't work with it.
mk @ Jan 23rd 2007 4:56PM
They could have done better.
The small oval grille (aston grilles are NOT oval, and very distinct) looks like an old ferrari or something, especially with the silver egg-crate grillework.
The headlights could have been done better with a single dish in front of all the light fixtures, and a more elegant arrangement of them. They look like cobbled C6 headlights under new lenses.
The roof... WHY? I understand the buttresses. But those, and the single round headlights are direct rip-offs from the 599 GTB Ferrari, which I also don't like, actually. Nice concept, less than graceful execution. All in all, forgiveable.
My big problem with the roof is the lack of an obvious design change. First off, I would have the transparent roof. and start with a blacked out basket-handle-bpillar. Everything above the belt-line being blacked out. THEN add the body-colored buttresses, arching over with the roof rails and the A-pillars to the upper corners of the hood. Leave the B-pillars black, and leave the roof black from the windsheild base to the base of the rear glass, and the roof center transparent and smoke tinted.
The Basket handle B-pillar should have a slight delineation line between the buttressed roof rail and the vertical part of the B-pillar, with the b-pillar blacked out, for an uninterrupted side and quarter window look. The A-pillar should be painted body color to extend that roof rail down to a base at the front fender and hood corner, Even if it gets very thin, it would at least complete the body line.
That part would have been easy to do, I just don't know why they didn't, instead of leaving that chunky b-pillar red.
mk @ Jan 23rd 2007 5:07PM
Sorry. Single round tail lights are a giveaway to the 599. I mis-typed headlight.
I wonder what the supercharger would look like under the hood (if it is a positive displacement top-mounted unit, roots, lysholm, etc..), if the hood scoop were a piece of smoked clear plastic (strategically blackened if necessary), rather than painted silver, with the dark transparent theme extending up over the roof, as I mentioned before.
JB @ Jan 23rd 2007 5:25PM
It looks like a botched concept Corvette from the `80s. But I'm sure it hauls balls.
A-man @ Jan 24th 2007 3:53PM
try to look at its good points. or at least the less ugly angles
Drew @ Jan 24th 2007 8:36PM
How about a photography class for the autoblog photographer(s)? Or maybe just a pair of glasses?
elcometa @ Jan 26th 2007 12:42AM
the design its not so great, but at least the power its there. The wheels look early 90's and very cheap.
I prefered a stock Z06 anyday.
elcometa @ Jan 26th 2007 12:47AM
The aston look or cues from classic Jaguars and Ferraris dont work with the new corvette look.