I've always liked suprize rods. Like the really "stock" looking '40 Ford coupe with a big block under the hood. One that really made an impression on me was the really clean 50's Bullnose Chev pick me up I saw at Starbird's Wichita show back in the mid 70s. It looked like a real nice restored truck with some mild custom touches. The hood was opened. It was full of luggage! What the. Go back to the partially opened bed cover. A Toronado engine nestled behind the cab. Way too cool. Do you guys seen any of that kind of trickery or coolness out there?
Here's mine. '57 Ford Custom. 406" small block Chevy with 10-1/4 comp. World 200 heads. Crane cam. 2700 stall- 700r4 trans. 370 posi gears. Ran 13.0@103.
Best "sleeper" (and one of the best hot rods) I ever owned was in 1969. I bought a used, (and very cherry), 1963 INTERNATIONAL model C-1300 dual wheel 1-Ton with an 18-foot walk-through chassis-mount overhead camper on it. It had the stock 304 cid, 180 HP International V-8 engine, 4-speed trans and a 4.88:1 rear axle in it from new. It was pretty damn slow in the mountains and at high altitudes. I pulled the IH V-8 and replaced it with a 1967 462 cubic inch Lincoln MEL engine. 462 cu. in. 4-bbl carb, and 11:1 compression! With the 4.88:1 rear axle and 7.50X17 tires it was geared 4,000 RPM at 80 MPH in direct. It now would climb I-70 out of Denver, (6% grade and 7,000 ft altitude), PULLING AN 18-FT, 150 hp BOAT, at 85 MPH UPHILL!! A brand new stock Ford pickup with an 8-foot camper and a 390 in it would pull the same hill at about 50-55 flat out, and NO BOAT! The most fun thing about it, you were racing every other pickup and camper on the road and blowing their minds, and the cops didn't even realize it! You could race for miles as long as it was uphill! And to get beat by an INTERNATIONAL was devastating to the Ford and Chevy owners. I painted the engine IH red and put "International" script decals on the smooth valve covers. Stock black air cleaner and even a stock 'script IH coil! No headders, no chrome, all moulded hoses...100% stock appearance! It would blow Ford and Chevy pickup owner's minds when I showed it to them after blowing their doors off and telling them that it was stock IHC. I'd say, "You just gotta know how to tune them and have the right gears." ;o) Then they'd look in the cab and see that it was an automatic. (Stock pickup column and selector.) I put it in with the Lincoln automatic trans. Absolutely the EASIEST engine conversion EVER!!! Everything fit like a glove! No, it didn't get very good fuel mileage! ( I think gas was about 40-cents then) I had two tanks, one 60-gallon filled with regular gas for cruising and on level ground. The other stock 20-gallon tank was filled with 'premium' for going up hills and blowing-off other pickups. I had the timing set to where it would run to about 3/4 throttle on regular before it would start to ping. If I saw a race (hill) coming, I would reach down to the floor and switch tanks. JG
In high school in 1964 I had '49 Ford 2 dr . It had a 303 Olds motor with Hydro . I used to run only 3 hubcaps and would throw dirt on the original scruffy black paint before I left house . Heh heh . Geez , did I have fun with that !!! I told everyone I beat that it had a flathead and an automatic . Ok , well that was half true .
I heard some rowdy car w/a healthy cam start up a few years back at a "late night get together". It was a bone stock looking Porsche 914 w/a small block Chevy in it. Pretty wild ride.
My brother gave my Dad an old Chevy Luv truck with a camper shell. I swapped a 350/350 with a 9", but had the axle drilled for the Luv bolt pattern. The only thing that gave it away were the double tailpipes exiting behind the right rear wheel. Surprised many a corvette owners.
Back in the 80's I was at the Saskatoon drag strip where a pretty little 46 chevy pickup with 9 inch slicks and a bit of a healthy growl making passes. On his third pass he clicked off a high 11... That caused a bit of a stir but nothing really serious. Towards the end of the day he was back. This time the truck hooks hard and really kicks ass from mid track on. The board came up 10.89. Now that got our attention. Shoehorned into the truck as a well built 468 with a plate spray system. Pretty wild for it's day. Later that summer we were hanging around the street scene when we saw the yellow sleeper blow the doors off of a nasty looking Malibu.
I've always been partial to mild looking 1960s sedans with really big engines. My 1963 Ford 300 (Galaxie) was a local car owned by an elderly couple in Antioch, IL. While they owned the car it had a low mileage 260. I installed a 390 soon after getting the car and surprised a few locals with it. I only wish I was able to drive the car with the 460 I installed in it in 1993! But the car never made it back out of my mother's barn except on a buyer's trailer. I was moving to Phoenix, AZ... long story. I know the 'sleeper' 1960s sedan doesn't fool a lot of people anymore, but I still pine for one!
you want a sleeper? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=270351136315 not mine, ok?
Muscle cars make the best sleepers...Should also have steel rims and dog dish caps to help the look too...
57 Olds Super 88, factory J-2 car. All stock except I added a 3.64 Posi out of a 1964 Pontiac. Pulls and runs real strong.
