CALLAWAY CRUISER; When 430 hp isn't enough.

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

You enter the Callaway compound, in deepest Orange County, California, through massive wooden doors that are not unlike those guarding the fictional Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. Like Oz, Callaway's is a place of wonder, complete with Munchkins in the form of the youngest Callaway kids.

Reeves Callaway's oldest son, engineer and company scion Pete Callaway (more than six feet tall, easily, and therefore no Munchkin) welcomes you. Pete is an engineer, having graduated from Northeastern with a degree in mechanical engineering before returning to tweak spring and damper rates for the family business. He now helps his father build the many fine rides that roll out of company doors both here and in Old Lyme, Connecticut. A third shop in Leingarten, Germany, keeps the Europeans supplied with handling and horsepower.

Of late, we've been writing about the special-edition Callaways, the C16 coupe, convertible, roadster and such. This time around, we were slumming it in a couple of regular old Callaways that didn't even have electric orange tangerine paint.

"What do you call these?'' we asked.

"Uh, Callaway Corvettes?'' Pete Calla-way answered.

Yes, Callaway Corvettes. We had forgotten, over the last few years of special editions debuted amid much fanfare at Pebble Beach and at the L.A. auto show, about the bread-and-butter Corvettes from this famous maker. Callaway does most of its business merely making the already fast Corvette even faster.