I always thought that the most clever car guys out there were the ones who could build a fast car that looked like your average grocery getter. Wayyyyyy back in 1966 some guys who worked at Dodge used to race a Coronet at Van Nuys. It had a Hemi but looked like your grandma's V8 ride. It was also painted dark metallic green. Looks light metallic green during the day and almost black at night. So the car looks two different colors. They must have made a fortune betting on themselves.
In the late 80's another guy had made a Dodge Omni GLHS that could cut a 13 second quarter. It looked like a base Omni and would smoke old musclecars on a daily basis. At the time guys like me didn't think a FWD four banger grocery getter could be fast at all. That car must have paid for itself within a month.
So what would currently be your favorite concept for a sleeper car?
Mine, a few years back, was a 1987-93 Mustang four banger with a Turbo. It would sound like the slow 88hp version until someone notices the turbo whine, but by then the race is over. A sleeper only works though when the car is fairly recent because prospective street racers don't think that anyone would modify a newish car to be fast without doing anything to the exterior. Anything over 6-7 years old would arouse suspicion I think.
It's a bit harder today because a lot of cars have a fair amount of HP and/or are very modifiable to be fast no matter if they're FWD or RWD.
Although, I do have to say that a 2005 Econoline cargo van with a 347 ford V8 with a supercharger and nitrous could be a hell of a contender. Also, this will sound stupid but it's totally going with the ideal of sleepers: A Toyota Prius or Honda Insight. Both those cars are super light if you take out all the electric battery/hybrid crap and I have an idea that if you tossed in a normal engine in there making around 300hp you could really really clean up and make a lot of people look dumb.
NOTE: Street racing is illegal kids. I'm only talking about this in theory as a fun mental exercise.
k car wagon on an s10 frame with a 454 stuufed in.nobody would se it coming lol.or a 5.0 tempo
Ford Festiva with a turbocharged H22.
600hp turbo geo metro 3-cly.
yes, i've seen one and i must say,
waste of money!
I miss my Cavalier, even if it made 100 hp on a cold day and had more suspension then it deserved.
Roadmonster wagon with a LS7 and T56 or T6060 trans. Preferably a "woody".
80's Cadillac Seville
Pontiac Scooter/Acadian/Chevy Chevette
Honda S2000
All of those.. with an LSx shoehorned into the engine bay.
*Grin*
I never thought I'd say this, BUT
I'm a big fan of a turbo K-Car with some missing hub caps.
A rattle-can paint-job would get bonus points.
[ o ][][][][][][][][ o ] coach built xj  ( o   \[][][][][][][]/  o ) hid wj
3.8L turbocharged vega. with the v6 you still have plenty of room to stuff a nice turbo under that hood!
2009 Ford Mustang V6
97-04 Buick Regal GS
91-05 Buick Park Avenue Ultra
You just can't beat a 3.8L supercharged car that looks like its regularly driven to the local senior center.
Check out my build thread!
Scarab (Jersey Jay 1.8T) wrote:END OF STORY
Crowd like that one!
LOL!
Holy crap!
Eh...old man with a Corvette now...it was bound to happen sooner rather than later right?
A good sleeper IMO is an early 90's Sentra SE-R, with steelies, and badge removal.
nayone would be pressed to tell the difference. Not that it's fast by todays standards, but can still hang.
3rd gen cavy with a Turbocharged 3800 V-6, a.k.a. Raven.
"Project 69'"
1969 Chevrolet C/10, 1/2 ton, 2wd
-Boosted LS1?
-Richmond ROD 6-speed(will get sometime)
-Posi 12-bolt(built w/eaton posi unit and richmond 3.73 gears)
-Disc brake and 5 lug swap
+little extras
3800 s/c'd into a 2nd gen J. Leave the @!#$ty paint job and sagging headliner.
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4g63t mirage
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^^^ agreed. Leave the body stock and do some major gutting in the engine bay. You can either go the 4g63t way or even put in a 4g92 with a mivec head in it. Either way you have an econobox that will move. If you get tired of the sleeper look, you can easily convert the body to look like a EVO 5.
All in all, these days it is hard to find a true sleeper car. Everywhere you look there is always something that will blow your mind on the streets. If I can put together enough funds, I really want to try and assemble an AWD Cavalier with an 4G63t out of an EVO 9 in it. I know it would cost a lot of money, and be worthless, but it would be very unique. Then take it to Buschur and let them make it a 600 hp beast
But good luck on quest to find the ultimate sleeper.
TRD supercharged Corolla CE. Nobody sees it coming. Even with the TRD exhaust and a decent intake, your brain just goes "lolwut? Is he srsly gonna race that?"
My other thought is a Chevette with either a V6 or some kind of small block V8. Watch people sh*t themselves when they lose to a CHEVETTE.
2010 Honda Fit LX
Another one....
old VW Fox w/ either a turbo R32 transplant, or also a nicely setup VR6 Turbo. Granted, might not be the fastest, but you still would never see it coming either.
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Str8edgez24 wrote:Another one....
old VW Fox w/ either a turbo R32 transplant, or also a nicely setup VR6 Turbo. Granted, might not be the fastest, but you still would never see it coming either.
I saw somewhere a while ago somebody did a northstar swap into an 80's golf
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Those so naive, so hard headed, so narcissistic, that think that buy their own efforts can single handedly change the world, are always the ones that do.
NUTCASE . wrote:Str8edgez24 wrote:Another one....
old VW Fox w/ either a turbo R32 transplant, or also a nicely setup VR6 Turbo. Granted, might not be the fastest, but you still would never see it coming either.
I saw somewhere a while ago somebody did a northstar swap into an 80's golf
This would be it. 1991 Vw Golf w/ a V8 Northstar planted in it.
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