Unlikely...The art of a good sleeper.

This thread makes me want to build a sleeper out of my 1965 wildcat that has a 455 in it.Great post!

 

Back in my early days the sleeper build was the V8 Vega..small. light, SMC and a turbo350 with 4:11.s

 

2 local sleepers back in the early 70s. One friend had a 67 GT390 Fairlane with a seriously "built" 390. While most of us had loud exhaust and jack- up rears he put lowering blocks on with 14" slicks on stock rims, quite exhaust. He even pulled off the GT hood and emblems and replaced them with a flat hood and 289 flags. Never opened the hood in public, took home lots of money street racing it. Another buddy had a bone stock looking 66 Rambler American with a warmed over 345, 4 speed and 4.11s. Pissed a lot of guys off being beat by a "stock" Rambler.

 

still, people aren't as surprised by most of those cars anymore since people have been building sleepers outta them forever. my 4 door 84 delta is my sleeper. it's got a 10.7:1 461 olds that does 450hp and 520tq, makes 400tq at 1800 rpm...had some serious fun with that thing, then the trans went. gotta get it back on the road

 

The Tempest is cool, and I can't stand anything GM. But the guy who built it is sharp. Mr. Lingenfelter did his Corvettes the same way, hiding the turbos way underneath the cars to keep them as stock appearing as possible. They were the best running sleepers ever; and I have seen some of his other work on Caddy's and the like as well. All very stock appearing and run like a scalded dog.
No '60's two door anything with dog dish hubcaps will pass as a sleeper to anyone with half a brain. Maybe some ricer punks wouold get fooled; but that's not saying much. There was a guy in Oklahoma with a '72 four door Comet, real Granny car, with chrome door gaurds, full hub caps, vinyl top, the works. You had to be directly behind it to see the huge tires and duals on it. Not to be messed with! It was a very quiet car too, but if you listened you could tell it had a monster motor and some serious mufflers.

 

i think that any of the 4-door tri-five chebbies seem sleeperish...

 

True, ceptin' so many guys build hot rods and just chuck a motor that runs into them and they're happy.
Until they run up against a hot rod with a bit of motor within.


Cool post, that Tempest has to be, hands-down, the greatest sleeper ever.
A small masterpiece of engineering.


I like sleepers, had a couple and the best story I have is my 50 Ford coupe with 335" built Rocket motor, 4.27 diff etc.
A fun car, stock height, little stock hubcaps, 6.70 x 15 WWs all the way around, one tailpipe showing, tach way under the dash and out of sight.
Only thing that gave it away was the Hurst shifter and you could hide that with your knee when in low gear.

So here I am, running around the San Fernando Valley one bright and sunny day, a 50 or so Chevy coupe pulls alongside at a stop.
I ran stock T-Bird muffs, but the collectors were noisy so I didn't really hear the Chevy.

We went from a roll and the Chevy pulled me in every gear.

Talked to him later and found he was running an SBC.
Rumor was, it ran a 364" stroker.

Kinda interesting it was, me in my sleeper and getting killed by another sleeper.

'Cest la vie or however it goes....

 

Actually, the whole 2 door sedan with dog dish hubcap thing is so played out, that at the last flashlight drags nobody wanted to race my brothers '65 Falcon sedan. It was a 2 door with steel wheels and skinny whitewalls, chrome lugnuts and triple black..... Everyone thought it was some stealthy sleeper when in reality it just had a tired 302 with some bolt on goodies and airplane gears....very far from fast.

 

I'm knee deep in the sleeper camp. I'm presently putting an FE in a 56 2dr post. It's the middle level customline but I'm down grading it to the elcheapo category. I found a radio delete and a cherry mainline steering wheel with no horn ring, just a center button. (anybody want to sell the bottom of the barrel heater for a 56?)

There will be obvious clues like the large SW gauges under the dash, a Dixco tach, large cut outs and Traction Masters.(It's part of the look) These clues made you leery but not scared. Most of the alsorans had the same stuff but just for show.

