Unlikely...The art of a good sleeper.

Here's two pics of my first sleeper, OT, but still a sleeper.




That car ran 13.30's at 104 Mph with a hidden nitrous kit.

Here's my current sleeper project. I'm looking for low 12's with this and I want to keep the 230 badges on the fenders.

 

This car is freakin cool.

 

I am building a 406 with forged pistons, ported heads, custom ground cam, and a few other tricks in it to look like a stock 275hp 327.

Stock intake/carb/exhaust manifolds. Should make an easy 400hp and I will hit a NOS top shot in the stock air cleaner.

 

My mom couldn't, or wouldn't, drive an automatic. In '59 my dad found her a '57 Dodge Royal 4 door, red and white, with a Super Red Ram Hemi,( 325 ci, 4 bb )3 speed. It was a sleeper and did well on Concord Blvd. and Newell Ave. Later she had a yellow '60 Ford convertible ( Skyliner? )289/3 speed. The Ford was geared too high for the 1/4 mile but it crused 80-85 and made the top look like a hot air balloon! Her little sister drove a '56 Chevy 4 door with the Power Pack option (4 bbl, duel exhaust) and a dealer installed cam. My uncle was tired of her complaining about the '55 6cyl/auto 4 door wagon he got the year before. His new problem was that my older brother and another nephew borrowed it almost every Sunday for "dates". It was campaigned heavily at Freemont, Half Moon Bay, Kingdon, and Vacaville. When it came my turn in '62 it was old and smoking and still hauled ***! Truly a sleeper. It literally smoked a '58 Vette that was supposed to be 'Bad"!
When Mom was looking for a new car she tested a '63, I think, Fairlane, 289/ 4 speed, but she missed 3rd gear twice and bought a VW Bug. End of the Sleeper Sisters!

 

Look closely at the backside of the aircleaner housing and you'll see a pipe running in the firewall. If I remember correctly from the feature the stock housing has been welding up to hold pressure, kinda like a giant carb hat.

Well then it wouldn't be nearly as much of a sleeper!

 

A buddy of mine when we were 16 had a 63 chevy short bed that we out a Pontiac 455 in with a th400 and a mild exhaust. Lowered it by heating up the springs and put moon disc on it. It would lay 100 plus feet of rubber just by stopping on the pedal. We would blow away all the GIs from the local army base and their loud jacked up cars with fat tires. The greatest sound was puttin the pedal to the metal and the secondaries opening up.

 

Speaking of sleeper turbo cars my 427 powered 57 Ford got out sleepered once by an Austin Healey Sprite with an aluminum 215 turbo Olds with a 4 speed. I had the power but he had no weight and it was an *** whipping for me

 

Buckle. Seriously impressive!!! That car is like just gone. Sit and spin don’t win. Drag Radials? nice weight transfer? SSM bars? or? I miss my stroker…

 

Back in late '64 - early '65 a friend had a stone-stock looking '55 Olds 2 door HT, white over red. It was always dirty, had greasy hand-prints all over it. There was a cheesy-looking little scoop on the hood.

Underneath the hood was a full-bore 394 Olds hooked to a modified Hydro, with a 4-71 blower to help things work.

His favorite trick was to tell the opposing driver to take off when ever they were ready and he would catch up with them - and he always did. As far as I know the car was never beat (could have been just a careful choice of opponents) but I was in the car one day when he absolutely destroyed a '64 fuelie 'Vette.

I was also behind him the last time the car ran; I watched the bottom end ****ter all over the road about 20 feet off the staring line.........

 

Did someone say Biscayne. This is my toy. It's just a 350 bored .030 over. Not super fast but keeps up with traffic.

 

must be something to the beige and biscayne thing... brandon

 

In 1961 my older brother had a plain jane 1958 Chevy post. I think it was a Delray 1141. He changed out the motor for a 1961 348 V/8 with 3 2's. Ran it at Kahoka Drag Strip at Kahoka, Mo. Loved riding with him. Fooled LOTS of hot dogs. Car ran like a stripped *** ape. No chrome, little dog dish hubcaps and the two bubble tail lights. Was very cool.
____________________________________________________
Like I told the kid, "Your music not too loud, it just ****s!"

 

i used to drive a bone stock 72 Monte Carlo with a factory 350. it was not an SS though, and ran so quiet i dont know how many times i grinded the starter because i forgot it was idling.

then i went out and put a full dual exhaust with 40 series flowmasters on it, and i could no longer sneak out of the house. it was amazing how the exhaust opened that car up and showed the potential of that 350.

 

i remember a buds car green 70' vega with a v8, fooled many people with the 9" drilled "4-lug" they used to change the windshield weekly as the torque would crack it when it twisted.