My sister in laws car 1936 coupe with a 396 stuffed under the hood and it Flys! . A old hotrod built by a couple of old racers hotrodders. The firewall is uncut and all done in the 1970's, and the sound is hidden with a set of large mufflers. You don't know what hit you till your reading the taillights.
For the most part old cars these days don't come across as sleepers. Sometimes I will be surprised by them a bit, but they just aren't the norm so they stick out to me. I expect an old car that's still on the road to have some cajones. If it has a good stance then it sets off alarms. Now what is surprising is one of these new Gasser wannabee things that can get out of it's own way.
Now THAT IS a sleeper!! Looks like a bargain price too, so far! That could be a LOT of FUN for the bucks! JG
Word. 67 Plymouth Belvedere 1. No trim, black. black steel wheels with 67 dog dish hubcaps. 440 truck block with 4.15 stroke crank and aluminum heads. I knew it was fast, but when it went 12.15 with a blown up sure grip on 215 75 15' with 3:23 gears...
O.K., 1963 Chevy II station wagon, faded out paint with a few small dents and rust. The only giveaway was the 4 slotted aluminum wheels, but even they were 4 bolt. It had a 340 HP short block with a solid lifter cam change, 461 X heads that were ported/polished, 180 degree Edelbrock intake, 750 Holley, and rams horn exhaust manifolds. Trans was a built Powerglide, with a 4500 stall converter. Rear was the stock housing with the full size car 3rd member positraction with 4.88:1 gears, and Dutchman made 4 bolt axles. Exhaust was super quiet, but it's still hard to tame a built motor. Skinny tires up front, with as big a tire as possible to stuff into the rear wheelwells, the rears had to be deflated to get them in, then aired up, and the inner lip of the wheelwell was flattened in. Slapper traction bars painted black to help hide them. This was years ago that I built this car. It would sure give the 5.0 Mustangs, Z-28, Corvette guys a surprise. It would spin some, but once it hooked, I would just wave as I passed, and beat them bably. Never had that car to the strip, but I know it would click off low 12's; I'm judging that from my prior, strip only cars. That motor, with a Borg Warner Super T-10, 2.64 first gear, is my Sedan Deliveries motor/trans combo. Sold the Chevy II wagon, minus the 3rd member, to a friend who wrecked it; I could have wrecked him when I found out about it. Yeah, it was "his" car by them, but just the same. He put a 350/350 combo in it, along with a 4.11:1 open rear he found, and just beat the car up. The accident was'nt street racing, but speed was involved, along with a bit of alcohol. He did'nt get hurt, but the car was completely destroyed. Broke almost all the glass, and the car was a stretched out "z" shape if viewed from above. Oh well, time goes on. Butch/56sedandelivery. This accident happened at the same time the state of Washington was really pushing the billboard/radio/TV ads, "Don't drink and drive, the life you save might be your own".
That car rings a bell, the color and year are about right, I think 4-5 years ago Car Craft or HR ran an article on it, and if its the same car, the guy was very open about how he set it up, didn't hide anything, unless it was all a false trail.
I just passed this bone stock looking 400hp Falcon on to my lovely wife IFS, PS, PB........its EXtremly fast. The 29 Tudor next to it is my newest sleeper.
Mine was a 72 Vega with a 327 250 HP and Powerglide. 40k delivering pizzas and street racing.Then a 74 IH Scout with a 440 outa a 69 GTX. It would run out of Laramie Wyo. on interstate 80 up the hill flat out like 120 no problem. Saxxon,I like yer Scout in yer avator. Ive still got a 70 800A with a 350 and turbo400. Not a sleeper but still fast.
The 454 out of my wrecked truck(smooth&stock, not the one in my avatar) slipped right in the engine bay of my '81 ElCamino, a bit of junk yard diving netted a WS-6 steering box and front sway bar, rear sway bar from a GrandPrix, taller spindles with 11" brakes from a Caprice; needs a posi!
1965 Chevy Biscayne with a balanced and blueprinted 454, Merlin heads, Extreme Energy cam, dual quads, Richmond 6 speed and 3:42 posi.
I miss my old wagon... 1963 Pontiac Safari wagon. 389, tri power, 4 speed. posi and 3.73 gears. 8 lug wheels. long branch manifolds. it was like a real fucking BIG 4 door g.t.o.! loaded it up with friends and family, took it to the strip and ran a 14.0 with it. (with the rear "trunkish" area where the 3rd seat would go full of tools and parts) worst wheel hop I have ever felt in my life. I wish I still had her...
I'm old school. To me, TRUE sleepers were old Sedans with stock wheels & dog-dish caps. No BIG-engine flags or shiney chrome and a "hidden" Tach.and Dumps. After one run in another town or accross town it was no longer a "Sleeper". My '63 Custom (sold last year)had original faded paint, 289 flags, rusty chrome, hidden Tach, electric cut-outs and a 428SCJ/4 speed/traction bars/posi! Later I had it pinstriped and named "SERTA" the Perfect Sleeper. At shows most people walked by "that old car" which was fine with me. Tom