Sleepers... Sleepers are cool... and I'm not talking about the big cabs on 'over the road' trucks, I'm talking about cars that don't have an outward appearance of 'speed' but when the pedal hits the metal, they have the juice.
I've owned a couple of sleepers, and I'm wanting a car at the moment that is a 'quasi-sleeper'. Among the sleepers I've owned was a '65 Mustang. It wasn't exceptional to look at, with faded paint, missing emblems and wheels that weren't perfect. But, it also had an extra couple hundred horsepower under the hood and a few suspension tricks to make it really hook up. Another that I had was a 1970 Plymouth Satellite Station Wagon. It had a 440ci engine, and with the 'Cheetah Slicks' on the rear (snow tires that were 9" wide and made from the same tread compound as drag slicks), it could romp... and it was seriously ugly!
The one I am looking out for is a Dodge Magnum R/T or SRT8. They do have a pretty menacing look, so they are really a sleeper, but they still have a more potent punch than most people are expecting from a lowly station wagon.
Another factory sleeper is the Cadillac CTS-V... it CREAMS BMWs and Audis on the Nurburgring. It has the 556hp engine from the Corvette ZR1... and it makes me happy.
For this week, I am thinking of a truck... maybe a diesel truck. They are all over the place, and have meaty tires... AND, it is REALLY easy to drag some serious power from late model turbo-diesel engines. I have seen Dodge, Ford and GMs pull almost 1,000hp and 1500 pd-ft of torque. My choice would be a Ford F250 Crew Cab short bed. It would have the King Ranch package on it (luxurious!)... and the 6.8L twin turbo diesel. It would likely need the transmission to be beefed up a touch, and with the 5" exhaust and bigger injectors, along with a remapped engine management system and cold air intake, it should produce power that would make it do things when the light changed that would drop some jaws...
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Interesting... I don't really know too much about these sleeper cars. You will have to let us know what you purchase.
I grew up in Kentucky in a time and place when 'drag-racing' was done on a daily basis by the younger set. To this day I have a deep appreciation for 'sleepers' and fast horses.
Back in the late 60's, sleepers were the best! Engine swaps were easy, and you could transform nearly anything into a sleeper with a weekend of engin swapping. Serious horsepower was easily attainable at the local salvage yard.
Plain-Jane '64 Pontiac Tempest 4 slammer that became a tripower 389 with cam and solids under the hood.
'82 rusty Jeep CJ-7 that inherited a Chevy 359 small block with enough ponys to twist the stock driveshafts.
The Chevy Malibu station wagon that got a 350 fuel injected Corvette engine.
The '67 shortbox 4X4 Chevy pickup that used up it's stock 327 on that same day the salvage yard got a nearly new 427 from a Corvette. (disclaimer: firewall modifications required the use of a sledge hammer. Do not attempt this unless you REALLY like sleepers).
Learn something new every day. I had no idea what a sleep car was before. Thanks for the interesting info!
Marcy
Thanks for the comments...