I just picked up the cam that will betray my intentions with a healthy sound that would make Helen Keller turn around and ask "what is that". It's a 352 which was the biggest thing available at the start of the 60s. 3 spd w/O.D. on the tree, the Ford 4spd. wasn't out yet. there are a lot of 57 Ford sleepers but very few 56s.

Sleepers were a real genre in the early 60s. A lot of street racing took place on Friday and Saturday night. You tried very hard not to look too racy. As the decade wore on the gasser look, that is hot now, started to show up on the street but they had a hard time getting any competition even if they were turds. If you showed up in an all out race car you were expected to kick ass. The guys with the cheap, light 2drs that didn't stand out but still kicked ass really wowed us/me. There has always been a soft spot in my heart for the sleepers. I'm trying to be as authentic to the era as many are to the late 40s-early 50s hot rods. (besides...roll up windows and a heater!)

 

my T-boned 68 roadrunner used to do a pretty good job with bailing wire holding the passinger door on , i got a lot of "you really gonna race that??"
followed by some laughter .. more than one person wasnt laughin later..

 

I am a fan of the wide awake sleepers. .....stuff that is obviously hot rodded, but is WAY quicker than what it looks. Cars that run low 9's or quicker on small tires and have flat hoods.

 

After I wrecked my first car, 72 torino 351cj, it looked like your typical white trash beat-up, wannabe muscle car (think joe dirt supperbird) But under the hood was a 351c, bored .30 over, holman and moody tunned 4v heads, ect. (I don't remember the exact specs) and it was topped off by a holley 800 dp, hid under the stock breather. The street dommy intake was painted ford blue, and I had stock BOSS351 valve covers. Backed by a c6, with a manual reverse valve body, and a 3,500 stall and 4:11 gears in the 9" out back.

All of the ricer guy's really diddint understand running 50mph in the slow lane on the intersate, They just figured it was slow but when I meet one at the stoplight, it was all over She was good for 400 RWHP.

This picture was taken after I started fixing her back up, and added the not so sleeper bug catcher checkout the air shocked-jacked up rear end with the 10"s sticking out

 

One of my dad's employees ran a FED in the early 60's that used an injected 331 hemi. After they quit racing it, the engine sat in a garage for about 15 years until his wife's 54 Plymouth 4 door blew up it's flathead 6. Since they were really down on cash, the hemi and trans went into the Plymouth after the injection was removed. They ran it for a few months like that, scaring everyone around including the driver. Someone finally gave them cash for the engine and they bought a better car, but it was fun while it lasted. I had a really nice 49 Dodge coupe that looked completely stock and original, right down to the hubcaps, but had a killer RB 440 and Torqueflite in it. That was entertaining too.

 

I think the 100mph tape holding the windshield in may have blown your cover...

 

Closest thing to a sleeper I ever owned was an old '69 Dodge long wheelbase typewritter delivery van. Used it to haul my motocross bikes in. Had doors on both sides. 16" comercial tires, 360, 3 on the tree. Smoked a kid in his new Charger stoplight to stoplight one night. Moved pretty good for a big ol' truck.

 

hillbillyhellcat

"Airplane Gears" as in really tall, high speed go faster (top end, low numerical)?

First time I've come across that phrase.

 

That's masking tape.

 

Similar story. Also Cad powered (526 stroked). Leaving a car show my brother was driving his friends truck (S10 - Not a HAMB car). Anywho a guy in a chevelle was running up on his ass over and over. The S10 is tubbed, caged, slammed, etc...

Well my borther's friend (in pasenger seat) says F this guy. Let's play his game. At the next light the guy took off hard. My brother pulle dup to the stop sign, waited his turn, then my brother punched it and started running him down like he was sitting still. He came up behind this guy so fast the guy pulled over to give my brother both lanes to pass and my brother was in the other lane. I raced along behind in my 5.0 as best I could to see what happened. Was quite funny. Even I passed him after that and he should have wiped the road with me. When we all got to the next town the guy drove through with his head down.

 

I would have given anything to see the look on that Cuda drivers face as that Tempest went by him like he was standing still. He had to look down at his gauges to make sure his engine was still running.

