Pressure Vessel - 1985 Alfa Romeo GTV 6 Callaway Twin Turbo

You'd be forgiven for reading the words "Callaway Twin Turbo" and thinking that we'd somehow mixed up our magazines, running a Hemmings Muscle Machines Corvette feature in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car. But this isn't the case...while the Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette is part of this story, it's that car's inspiration that we're focused on: the Callaway-boosted Alfa Romeo GTV 6 2.5. That car, cleverly engineered by Reeves Callaway and his team for Alfa Romeo's U.S. importer and built in tiny numbers in the mid-1980s, is the most powerful and collectible GTV 6 of them all.

Alfa Romeo was in a funk in the 1980s; the American sales lineup consisted only of the Spider and the Alfetta GT-based GTV 6, both of which were aging. Alfa's U.S. importer, Alfa Romeo Inc., wanted a halo vehicle, one that could perform with the same verve as the Porsche 944, the Corvette and the homegrown Maserati Biturbo. In 1983, Alfa Romeo Inc.'s chief engineer, Don Black, turned to the turbocharging gurus at Callaway Turbosystems (today, Callaway Cars Inc.).

Callaway's technicians disassembled every 2.5-liter V-6 and trimmed the piston crowns for lower compression; an upgraded fuel controller, twin turbochargers and an intercooler were installed.

Company founder Reeves Callaway remembers those days. "Alfa was getting its lunch eaten by Maserati," he explains. "The Maserati Biturbo had come on to the market to acclaim, and Alfa was jealous--they felt they were being slighted because they 'owned' the small Italian high-performance GT image. Don Black said, 'We have to do something to combat the Maserati Biturbo in the marketplace, and we think that a twin-turbo version of the GTV 6 is just the ticket.'

"I think that Don Black was a genuine car enthusiast, and that he had his finger of the pulse of what was going on in the aftermarket," Reeves continues. "The thing [about us] that probably caught his attention was that in the early 1980s, we went to the trouble of trying to become emissions compliant with our turbo kits--that's what separated the men from the boys. When Don saw this, he said, 'If these guys can do that, maybe they can do something to OE [Original Equipment] standards.' Their main concern was that a project like this, done in North America and handled by the importer, not the factory, would not damage Alfa Romeo's reputation."

Alfa Romeo Inc. worked hard to ensure this project met factory expectations, and to reassure Callaway's engineers that their GTV 6 was a suitable base. "Italian automakers weren't known for their quality of execution in those days," he says. "To ease our minds, they said, 'Why don't you run the [engine] validation durability test that the factory runs?' That made perfect sense, because it's exactly what you'd do if you were working for General Motors, Ford or anybody else.

"After the initial prototypes were up and running, we did a very severe dyno test that you wouldn't have subjected your worst enemy's engine to," Reeves laughs. "You would accelerate the engine to wide open throttle, keep it there for two minutes, then immediately shut the engine off. You'd wait four minutes for heat saturation, then start it up and immediately go to wide open throttle again. You'd repeat this cycle for 100 hours. Anything--stock, modified or otherwise--that could stand up to that kind of abuse was going to be pretty reliable in real-world use, and we thought, for sure, that these little engines would fail somewhere during that test, but in fact, they came through with flying colors. That was a great eye-opener as to the quality of the GTV 6 engine, and we proved it to ourselves. We took on this project because the car was so remarkable." The firm would modify cars already in Alfa Romeo dealers' inventories, which those dealers then marketed as Callaway Twin Turbos.

As it left the factory in Italy, the GTV 6's V-6 engine displaced 2.5 liters, and with its 9.0:1 compression ratio, it made 154hp at 5,500 RPM and 152-lbs.ft. of torque at 3,200 RPM. At the Callaway facility in Lyme, Connecticut, these engines were reengineered for lower compression by trimming the stock piston crowns; the standard Bosch L-Jetronic electronic fuel injection system was enhanced with a solid-state controller dubbed the Callaway Microfueler, which used a microprocessor to compute the fuel enrichment and to control two additional fuel injectors that added the correct amount of fuel required under boost.

