Unlikely...The art of a good sleeper.

Yeah, airplane gears aka highway gearing like 2.73.....


I am actually putting together a '72 F-100 with a Lincoln 460/C6.... It has all the good bolt on stuff KB pistons, roller rockers, custom Lunati cam, Edge converter, dk horse headers.... It looks bone stock, is painted fact ginger and wimbleton white.... Has Future Farmer of America license plate and West Virginia - Almost Heaven plate on the front.... It is a farm truck... I can't wait to have fun with it this summer!

 

Ding-ding... winner.... that is rad.

As previously stated, the dog-dished '60's cars are not sleepers any more.

60's and 70's hoopties that came with wimpy 120hp mills from the factory that can pull the front wheels are today's sleepers, as are the Fox-bodied Fairlanes and late 70's Malibus that hook and book when properly tuned.

They just scream grandma, slow, and unmodified. A '62 Chevy in any form looks fast sitting still even to those not familiar with cars. Now something with woodgrain....

 

Back in highschool I dropped a 350 horse small block into a 4 door 62 nova. It had the seafoam green seat covers. Kept the 6cyl badges on the fenders. Swapped in a newer rearend to run 5 lug and newer spindles up front for better brakes and 5 lug. It was a sleeper until you fired it up. I miss the sound of that car.

 

I never saw it, but I guess at one time, a friend of my ex gf's Dad had a 4 door 67ish Biscayne, factory ordered with a 427/4 speed and bench seat! It was quite an awakening for many, from what I'm told.

He had another friend that had a sweet original 69 Chevelle with a 427 "crate" motor- it was a warranty job when the 396 blew up!

Jay

 

My first car was a 77 Malibu that suprised the shit outta folks.

 

Here is the build up of one such sleeper:

http://www.w2wpowertrain.com/t-novabuild-2.aspx

I saw the car in person last year an I was impressed.

 

Sleepers were to fool the guy next to ya at a stoplight in a hot car and blow his doors off......that type of racing doesn't happen much anymore.....

Serious racers (street) will always go over the competition's car before runnin'.....so a sleeper isn't gonna fool anyone....esp after one pass....word gets around.

 

Finnish sleepers:
http://www.pjp.fi/index.php?sivu=2&alasivu=0&tyyppi=Omat#13

http://www.pjp.fi/index.php?sivu=2&alasivu=0&tyyppi=Omat#120

 

In 63 I had a 57 ford custom 300 with a new 427/425 FE motor, 3 speed OD on the column from a 61 390 police car, Ballenger Bros headers with Chrysler mufflers, no tach, no gauges, blackwalls & dogdish hub caps, Atlas Bucron tires[the hot setup, 4 inches wide} & 4.56 gears. Had a ton of fun with 55-57 Chevys that were expecting a 312 at best. Wish I still had with original light blue & white paint. Looking for a replacement. I could live with the black one pictureD for sure

 

Ohhh the shame of being waxed by a sleeper . I have been on the wrong side of that deal. One night my buddie and i were tooling around in my 99 porsche 911 convert and a white dinged up chevy astro van pulls up next to me. The driver of the van looks over to me and starts bouncing up and down in his seat [ a clear sign he wants a go] I don't know if any of you have ever owned a porsche but when you ride around in one it seems everyone and thier mother wants to race you. Probably like that with vettes and a few other makes. Anyway light turns green and i give it some [ not all ] and that friggen van is right there with me and pulling ahead. So i give her all she's got , that car really comes on above 4000 and i was in the wrong gear. No matter i got in the power and could NOT catch that fucking van! In fact it was pulling away. My buddie looks at me laughing at me , all I could say was " thats one fast fucking mini van" Mini van has to be the " ultimate " sleeper.............

Ohhh the shame!

 

If that didn't do it. the mullet haircut may have.

 

Mt O/T sleeper was a 1980 chevy pickup with a 60 over 427 and 4 speed. Otherwise stock right down to the hubcaps. Was fun putting down the iroc & trans am guys.