 

yep, I pulled the vinyl top to fix the rust, And then primered the roof, The car was in full primer when I sold it.

 

One night, back in the late 70's, a guy comes out to Van Nuys with a white 66' Nova 2 dr sedan. Walks upto a group of kids standing next to a bbc 69' Chevelle. Asks if they wanna race. He takes them over to his Nova and pops the hood. 283", 2 barrel and stock exhaust. Looks like the original engine, all greasy and grimey. The kids ask, "How many cars you want?". He saids, "Heads up!".

Now the kids are swarming around the Nova trying to figure out why he only wants heads up. In the end, the kids back down.

When everyone leaves, I look at the Nova's engine and tell the guy it's beautiful. What is it? He saids it's an LT-1 shortblock, ported fuelie heads, ported 400 intake and a 500 cfm 2 barrel.

 

I built this to be a bit of a sleeper.

It still isn't painted (I plan on painting it maroon once I finish the bodywork....probally this fall)

It has a 393W with Windsor SR heads and a soilid lifter cam. It is faster than most cars on the road in my area and I built it to look totally stock inside and out, the only thing that gives it away is the sound....I need to put quieter mufflers on it.

 

Didn't have much money in high school, so it was either a car that looked cool and went slow, or looked boring but went fast... so I picked go fast.

85 Buick Regal 2 door, wire hub caps and white walls, faded paint, column shift, you know, a beater. It was my Mom's car I inherited at 17 when she passed away.

The 305 was pulled for an LT1 350, camel hump 202's, intake, headers, TH400 and a 12 bolt with 4:10's (all were bought used, so I took what I could afford). I always thought big meats and wheels looked like a guy was trying too hard on these cars, so I kept the wire hubcaps and widest whitewalls I could find/fit (cousin owned a tire store, so I could afford new ones). It was hell on gas, and roared at highway speeds, but I drove slow so commutting around town it appeared relatively quiet.

In my small town, the car ended up a thing of legend because it hooked like a rocket even with the relatively skinny tires. The trick was that when we'd line up I would always be the first to 'suggest' the finish line marker since I would start to lose ground quick as we got faster. The body mounts started to seperated from the frame after about 150 launches or so. Won pretty much every race except for a couple with a certain 69 Mustang that was aptly named 'Hell's Creation'. But hey, my car cost less than his paint job. I even dusted a friends Grand National graduation present a few times, man was he pissed.

Cops never gave me a second look, and I didn't give a shit about paint, chrome, etc. It was just a set up that happened to work really well, dumb luck I guess. I wonder if Mom would have liked me doing that to 'her car'

Funny, in the end it is the 'crappy' cars like that I miss the most...

 

Not sure if you consider my old beater a sleeper or not but it sure scares the H out of the ricers & 5.0 boys
Al

 

I want this car....

 

I'm sure he would appreciate the compliment but, I don't think he would go for that trade.

 

here is a pretty good sleeper , a VW puttin it on a stangs ass so hard the dude just leaves ,, haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW22bVuof_U

 

How about a twin turbo'd, intercooled, 474ci aluminum headed mopar, in a plain jane rusty, beat up, 69' Dart...

Pretty good sleeper?

 

I had an off topic daily driver XD Falcon. They only came in 4 door and this one was an ex=police chaser from back when they did something to make them go a little better.
Re-built the 351 Clevo, droped on 4V heads and a boot (trunk) load of fun bits and ended up with 496.2 RWP. I later managed to eek out just under 100 more ponies for an eventual 590 RWP (Ok, 587 but 590 sounds better!)
Didnt look like much, sounded like an average V8 with extractors untill you hit it on full noise.
Still have the motor, rust claimed the car.


Or if you want some impressive numbers watch this, street registered here in Oz!
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Try this V8 powered Citroen 2CV - watch the red one blow the doors off of a 442 Olds on the 1/4 mile. Runs a low 14.

I have seen this car and the original builder went to great lengths to make it look stock. It has a big inch Buick motor and a 9 inch rear end - and of course, it weighs absolutely f**k all. Result was a huge surprise for any hot hatch driver.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP6D4NYWEU8