The meat of the Callaway modifications were the turbochargers and intercooler. Each bank of cylinders received its own IHI turbocharger that pushed hot air through a BMW 318i throttle body to the air-to-air intercooler integrated into the intake manifold, and drew ambient temperature air through a fiberglass hood scoop. Those turbochargers huffed up 10 PSI, and were controlled by individual integral wastegates. The car's factory-fitted U.S. emissions controls were not altered, allowing the GTV 6 2.5 Callaway Twin Turbo, as it was dubbed, to pass EPA emissions testing.

"On the engine dyno, the standard horsepower was 154, and we landed at 230 when it was turbocharged," Reeves recalls. "We were happy to discover that the car was a ball to drive, and didn't break," he laughs. "That's all we really wanted--it was fun and reliable. One of the first cars we built went to Road & Track and Car and Driver, and they wrote nice articles that sold all of the cars that could be built."

Indeed, these magazines ran road tests of the Callaway'd GTV 6 in August and October 1985, respectively, and both had great things to say. Csaba Csere, writing for Car and Driver, praised its 5.9-second 0-60 time and 140 MPH top speed, comparable to some of the quickest cars in the U.S. Callaway Turbosystems provided a 12-month or 12,000-mile warranty on the entire car, matching Alfa Romeo Inc.'s own warranty and serviceable through selling dealerships.

While the alloy wheels on our feature 1985 GTV 6 2.5 Callaway Twin Turbo are a later replacement, this car--one of only 722 GTV 6s imported for 1985 and believed to be the fifth Callaway--features other desirable Twin Turbo goodies: a Maratona body kit, which includes the fender flares, rocker extensions and deep front air dam; rear wing; leather genuine Recaro seats; and a delightful hand-painted verde-bianco-rosso pinstripe that echoes the Italian flag. Belonging to Tulsa, Oklahoma, residents Lester "Les" and Joan Neidell, this car represents more than six years of searching for the ultimate GTV 6. "My daily driver is a 1988 Milano; I've owned three other GTV 6s, and I wanted to get the one model that nobody's ever seen: the Callaway Twin Turbo."

"I was vaguely aware of it in the mid-1980s, but the Alfa Romeo dealer in Tulsa never got one. It was out of the realm of possibility for me at that time, because I had two kids in college," Les recalls. "Since I've been looking, I saw that they come up for sale very rarely, and I knew that V-6s deteriorate pretty quickly if not maintained. I wasn't looking for a project--the car had to be good.

"This one came up on the Alfa Bulletin Board, offered by a 'longtime Alfa owner'--it was stock, with original paint, which I wanted. When it first appeared, I didn't have the money to buy it. Then he put it on eBay and I didn't have money to buy it. Then he put it on eBay again. At that time, I was working in Taiwan, and although I couldn't look at it and couldn't find anyone to do so for me--which is 100 percent against my rules--I bought it," he says. "I had been looking for so long, and because it's virtually one-of-a-kind, I bit the bullet and paid the price." Sadly, Les found the car wasn't pristine, as advertised; in fact, when he got it, it didn't even run. It took a year of hard work and a great investment to bring the Callaway to where it is today, and it now presents like a lovingly cared-for original.

Happily, this Alfa now runs as beautifully as it looks. Its reliability was proven by the 3,800-mile trip to New England that Les and Joan undertook this past August, and it's even been tracked, when Les participated in an autocross in nearby Eureka Springs. He shared it with current Oklahoma chapter and former national president of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, David Simmons, who compared it to the naturally aspirated GTVs and Milanos he's driven, as well as his personal V-8-powered Montreal of similar (2.6-liter) displacement.

"This 2.5-liter V-6 is a very nice engine, and it pulls smoothly until it reaches around 3,000 RPM, then it's, Katy bar the door!" David says with a grin. "The GTV 6's twin turbos come on and it's awesome--the upper power band is extremely strong. If you're near that point in the RPM range, you can simply push the pedal and go as fast as you care to go. It's similar to the Montreal in that the torque is available wherever you want it. The engine offers the best of both worlds--it's tractable around town, but when you want power, you punch it and it's there."

