Callaway has long been associated with turbocharged sports cars, taking already desirable sports cars and bolting on a turbocharger kit that was actually quite polished for an aftermarket product. We all know there were plenty of BMW 320i’s sold with the kit, along with the C4 Corvette. Porsche-wise, the 944 was also a beneficiary of the company’s turbo kits, but a handful – literally, a handful – of 928s also got a literal boost under the hood. The seller claims this 928 is one of six cars equipped with a Callaway kit, and it’s listed here on eBay with bids to $12,100 and no reserve.
The Callaway name has long been associated with refined turbocharger setups. The idea of bolting an aftermarket turbocharger onto an otherwise high-performance car has some understandable concerns, but Callaway’s approach to designing and engineering its kits provides a good deal of confidence that the upgrades won’t cause immediate harm to an otherwise fine-running engine. The car shown here has been off the road since 2005 and the seller advises it will need a proper mechanical restoration; however, it will still run if you “…manually add fuel.”
The 928 is equipped with the preferred manual transmission and combined with the turbo kit and healthy V8 power, this example should move out quickly once it’s tuned up and running. The 928 is not the easiest car to revive once it’s been sitting for a spell, so there’s definitely some work ahead of the next owner to make it into a healthy runner while also ensuring the turbo kit is functioning as it should. Fortunately, the interior is still very clean and the mileage is reasonably low at just 68,540. While it has certainly been ignore for a few years, I would say with some degree of confidence it was never outright neglected.
The seller claims the 928 is registered on Callaway’s website as one of the six vehicles equipped with the twin turbocharger kit. Under-hood still looks quite clean and tidy, which is another hallmark of the Callaway product line: clean installations that almost look factory when all is said and done. The seller is adamant that this car be towed away by its next owner, which I don’t disagree with at all – between missed belt changes and issues with turbo tuning, there’s a lot left to be done on this 928 and plenty of potential curveballs with an aftermarket turbo kit. Would you take a chance on this rare Porsche?
That is one rare beast indeed. Callaway was class act building some of the best kits of the 80’s. Some of the more obscure kits were the Callaway Alfa GTV6 which got the twin turbo treatment. They also make kits for the GTI and I believe a couple Scirocco cars got it. It was also expensive so I can understand why few were sold.
This 928 looks to be in nice condition with relatively low miles. I will be curious to see where this will end up having the Callaway kit. My gut is this will push the bidding higher. I bet these ran pretty well with boost. If there was a chassis up to the task to handle the extra HP it was the 928. I would own another.
I have Callaway 928 #1. Well done, for the time. Mine’s a 1980.
Ed, will you reach out to me? Thanks – chip atsign collectorsco period com
The last S I drove had the 5 speed box and plenty of go power. It’s a big heavy car so l guess that turbo addition overcame that part of it.
Must be difficult to do a timing belt change…
I had a 78 928 5sp I bought it from a questionable dealer. The odometer was working but I think the true mileage was around 250,000 miles.It was my daily driver for 4 years. I had to replace the clutch but otherwise had zero problems with it. FYI it’s the simplest clutch of all automobiles. One day it just started to run horribly. Shot it down immediately.Had it towed to a Porsche shop I occasionally used. Good guy but a 911guyDx “engine blown “ I had it my garage for a year and then fired it up and drove around the block. It turned out to be blown head gaskets!! I took the heads off my self. Had the heads milled. Machinist said “ these things have tons of material to work with” Put it back together and ran like it had a NASCAR motor! I believe the compression was a bit higher. From the “0ver heating “ when if blew a gasket it now had a small oil leak at the main seal.I gave up on too easily and sold it to a guy for like $3000. They are absolutely fantastic automobiles! Your first impression is that they are a big car but the more you drive it and the faster you go they miraculously shrink!
I had a 928 my wife presented to me for our 15th anniversary in 1989. I was never a Porsche guy, but loved this V8 in the front and rear wheel drive with lots of glass and big doors. It was my daily driver for years- even took it to Europe for the years we lived there and amazingly never got so much as a door ding, then in 2002 I was at a stop light and a woman rear ended me. The insurance company paid me for the damage and I kept the car. One of the guys at the shop said one day that we needed a shop truck. I thought, a truck is just a car with a box, I have a car-I can build a box. We cut the 928 straight across at the center of the wheel wells, I sourced another complete rear suspension unit from another 928 and spliced it in and in 3 months we had a 6 wheel 928 Porsche pickup. I drove it for a couple more years until some guy in Germany heard about it and offered me cash and away it went on a RORO ship.
gippy: A quick google lead me to photos of your yellow 928 pickup on Rennlist. Well done. Absolutely bonkers, but I love it!
New paint?
https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.c61ddbe07ceb3fa496bd0c43bf385cfb?rik=u5NMGkohR3AVRQ&riu=http%3a%2f%2fflatsixes.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2008%2f10%2fsilver-porsche-928-pickup.jpg&ehk=u7ZvtYxMbJvVuwMi9i4ABSBVPZO2NlTmTWuara1AYq4%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
One of the ugliest cars they ever built second only to the 914
Never a reliable car anyway, this will not help. Maybe if someone can wrench on it themselves, but I am afraid some fool is going to treat this like an investment and toss mega bucks at it. Will that work out? Don’t ask me, I’m just watching from the curb.
Unreliable? If you keep it well maintained it “ll do 200K miles easily is my experience. Quite good for a sportscar that I have had up to almost 300kph on the speedo on the autobahn. (1987 S4 manual)
I’m the fool, we’re going to service it and see what it’s like as Reeves intended.
How many have you owned, Grant?
I have never had bubonic plague, but I am pretty sure I know I do not want it.
That’s what I thought.
The winning bid was just over $24,000.00 and very well bought at that price!
By the way these are very dependable cars.
this & 924 only porches to interest me (lay out price).
Local helped calloway develop the turbo for the vette (Bob Grey).