 

1965 Chevy Biscayne
Motor: 454, balanced and blueprinted, Merlin heads, dual quads and extreme energy cam.
Trans: Richmond 6 speed
Suspension: Hotckis front and rear

 

I have built and street raced ’62, ’66 and ’69 Chevy swb fleetside pick ups. I dig those 60’s trucks and so easy to build to race. Most people think they are heavy pigs…think that? and I own you. First get you a drive shaft. Nice stroker, a bottle and 3:73’s. Light ass rear? no, once the truck is set down on the ground and set up right they hook like a mf’r. NASCAR used the geometry for years, yeah stock car blah blah but you still have to keep the rear loaded. Those I-beam suspensions and rears will take all the abuse you can give them with no wheel hop. Of course some preloaded airbags in the coils help.

Memory moment!!! My stepson’s father has worked for Ford for a lot of years, so he digs Ford, even got a tattoo…here is where you can bitch at me use to take him out on the 2 am runs and he would be pissed when we would take the Mustangs out on hwy. 370. He’d get over it later when we would go get sideways in parking lots.

Maybe it’s why I am falling in love with this wagon. With a wheel change this should pull someone in.

 

Just about all the 60/61 cars are cool as heck. Any Black Widow looking deal is awesome too.

 

I was at MoKan about 12 years ago. Drunk guy in the stands goes nuts when his buddy's 69 primer only Camaro comes to the line. They were just running time trials and opposite the Camaro was a Super Comp Dragster. Drunk dude says to me, watch my buddy blow away this rail job. I'm thinking...right. Lights flash, Camaro pulls the left front about two feet off the ground and holds it past half track. Super Comp runs his 8.90 ish but did not turn on the win light by nearly three car lengths. Drunk guy celebrated...I still can't believe it over decade later. Awesome car. Checked it out, just mountain motor bowtie he replied, said he drove to work most days...I swear that is what he said!

 

Best sleeper reply I have ever heard yet was "I thought we were racing, but then you stepped on it..."

Second best was at a cruise-in night. My brother overhears one guy telling his buddy, "Don't laugh, I've seen this one go at the track."

 

In the late 90's there was a retired Chrysler engineer that was at a lot of the local carshows. He looked to be about 62 yrs old. He was driving a Chrysler LHS that appeared to be stone stock. There was usually crowd standing around his car so finally curiousity got the best of me and I had to see why. I walked all the way around the car looking at the outside and all I saw was a STOCK Chrysler LHS; an old mans car. Then i looked inside.....there was no back seat, just a large carpeted box where the seat should be. This "old" man had installed a second engine in the rear. Each engine was a 215 H.P. V-6, so he had 430 H.P. all wheel drive! I had a long talk with him about the install and I asked him if he liked to mess with 'Vettes and the like at stoplights...the old guy grinned and said "every chance i get"

 

I'm in the process of installing a blown ( under the hood)383 stroker and 4spd in this turd. that should make for a good sleeper

 

my friend has an 80 malibu wagon that he put together about 5 years ago. the interior is 100% stock, column shift, no visible gauges, and a statue of mary on the dash. the back seat has a baby seat strapped in it. the car is shit brown, with a tan interior. under the hood is a 572 big block chevy, with a 300 h.p. fogger, turbo 400, with a 3500 stall.
the exhaust consists of long tube headers with an h-pipe, that splits to 4 pipes,
with 4 mufflers. there are no visible tail pipes, but he left the original single exhaust tail pipe in the stock location (cut off about 4 feet under the car).the car has stock steel wheels on it, with el-cheapo wire wheel hubcaps from pep boys. all the way in the rear of the car, you will see a laundry basket full of dirty clothes. the nitrous bottle is hidden in the laundry basket, under the
dirty clothes. the only real giveaway, is the rear tires...which are 10" drag radials.
the car has the stock flat hood on it, but there isn't much clearance for the carb..it has a dominator on it. a bumper sticker on the rear bumper that reads "i brake for bingo". sure even with 4 mufflers it still has a pretty loud exhaust note, and the lumpy idle usually gives it away as well. but, normally, he'll go somewhere and park the car. round up a few suckers to race him in his moms wagon. he never stands close to the car, he just sets up the race, and points to the wagon acting like a total moron. 50% of the people just say "ok" without looking the car over.
the car runs 9.80's on the 10" drag radials, with the full exhaust hooked up.
getting it too hook is something that he's been working on tho. everyone knows about the car now, so he doesn't get many suckers willing to race moms wagon anymore.

