Buffalo Bill, with a shoe horn of course. Not sure yet. The motor alone gave me a hard on. So I bought it before fitting. We shall see.
Drop a really big mellow motor in it, and get it to hook. For a sleeper, its hard to beat a big 455 pontiac or Buick motor. Low reving, torque monsters. Don't need much gear or converter, idles like a stocker, and makes monsterous torque on pump gas. Port the heads, put one of the factory performanc cams in it (RAM AIR IV or STAGE 1) or similar, and you are just an intake and headers away 400hp even with the low compression stockers. I understand the 500 Caddie is the same way but have never played with one.
One day my Friend went to pass an old man in a two tone Dodge truck. It was a 64 or so and had a long wide bed, chrome stacks, and every piece of chrome widget you could buy from JC Whitney to screw or glue on your ride on it. Pinner whitewalls on chrome "trailer wheels." Shiney, but you'd think it'd be a turd. The old man looked over at us in my Buddies SS Nova about the time we hit 80 or so as we started to pass by. Then we saw black clouds coming out of those stacks and the guy starts pulling on us, and there he went.......I was laughing my ass off. I gave my buddy hell. The old man worked at the exhaust shop here in town. I went to get exhaust put on my Nova there. I saw a couple Hemi motors laying in the corner of the shop and asked about them. He went over to his truck and popped the hood. Yep, it had a hemi. A high compression 331. That was a sleeper. That made up for the curb feelers and stacks.
probably would of really kicked your but if it had been properly tuned and not running so rich or so carboned up...that's only thing I can think of that should of made it blow smoke like a diesel.
True "Sleepers" have engines that for the most part defy someone from telling that anything has been done to them. They appear very stock. Look like a Lamb, but have the HEART of a Lion.
Some of the best sleepers I have seen are cars with old faded paint jobs, rusty holes in the fenders and doors, primered hoods, dents, and ratty interiors with ripped upholstery. Not quite down to "rat rod," but "in the restoration process," y'know? Then you get around to looking under the hood and drivetrain, and realize that these things are set up with big-blocks, nitrous, and more suspension work than an F-1 race car .... They look like old clunkers, but move like greased lightning. First and foremost, start on the engine and drivetrain. Wheels can be somewhat wider than stock, most people who aren't in the know aren't going to know, anyway. Doing a truck is a little harder than a car, because you have less weight over the rear wheels - you want it to hook up nice, not just spin the tires - but with some experimenting, it can be done. Gauges can be hidden or incorporated in the general theme of the truck - having a dishplate tach sitting on the column or bolted to the dash is a big giveaway that things may not quite be as they first appear.
I imagine it was just carboned up. It only blew black smoke when he first tromped down on it. It ran very well. I always thought the motor was a 392 (I'm a Chevy guy, and I was only 17 when I saw it.) I was retelling that story to another buddy, and he said he knew where the motor was now. (the truck was junked). It's a 331. He's a Hamber and is building a Model A coupe. The guy wants $2500 for the motor so he'll have it for a while.
Sleepers are fun to have ! Keep the stock looks from the interior down to the spare tire and hubcaps . Don't let anyone see anything that might be "Modern" and stick a big cube stroker under the hood ! Have shorty headers so you can't see them under the truck with real quiet mufflers with " Cutouts" !!!! Make sure the dual exhaust doesn't go to the rear , just dumps under the bed . Even have a single tailpipe out the back for looks . When someone thinks you are just another sucker , open the cutouts and go ! Another way is forged pistons and some nitrous . That always does the trick too ! You can hide 400HP under the hood with no trouble at all ! Gotta see some pics when your done ! RetroJim
I am going to move the battery out back as well as the gas tank between the frame rails and behind the axle to try and shift weight towards the rear end. I had thought about cutouts but don't people have problems with them sticking over time?
You got me day dreaming... If you did a truck you could do a lot of things to disguise it's true abilities. To start with, you could use a light, modern 4 wheel drive to overcome a lot of traction issues such as a heavy front end bias and not much traction on the dusty streets. It wouldn't look out of place on a truck. You could also lighten up a lot of stuff up with fiberglass and painted aluminum. Everyone expects trucks to be heavy. Perhaps even a lighter tube frame? Paint the truck a shiny stock color as if it were a restoration and use 4 slightly widened stock wheels with hubcaps. Put any Disney character on the tailgate and a cute quote like, "We're Goofy for our grandchildren!" I can just imagine all four tires screaming at once... Well, anyway, in my imagination I have unlimited time, money and skills and all my ideas are good ones.
Find two of these bastards off of a 90's VW product. Supposidly the quietest muffler ever constructed. Just to be sure, run a glass pack in front of them too. Your truck will probably not even have a exhaust note. Heres one under a S-10
Thats a great idea! A friend of mine used to race a 40's Chevy with a blower that surprised a lot of people because he had painted snoopy on the back. The downside was he became known as the snoopy car and ended up painting it a basic two tone to loose the reputation.
The Jalopy Journal
