Stock# 18536
Collector# 677

CB's Die Cast Review:  September 10, 1998

1998 First Editions #31
Callaway C-7

The Calloway C-7 is a nice-looking vehicle, and a welcome addition to the 1998 First Editions line.  I knew it was based on a real car, but I knew nothing about the prototype.  So, I did a little research to learn the history of this sleek-looking sports car.

It turns out that the real-life Callaway C7 was designed as a competition car, but it was planned to be produced also as a sports car.  According to documents on Callaway Company’s website, the C7 is a 680 hp mid-engine two-seat sports GT coupe, constructed in carbon fiber and weighing less than 1¼ tons.  The car was designed to be the lightest most powerful sports GT commercially available.  Powered by a 6.8 liter aluminum V-8, the C7 was styled by Paul Deitschman and designed by affiliate Callaway Competition in Germany.  The company’s plans to market the standard C7, the sports-racing C7R and the "road going" C7S were stymied by changes in the international motor racing regulations in 1997, which made the project unfeasible to continue.  Two C7R vehicles were built for competition at Daytona and Le Mans prior to this event, but the car was never available commercially.

The Hot Wheels model is a representation of the C7R version.  Most of the features on the casting match up to photographs of the prototypes.  Some features are different, but it is possible they match another variant of the car.  The body is painted in silver metallic with a clear overcoat, to simulate the silverish finish of the real C7R.  Relief on the body casting is crisp and matches prototype photos.  The interior, firewall hood area and headlights are all part of the same black plastic part, while the windshield and side glass are made of clear plastic.  The racing spoiler, which is the color of the body on the real car, is a separate black plastic part on the model.  The body is rivited to a black plastic chassis.  Judging by photographs of the prototype, those triangular sections behind the side windows also are supposed to be windows.  As I am unfamiliar with the car, I am unaware of the presence, or lack thereof, of a rear window.

The model rides on five-spoke wheels as does the real machine, although ironically the real wheels are nearly a dead ringer for the current Matchbox five-spokes.  The tampos and lettering are correct for a C7R, although on the real car, the lower side lettering appears to be a different shade of silver.  The ubiquitous Hot Wheels logo is tamped on the passenger-side rear corner in black.  The casting is crafted in Malaysia.

As I stated earlier, this is a nice-looking vehicle, but I have mixed feelings.  The interior appears to be well-detailed, but I am disappointed that the headlights are black plastic instead of clear, or instead of being tooled as part of the body.  The car is too light in weight because the chassis is not metal, although the rear underbody detail might have made this difficult to achieve.  At the time Mattel finalized plans to make their C-7, Callaway still had the C7R on the production schedule and, had events proceeded as planned, the model would have debuted along with the real sports car.  In summary, the Callaway C-7 looks great, yet is less filling.