 

ok maybe not but it's rather dificult to imagine anything @ 6 am while waiting for coffee

 

isn't this guys name kurt urban, or something like that? anyways, it was on the auction site after it was in the mags and didn't sell at 47k. i think he wanted 50k. that car kicks several kinds of ass.

*yeah, it's kurt urban. i really do love that car.

 

Yup, that's a total piece of shit. Just give me your address and I will properly dispose of it for you.

Sleepers are awesome, but after your first pass the gig is up.

 

Picked this up from the original owner , factory 427, 400 auto, posi.
Bench seat, column shift, no guages (had hubcaps), innocent looking family car. -- It surprised more than a few who assumed small block under the hood. I miss that car.

 

correct me if I'm wrong... but in that Happy Days episode didnt they yank out the engine and set the race up on a hill... and the Desoto coasted to victory?

My favorite sleeper is a NSFH (not safe for HAMB) LT1 Camaro that is a twin turbo setup. One of the shops I sell to put it together. It made over 1200 hp at the rear wheels. It has full interior... air conditioning... leather seats... stereo. A real street car. He drove it from Chicago to the Maxton Mile... and got 22 mpg.

In the standing mile he went 198mph. Then he drove home.

There is an incar video of it (that I cant find right now) that shows the front end of the car drop hard when he gets out of it.

And a friends 65 Malibu... its has a 555 BBC under the hood that looks stock other than headers. (I wish I had a pic) The rear tires are M/T Et Street with redline Port-o-walls on them. Looks like grannys car when you walk by. Its too loud to be a sleeper but its really cool.

 

Here in Indy, Tom Culbertson is currently working on a 67 Rambler with a Ford 460 in it. Its got a c6, and a 9". With the hood open, it looks like it was factory installed. The car isnt running yet, but should be a wild ride!!!

I will try to get a few pics soon.

 

God I love that car my friend Jim just bought it out of Hemmings last month. Lucky Mofo.

Drew

 

My sleeper is a 77 Bavarian Cream Nova, these cars came from the factory with a choice from several lame powerplant combinations, with the simple check of a box on the option sheet one could even slower if desired. I have had a blast with this car and dropped some jaws in the process. Last Fall my 16 year old neighbor kid wanted me to do a burnout for him. He has seen me idle in and out of my subdivison but never really anything else. He has a v-6 pick-up truck that he loves doing one-legger brake torques with on a road near my home. So I said, let's see if I can do a burnout like you. He shot this video with a cell phone camera so it is quite shaky. If you listen you can hear that I didn't hook up until the end of second gear or about 70 mph, he was pretty surprised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzMEH2ocxWU

Buckle

 

That's my story exactly. In '79 I built a 302-powered '74 Pinto wagon. Ugly as sin (brown, 14" Fairmont steel wheels, no caps, lots of rust), wasn't fast, but it was entertaining (I was running 14.1's on those skinny tires with a C4 that would slip badly going into 3rd right before the traps). Had it at KCIR one Wednesday Grudge Night and lined up against a gold '66 Tempest with similar ugliness. I waxed him off the line and held it to half track when he came past me like I had parked it. He ended up running a 12-something and I found out later he had a nitrous system that he'd activate at about 300ft. Over the summer I saw him trounce a lot of pure strip cars with that one.

 

Used to be a 69 Americam Motors Ambassator SST wagon running around here, in the early 70s. It was brown and had the fake wood on it and a 401 emblem on the fender, full hubcaps and thin whitewalls. Some old man in a suit was driving. I stupidly got caught up in a stoplight tussle late one night with it. It didn't wheelie but that thing squated the back and the front reared up like the old 90/10 uplock shocks, and it was GONE! Didn't know what was in it but I'd never seen a barge run like that. Wanted to find out more about it but there was no catching that thing. He must have been doing over 90 by the next light. Told my machinist buddy about that and he knew the guy. He said he was a fellow auto machinist and was an AMC freak. It was a huge stroker of unknown cubes but he knew it had a set of reworked AMC NASCAR heads that he got when Penske quit running AMC s. No proof but rumors were it was supercharged. Sssllleeepppeeerr!