Les notes that the combination of manual steering and a 2,500-2,800 RPM boost threshold make it a handful in a tight autocross course. Alfa Romeo's tuning of this sophisticated, fully independent suspension offers a compliant ride with ample suspension travel and, to the unaccustomed, ample body roll. "Stock Alfa suspensions like this lean, and then take a set and hold on through the corners. GTV 6s ordinarily understeer, but you can easily correct that, or even provoke power oversteer when the Callaway's on boost. The GTV 6 wasn't designed as an autocross car--it's really a grand tourer.

"It catches you by surprise, because the car is so quiet. When you're hustling along, you don't realize how fast you're going. On the highway, you can choose your speed," he says. "We don't have any autobahns, but cruising speeds of 100 MPH are effortless."

The Alfa Romeo GTV 6 2.5 Callaway Twin Turbo inspires bittersweet sentiment, its performance potential balanced by the fact that it's believed that a mere 35 were built through 1986, all being red or black save for singular examples in white, silver and champagne. Why so few?

"We only got through 35 or so cars before it ended, because Alfa was struggling in the USA. The program never really became mature," Reeves remembers. While the GTV 6 Twin Turbo didn't bring Alfa Romeo the fame and fortune its importers desired, it did lead to a big deal, indeed.

"The real turn of fate was that one of our Alfas ended up at General Motors' Proving Grounds for evaluation. The Callaway Alfa turned out to be a dead ringer for the Corvette's performance envelope, and yet it was a completely different strategy--light weight, small displacement, turbocharged. We got the call that you wait for in this business: Dave McLellan, chief engineer of the Corvette, said, 'We have this Alfa here, and it's a remarkable performance duplicate of the 1984 Corvette. How did you do that?' At the end of that conversation, he asked if we should talk about some Callaway turbocharging work on the Corvette as a special model. Of course, if I'd had my wits about me, I'd have said, 'Does Dolly sleep on her back?'" he laughs.

"That really was the linchpin, the start of work for GM. In this business, you're only as good as your last movie, and I put the entire Corvette program [now in its 25th year] at the feet of the Alfa program. If it hadn't been for Alfa giving us that little kick start into the hands of Chevrolet, I don't think that we would have progressed...we're now in our 30th year, and we have worked for almost every car company on the planet."

Outside of the circle of Alfa Romeo enthusiasts, few remember that the GTV 6 2.5 Callaway Twin Turbo was built, and still fewer realize its significance. Enthusiasts like Les and Joan are spreading the word by driving and sharing theirs; they've also established a GTV 6 Callaway Twin Turbo registry, in hopes of tracking down the remaining examples. "I love their history and significance," Les muses. "The Callaway is an immensely rewarding drive."

Concorso Champion

Arguably the most prestigious Italian car show in America, the annual Concorso Italiano is part of the mid-August classic car celebrations in Monterey, California, and it draws the finest Italian cars around. The 2011 winner of the Best Alfa Romeo trophy--as well as the Sports Car Market Best of Tipo 116 Award--wasn't a pre-war 8C or a Zagato Junior, but a 1986 GTV 2.5 Callaway Twin Turbo.

Val and Roxanne Herrera of Double Oak, Texas, are the second owners of this Callaway, having purchased it in 2004 and restored it to the highest standard. The car got the attention of Reeves Callaway himself, who drove it and autographed it under the hood. Its impressive wins at Concorso please Val greatly. "I took the car there with the intention of sharing it, not of winning. This year's show theme of recognizing unusual cars put it in incredible company, and I was humbled and surprised. The Callaway got the recognition it deserves: it represents the achievement of a special company, and a unique point in Alfa's U.S. history...the automaker's struggle to do something different that resulted in a very special car."

Owner's Story

"When I bought this car, my intention was simply to drive and maintain it. An original Callaway is a very rare beast, especially one that hasn't been painted or hot-rodded," Les Neidell says. He was disappointed in the condition of his car when it arrived in Tulsa: The engine's wastegates were frozen and the front driveshaft support broken, the body had some rust, the original paint was oxidized to pink, the fiberglass Maratona kit components were damaged and the carpet was torn and the headliner drooping. A group of talented local specialists came to the rescue: Greg Gordon and Bob Golkowski of Hi Performance Store handled the mechanical restoration, Christian Kimball of Momentum Motor Sports took on the body and paint work, and Rick Pike of American Auto Trim renewed the interior. Today, Les and Joan Neidell's Callaway presents beautifully, retains 98 percent of its original factory paint, and drives like new.

