Callaway Vette Ranger

[Ranger]

Hello

I recently bought a 85 Range Rover converted by Callaway with a corvette V8. At Callaway they told me that this is one of two of these conversions they did in the late eighties and they send me a magazine article about my car. The other Vette Ranger was dismantled a while back. My question is, how should I go about restoring it? I've got the truck running and it is a ton of fun to drive but it has rust and needs a paint job. Should I just patch the rust issues, repaint and enjoy the truck or is this truck worth a complete restoration by professionals?

Any input is appreciated, if this is not the right forum for this, I apologize.

Martijn

 

[koolaid117]

What a unique and rare vehicle you have purchased! Congrats!! I think you have to decide what you are going to do with it. I'd say if you budget allows, restore it and then drive and enjoy it. It is a shame how many great vehicles just sit and are not driven because they are rare or limited production. Cars (and trucks in this case) were meant to be driven. Statues sit in one place. Good luck with your decision.

Jim

 

[*89x2*]

*Tap-Tap*...Mike, I need this Corvette engine placed into this Rover. *Tap-Tap*

Nice attachment article :cool

Your post reminded me of a story we were told at Corvettes at Carlisle a few years ago by Mike Zoner @ Callaway Cars.

He said that after being hired by Callaway, his first (engineering) project was to go into the shop and install a Corvette TPI engine into a Range Rover, your vehicle may be that very one :confused

A year or two ago, another Callaway Range Rover came on the market - the body looked as if was ripped apart by the jaws of life, and it was rough, really bad! hnoes In tact, the engine still had the large Callaway badges on each side of the tuned port plenum, similar to the 1987-88 Callaway B2K's I doubt much was still good on the vehicle, and I do not recall what it sold for.

That said, your truck sounds very cool and is certainly a rare chunk of Callaway Cars history :cool I bet that if you haven't already spoken with Mike at the shop yet, he would probably enjoy discussing the vehicle with you.

 

[Ranger]

It's amazing that you know all this. I spoke with Mike Zoner and yes this was the car he built. I know the person that had the other Vette Ranger and that one was so bad I believe he didn't sell the car as a whole but ended up parting it out, not exactly sure but I can find out. I also found the original owner of the truck who gave me some more information on its history among other things how they had to replace the tranny beause it couldn't handle the power.

So that gets me back to my original question. Is this truck worth getting properly restored. At this point I'm not thinking about selling, but I don't want to end spending a lot of $$$ to restore a car that allthough fun and unique is essentially worthless.

Thanks for your help

 

[*89x2*]

...I say have fun with it -

I am not sure the market has realized many of these unique "one-off" Callaway vehicles yet. ;squint:

Looking at the two other one-of-a-kind trucks out there, the seller was struggling to get mid-20's, to 30k for each. They were a 383 SNAT Blazer and a 502 SuperBourbon which presumably cost 70-100k each to build in the early-90's.

That said, your car, err - truck has a magazine article that backs its uniqueness, which I think WILL help iin the long run, as will the fact there were two, now there is one.

Money and resortations go hand-in-hand, no way around that, unless you can do the work yourself... But what is the break-point on what is too much?? :confused I think only you can decide that at this point, as there is not another vehicle out there to guage a retail sale from - although the newer (1999) Range Rovers are trading in the mid-teens or so, in nice shape :cool

I hope this helps

 

[Brangeta]

Well, from my perspective, value is what you perceive the car to have.

If you are only interested in restoring it for a big payout in the end, then I wouldn't suggest it. The market for restoration vehicles right now is for '60s and early '70s musclecars, and it is hard for me to imagine 1980s trucks hitting it big. But hey, it could happen. You could always restore just the exterior (get it looking great) and then sell it to the next buyer to muddle with the other problems.

If you are interested in doing it just for the pride of owning something rare and unique, then I would say go for it.

Do you have any pics of the truck to show us? I'd be interested in seeing how bad off it is.

 

[Ranger]

Thanks for the replies. I have no plans sell the truck but I still have to have justify spending big $$$ on it. If the values for this kind of car are around what you say they are I think I'm better of fixing the truck myself and get an affordable respray. This way I can still drive it to the lumberyard and stuff it with sheets of plywood without feeling bad.

I've attached a pic. It's the only one I have right now after my HD crashed. If anyone is interested I can post some more detailed pics this weekend

Martijn

 

[Peer81]

Like Chris says, only a small group of people know of the early Callaway projects. As long as that doesn't change the prices on these "projects" will stay low. But it could change in a few years. When I joint this forum 3 or 4 years ago the B2K corvette's didn't go for as much as they now do...

Groeten Peter.

 

[Brangeta]

Thanks for the replies. I have no plans sell the truck but I still have to have justify spending big $$$ on it. If the values for this kind of car are around what you say they are I think I'm better of fixing the truck myself and get an affordable respray. This way I can still drive it to the lumberyard and stuff it with sheets of plywood without feeling bad.

I've attached a pic. It's the only one I have right now after my HD crashed. If anyone is interested I can post some more detailed pics this weekend

Martijn

Do you know everything that makes it different from a regular Range Rover of the same year? Is it just the engine and the badge on the nose or more?

In my opinion, just don't change what makes the car special (stuff Callaway did), but fix up the rest however you like.

If you want to sell it for a profit someday, keep a good written log of changes you make, take pictures of the car in its current state and how it progresses, and take good pictures of original parts if you aren't replacing the part with one exactly like it. For example, if you replace the exhaust because it has rusted perhaps, take a pic of it, try to find out what it was originally/who made it, and write it down.

That way, if you sell to a collector, they will have a good idea of how to restore it back to original if they desire.

 

[TurboLuigi]

Ranger,

Hello and welcome aboard. Congratulations on your find.

Actually, its $value$ is only what someone else is willing to pay for it regardless of what you have in it which is something that fluctuates with market and economic conditions.

I tend to agree that this is a very rare and unique vehicle. As long as Callaway continues to develop such powerful, aesthetic, and functional vehicles which continue to grasp the attention of the automotive community, I have no doubt that it will gain in market value. As my good friends have stated, I think your restoration investment should pricipally be based on your desires for the car. There is no guarantee that you will get that investment back but there is always a good chance (possibly even a gain) given its uniqueness, rarity, and documentation. I think that is the same for all cars.

Good luck in your decision and please let us know how it comes along.

Best Regards,

-Luigi
:cool

 

[Aurora40]

My two cents, but you can always restore a car. I mean, if you decide not to do it, you can always do it later. But you can't undo it later or get your money back. If it's in good shape, and none of the stuff is going to cause further problems (like body panels rusting away or something), why not just enjoy the thing?