We really idolize sleepers here on BangShift and we think lots of you do too. Putting one over on someone or winning a race/fight after being underestimated or marginalized is one of the great joys of hot rodding. Hell, we’re even of the mind that if you are the fish that takes the bait and then gets hooked you still need to give the dude that fooled you props for pulling off the ruse. There’s no shame in seeing taillights from a car you never expected to get whooped by unless you were riding the guy hard and running your gums before the race!
One of the truly fun roles in the whole sleeper situation is to be the guy in the passenger seat of the Q-ship. Being in on the scheme is even more fun, especially when you know that you’ve roped a target that’ll never see it coming. Got any shotgun seat sleeper stories? Ever eaten dust and been humbled by something that looks like a ramshackle dumpster on wheels? Tell us about it!
BangShift Question Of The Day: Ever Been Surprised Or Beaten By A Sleeper On The Street Or Track?
I’ve been on both sides of that fence. I’ve got a completely stock looking ’06 Mustang with a Whipple and about 550HP that has caught more than a few people by surprise. I’ve also been in that same car and had a stock-looking Mazda clean my clock with a turbo or two under the hood. It’s fun either way, just a bit more fun without the taillights wagging their tongue at you. 😉
Yes.
In the seventies there was a 3/4 Ton CocaCola repair truck that ran 11s annd a Salmon colored 55 Cad low rider that that ran low 12s at Fremont that terrorized Wed. nites that were as cool as it got, crazy watching the reactions of the Muscle Cars that got train lengthed by them. I am putting together a MGB that I am trying to keep looking like a resto but everything underneath is not(350 chev. ford rearend tube frame, etc.) (see B.S. Garage) LONG LIVE THE Q-SHIP
My mother had a 1969 Buick wildcat with a 430 Cu. In. motor, Carter 4-BBL wired AFB that ran in the low 12’s all day long. It was never beat on the street by Chevelles, Novas, Firebirds, even a friends 1969 428 Cobra-Jet Mustang. That’s when Frankie let the town know that my mother’s car is a “runner”, so don’t even try to beat The Boss in his 1970 Mustang Boss 302!
I was lucky enough to see a few sleepers [1937 Anglia] beat all comers! Ahh, those were the days guys!
Race on friends!
No but I did spank a gray haired man in his bright yellow Mustang GT convertible with my old beat-up ’81 Monte Carlo.
He was so angry he ran the next red light not to stop at my side. Sore loser.
I have suprised a few people in my day with my 1st Gen Celica Liftback.
Looks haggard, primer all down the side, steelies, quiet… But with Supra power. People never know what is about to happen. By the time they hear the turbo spool it’s way too late!
Car: http://s40.photobucket.com/user/speedfreak426/media/IMAG1081.jpg.html
Engine Bay: http://s40.photobucket.com/user/speedfreak426/media/IMAG1045.jpg.html
I had a ’62 chevy wagon with a warmed over 327 with 3-2’s and a 350th that surprised a few people. Or my daughters ’84 T-Bird with a 460/ c6/8.8. Plain white with a 4′ 10″ blonde driver.
Back before I got married I used to get guys to race my car then put my 5′ 0″ then girlfriend in the drivers seat. Chapped a whole heap of them’s hides.
Not only were they beat by a 61 Plymouth. They also lost tot a girl.
Ain’t anyone that’s raced that ain’t been had by a sleeper at least once.
I’ve been burned by a couple. One was a stock looking 57 Fury. It let me do a smoking burn out from a light and then was on me like ugly on an ape. It also had a pretty blue light flashing in the windshield.
I also had a stock looking 68 Monaco with a Hemi that blew the doors off Cameros on a regular basis.
My ’73 Coupe de Ville nicknamed The Gray Ghost. She had an 70 or 71 Eldo 500 ci engine. It was setup for towing with deeper gears, shift kit, and dual exhaust that was so quiet. Hence the ghost name. She would blow the tires off in second gear and flat waste Chevelles. Surprised a few guys in that car.
Knew of a ’69 Impala coupe that wasnt anything special except that it was a factory 396 car. He had 15×8 rallys on it with sticky Mickey’s. Open the hood and it looked stock down to it’s snorkle air cleaner and iron intake. It even had exhaust manifolds. It was a F.A.S.T. car before there was one. Engine was more like a 496, intake and exhaust manifolds were slurry ported and were paper thin. There was also a fogger NOS system plumbed into the intake from underneath. This thing had every sneaky thing you could think of. With the 4.88 gears, it was a killer in the street light wars.
Blue 4 door 74 valiant with a nasty 340 under the hood, stock wheel covers, and M/T’s on the back. Ran 12.20’s.
Got spanked once by a rusty early 70’s Scamp 4 door with a “318 with a cam and 4bbl”.