WHAT TO PAY

1985 GTV 6 Callaway Twin Turbo

Low -- $15,000

Average -- $22,000

High -- $30,000

CLUB SCENE

Alfa Romeo Owners Club-USA

P.O. Box 12340

Kansas City, Missouri 64116

877-399-2762

www.aroc-usa.org

Membership: 4,200; Dues: $60/year

Alfa Romeo GTV 6 2.5 Callaway Twin Turbo Registry

C/O Lester Neidell

gtvalfa@sbcglobal.net

(Please type "Callaway" in subject line, or e-mail will be deleted.)

PROS & CONS

Pros

+ Twin turbos = Moar Powah!

+ Shares the GTV 6's balanced handling and Giugiaro style

+ Very limited production means you likely won't see another

Cons

- Sourcing replacement parts can be tricky

- Shares the GTV 6's propensity for serious rust

- Very limited production means you'll have to search for one

SPECIFICATIONS

ENGINE

Type-- SOHC 60-degree V-6, aluminum block and cylinder heads, two IHI RHB5 turbochargers and air-to-air intercooler

Displacement -- 2,492cc (152-cu.in)

Bore x stroke -- 88.0 x 68.3 mm

Compression ratio -- 7.5:1

Horsepower @ RPM -- 230 @ 5,500

Torque @ RPM -- 245-lbs.ft. @ 2,500

Fuel system -- Bosch L-Jetronic electronic fuel injection, premium fuel required

Lubrication system -- Full-pressure

Electrical system -- 12-volts, electronic ignition

Exhaust system -- Stainless steel headers, dual exhausts

TRANSMISSION

Type -- Five-speed manual with full synchromesh, transaxle rear-mounted

Ratios:

1st -- 3.56:1

2nd -- 1.96:1

3rd -- 1.26:1

4th -- 0.95:1

5th -- 0.78:1

Reverse -- 3.00:1

DIFFERENTIAL

Type -- Hypoid bevel

Ratio -- 4.10:1

STEERING

Type -- Rack and pinion

Turns, lock to lock -- 3.7

Turning circle -- 32.8 feet

BRAKES

Type -- Hydraulic, vacuum assist

Front -- 10.4 x .9-inch vented discs

Rear -- 9.8 x .4-inch discs, inboard mounted

CHASSIS & BODY

Construction -- Steel unit-body

Body style -- 2+2, two-door hatchback

Layout -- Front engine, rear-wheel drive

SUSPENSION

Front -- Independent lower A-arms, upper lateral links with drag struts, torsion bars, gas pressure shocks, anti-roll bar

Rear -- Independent De Dion axle on angled trailing links and Watts linkage, coil springs, gas pressure shocks, anti-roll bar

WHEELS & TIRES

Wheels -- Gotti two-piece aluminum alloy

Front/rear -- 15 x 6.0 inches

Tires -- Bridgestone Potenza RE 960AS Pole Position

Front/rear -- 195/60R-15

WEIGHTS & MEASURES

Wheelbase -- 94.5 inches

Overall length -- 167.7 inches

Overall width -- 65.5 inches

Overall height -- 52.4 inches

Front track -- 54 inches

Rear track -- 53.2 inches

Curb weight -- 2,890 pounds

CAPACITIES

Crankcase -- 7.1 quarts

Cooling system -- 13 quarts

Fuel tank -- 17.6 gallons

Transaxle -- 6.0 pints

CALCULATED DATA

Hp per liter -- 92.30

Weight per hp -- 12.57 pounds

Weight per c.i.d. -- 19.01 pounds

PERFORMANCE*

0-60 MPH -- 5.9 seconds

Quarter mile @ MPH -- 14.3 seconds @ 98

Top speed -- 140 MPH

*Figures courtesy Car and Driver, October 1985

PRICE

New -- $23,994

As tested -- $27,234