When Alfa Romeo decided they needed to give their GTV-6 some teeth they contacted Reeves Callaway. The result was the Callaway Twin Turbo GTV-6, of which just 32 production versions were built for the 1985 and 1986 model years before the program, along with the GTV-6, was Killed.
With an original proposed MSRP of $29,500 1985 dollars the Callaway TT option would have added roughly $13,000 10 the cost of a regular GTV-6. For that amount, however, the option was to include not only the TT modification but also a complete interior and exterior upgrade package designed by Alfa Romeo. This included a tri-color leather and suede interior with real wood accents, a rear spoiler, 16” Campagnolo wheels, a Borla stainless steel exhaust, and a body kit reminiscent to what the one fitted to the Maratona edition GTV-6. All Callaway TT cars were planned to be either black or red, with no other color options.
Prior to the 1985 and 1986 production cars three prototype Callaway TT cars were butt.
The first was a silver 1984 model borrowed from dealer inventory that was used for simply mocking up the turbo. installation using a cardboard imitations of the intercooler and turbo piping. Once it was confirmed everything would fit the mock up items were removed and the car was sold by the Alfa dealer as a demonstrator.
The second car, but the first GTV-6 actually assigned (titled) and delivered to Callaway and also the first real converted Callaway TT, was this black 1984. This was the first car Callaway did all of the engine modifications to (which involved pulling the engine to CNC the pistons and reduce the compression ratio for one) and also the only. car to receive the full proposed TT package with the complete custom Interior, one-off Campy magnesium wheels, Borla exhaust, and one-off prototype hood scoop and rear spoiler. It also has a unique prototype intercooler, notice the ribs down the center in the location the production cars said “CALLAWAY.” This car was serialized #001 and became the Callaway TT show car. It was displayed by Alfa Romeo at the Detroit, Los Angeles, and Chicago auto shows in 1984.
‘The feedback received for the project was encouraging on every level, except for a strong push back on the proposed price. It was just too expensive. After all a new Corvette was $22,000, a new Maserati BiTurbo was. $26,000, and a new Ferrari 308 was $50,000. The Callaway Alfa, at $29,500, was just too far above the Corvette and Maserati and too close to the 308 to make sense.
So a third TT prototype, a red 1985, was built without the interior upgrade, a different (cheaper to producer) rear spoiler, no body kit, and readily available 15” BBS wheels. All which brought the MSRP down to $23,500, or $7,000 above the base price of a regular GTV-6. This Is the version that saw production, and this car was the brochure car, pictured in this gallery.
But how did the cars actually work? Well, R&T proclaimed the TT GTV-6 a “Fire-Breathing Dragon” and “A supercar worthy of the Nuvolari and Fangio tradition” when they tested a production example. C&D was similarly impressed, saying “A driver could make a convincing case that a 5.0L V-8 is under the hood” and “the beauty of this turbo transformation is not only the enormous power it yields but also the ease with which that power is generated.” C&D found the Callaway TT would go 0-60 in 5.9 seconds and reach a 140 MPH top speed, noting that was limited only by gearing. In 1985 this was heady stuff.
While short lived, their impressive engineering and execution of the Alfa TT project clearly took Callaway Cars from being a turbo kit company to being a full-fledged manufacturer of modern supercars, something they continue to be to this day. And the Callaway TT GTV-6s have assumed a mythical status among Alfisti, rare when new and virtually extinct today they still impress all that are lucky enough to experience one.
Which leads me to my long history with this car, TT Serial Number One. I have a long . It starts in 1984 I went to the Chicago Auto Show with my dad and saw this very car on the Alfa Romeo stand. I was immediately smitten. My dad? Not so much. He soon decided on a Nissan 300ZX. But the vision of that black Callaway Twin Turbo Alfa stayed with me.
And it was still with me when I saw a for sale ad in the Alfa Owner magazine for a black Callaway GTV-6 TT in 1994. Undeterred by the fact I had no money to purchase the car I still called the seller. Tums out it was Bob Bornaschella, Callaway’s engineer from the Alfa project, and the car he was selling was serial number 1, essentially mothballed since its show car days with a few thousand miles on it and still on the M.S.O from Alfa Romeo and assigned to Callaway Cars. Bob was in Florida, I was in Wisconsin, and he wanted to sell the car along with the entire inventory of N.O.S parts from the Alfa project as fast as possible as he was just hired by Bosch and moving to Germany.
So I did what any sensible guy would do. I raised and borrowed as much cash as I could and got to Florida a week later. And a few hours after landing I was driving home in the pre-production prototype, factory show car Callaway TT GTV-6. Loaded to the headiiner with N.O.S Callaway and Alfa GTV-6 take-off parts, mind you, and on rock hard 10 year old show car tires on egg-shaped show car Campys. Ah the bliss of ignorance!
All these years later it has a few thousand more miles, better tires, and still has a magical ability to bring me back to the 1984 Chicago auto show and that 1994 1,100 mile drive home in the coolest GTV-6 I know every time I see it