 

ever street raced? thats the one of the first things people look at, the engine. why should he have put the turbos closer to the engine it makes 1200 rwhp.... besides, with turbos in the engine bay it wouldn't be a true sleeper.

that pontiac is *****in...

 

Did somebody say beige Biscayne....
Someone once asked me "Why did ya' get a Biscayne? Those are what people would part out to fix up Impalas. Those Biscaynes always seemed too bare bones and stripped down almost like a race car".....exactly .

Marty McF.

 

One night, my neighbor wanted to go to the street races. They would meet at midnight on Old San Fernando Rd in the valley. We went there and saw a few races. There was an old MG with a sbc that had its hood open. My neighbor asked the owner if he wanted to race a Vette (mine). I pull my neighbor aside and clue him in on the fact that the MG has nitrous and weight a lot less than my Vette. He doesn't care, he wants to see my Vette race.

He sets up the race and I go home to get my Vette. Its heads up and we take off. By the time I'm in third gear, the MG is a distant memory.....I thought the MG would be a lot faster. My neighbor split the $100 with me.

 

Haha a Nash Amb***ador Sleepr...

 

I haven't seen that '65 in years. It definitely bad ***.

Scoob found this one. I guess it was ordered from the factory with a 402/4speed and the owner went "hunting" quite often.

 

www.vintageperformance.net


Go to the "videos" section
scroll all the way down to

"our own Kurt Mezger running a grudge match against a big block Chevy Race Car"

Yes, the VW is a true steet car, his wife used to drive it on a daily basis.
Yes, he came from behind and beat the BBC Camaro, which had N20, as well.
Yes, the timing clocks say "10.06@142" for the VW.
Then he drove it home. (He said he stopped for a Philly Cheese Streak about halfway, and after 100 miles, yeah, he said the engine was a little warm..)

 

That Tempest it stoopid funny!

I was watching that video and wondering about that lag just before it goes into warp speed, but the turbos explain it. Talk about a fun critter to drive and play with!

 

Holy hell my pop and i built this car!!!!

 

That Chevelle is cool and I really don't like the styling of the 4 drs from this era. Must be like Ryan said; Speed is beautiful.
Is your buddy going to restore it? There couldn't have been many 4 spd or BB 4 drs let alone both 4 sp and BB.

 

no pictures but i was at a car show/swap meet in nj 5 years ago and there was a guy with a 80's suburban with a trailer selling vw vanagon parts and his hood was up...me and my friends being curious why the hood was open and we see to our suprise twin turbo merlin engine....we just look at eachother with awe totally confused

 

what about that twin turbo car they built up in one of the muscle car mags and did a feature on it on Spike's Horsepower TV show? I can't remember if it was a 64 bel air sedan or something like that, but I know it was 1 serious car that was the most boring grocery getter you'd ever see.

 

I just remebered at Billetproof there was a 55-57 Tbird with a big Cadillac motor. Funny as it looked lie a resto and nobody seemed to notice the engine as they walked around it. It didn't look out of place at all.

 

The year was '84, my Dad Had this '74 Chevy Luv that he wanted to put a sbc in. I did the swap using a 350/350 with a 9". I had the 9" drilled for the Luv wheels so it looked stock. It even had a camper shell. My Dad used it to drive to work.

One day, I was driving down Hollywood Blvd and some guy in a '78 Vette kept lighting em up at stop lights. Eventually, we ended up side by side. The light turned green and the Vette lit em up. I p***ed him before he crossed the intersection. At the next light, he's laughing and asks, "What's in it?". I tell him it's stock. He laughs and makes a left turn.

 

I remember taking my buddies to Whittier in my 11sec VW,before the paint job,Centerlines,roll cage,lowering,wing,and we would blow guys away all the time! They just couldn't believe they just got beat by a VW! I think that was more fun then when I made it a full time racecar...

 

i grew up hanging around with older guys 7-10 years older than me. they were into the street race scene before i was driving so i was into it, but i couldnt race. when the time came to build a car, of co**** it had to be a sleeper. heres my 69 dart slant 6 i bought from the original family and converted it into a bigblock 727 with dana, steel wheels, full exhuast, bench seat, column shifted sleeper. 11.80-112mph in full street trim.

 

I don't have any pics but wish I did.

When attending a small midwest college in the early 60s my roommate worked at a service station and the owner had a green 53 Pontiac 4dr sedan, a real family looking car. However, he had put a J2 Olds engine (3/2's) and ****** in it and it ran real good. He let my roommate have it one Friday night (can you believe that?) and we drove it to Kansas City and cruised all the drive-in food places. I remember pulling up at a stop light next to a young fellow with his date in his dad's new Chrysler convertible. He looked over at the Pontiac in disdain but was quite surprised when he left the light and we stayed right beside him until my buddy decided to leave him behind. At the next light he never even looked our way. Lots of fun and lucky we didn't meet a patrolman.