What’s the best “sleeper” car of all time?
You don’t realize that a car is a sleeper until it’s too late. Whether on drag strip or race track, you challenged it and wound up seeing nothing but its taillights. A “sleeper” doesn’t look fast, but it performs far better than it looks. The Buick Regal T-Type Limited is one of my favorite examples of the breed. It sports all the performance of the Grand National, clad in unassuming chrome trim and packed with top-level Limited luxury features inside and out.
Sleepers have likely been around since people were souping up Model Ts. Take this 1915 Ford Model T Sherman Super Fire, with a claimed 50 horsepower and a four-speed transmission. That’s more than double the engine’s factory output, and the vehicle clearly looks like its built for racing. But it doesn’t have to be.
All (most?) of the performance bits that make the aforementioned red Model T speedster so special can be added to a stock-looking, mundane Model T Doctor’s Coupe. Indeed, the cozy coupe intended for medical professionals would be quite the sleeper with more gears, way more power, and a resultant increase in speed and acceleration.
You could call such a machine a precursor to Urgent Care. Or perhaps a sleeper T Doctor’s Coupe is more of an Urgent Car?
No matter, a sleeper is a formula well known by aftermarket parts vendors looking for more sales and increased awareness. But even manufacturers are known to see the business model for themselves.
I’ll spare you the historical spiel on how a famous racer came together with a newly minted CEO to make the 1984 Ford LTD/LX, but suffice to say that making a Mustang GT–infused sleeper on one of the more forgettable derivatives of the Fox-body platform proved that the concept had merit.
All of this is a very, very roundabout way of encouraging you to answer my question:
What’s the best sleeper car of all time?
***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.
Having owned a few I have to vote for 89-95 Taurus SHO. Especially my 90 in black. Invisible.
I’d buy that for a dollar! 🙂
I agree with you Mike. Good addition to this list.
I agree 100% I loved my ’95 SHO, or at least the engine! It freaked people out to see a stick shift in a Taurus and it was always fun to surprise folks by dropping it into 3rd gear on an approach ramp and nailing it. Always the same WTH? response!
Loved my 93 SHO. That stick had a very unique feel. And when pushed, that car pulled! Bright red exterior was fun too…
I have a white 87 Buick Turbo Limited w bench seat and landing lights
Even in stock form it a blast to drive and dead quiet and smooth , love it
I had a new 1989 “jellybean” and how I wished it had been an SHO. Then again, as a teenager I was drawn to sportscars from places like England and Germany. So my first thought of a sleeper was the Sunbeam Tiger.
The best that I have owned was my HHR SS.
I was not an HHR fan, I hated turbo 4 FWD cars and after a drive I was sold and bought one. I added the GM tune that pushed boost to 23 PS1 and power to 300 HP and Torque 315 FT LB.
I just loved the time a Mustang next to me took off and I was door handle to door handle with him. The next light he rolled down the window and said How are you doing that?
I never did it but the little tin could do 13 sec 1/4 mile time and top 160 MPH if you were crazy enough. I even set off the traction control at 55 MPH as I got well spin rolling.
But the real fun was the suspension. The GMPD group tuned it to where it did a 8 Min lap at the ring. This car showed GM finally got how to tune a suspension as it handled well but did not need heavy springs as bars and shocks were tuned like they should be. This car had that feel where it made going fast felt slow.
The HHR SS was a Cobalt SS under the body so there really were two cars people seldom notices that could steal a tuned Hondas lunch and still carry a load.
One day I had a Hopped up Civic that was well done taunt me. Well I finally responded and drove right past him. I wish he had pulled over as I would have liked to show him the Soap Box Derby car, lift, tools and canopy I was hauling about 300 pounds added weight I had on board.
Good daily driver for 10 years and sold it for about 3/4 what I paid new for it.
I don’t know if it’s the best, but one of my favorites is the Mercury Marauder of the early-mid 1960s. It’s not just your basic Monterey or Montclair…
Y’all are missing the point. Anything with an SHO or SS badge is not a sleeper. Marauder gets close, but its Vader-esque nature almost shows its hand. If you want sleepers, have to go Japanese sedans from the late 90s/early 00s.
03-04 Infiniti M45
6th-Gen Toyota Chaser
We all get the point as things like SS got abused and were applied to just plain old cars as a Malibu SS in the 90’s that was not anything special in any way.
Badge engineering in many cases was rampant.
Even with the SS badging few expected a 13 second HHR to be running up and past them including a few Japanese cars I came across.
So true about the HHR SS. I’ve thought of mine (owned for 14 years) as a sleeper, because the ‘SS’ moniker back in the day was so sadly abused, it wasn’t taken seriously. I enjoy surprising the unsuspecting out in the twisties when they try to keep up. Nurburgring indeed…
I’ll go a bit more modern and say the new GTO. LS motor in a Cavalier body? Yeah, that would catch you off guard.
The 2006 GTO was severely underrated for sure.
The neighbor kid has a Cruze with a 2.0T stuffed into it out of a Buick Verano. It looks bone stock and kind of beat up. He’s pushing about 350 HP. No will race him because no one in their right mind believes it could possibly be fast.
1991 Taurus SHO-
2008/2009 Pontiac G8 GT. I’ve owned my 2008 since new and to this day almost nobody knows what it is. Thank God for Google.
I’ll second that. I’ve owned an ’09 G8 GT for several years. Only the most die hard gear heads actually know what it is and what it is capable of. Most people think it’s just another FWD 6 cylinder 4 door typical of what GM has put out for years. What the unwashed masses do not know is that this rebadged Holden Commodore SS has more in common with a Camaro SS than it does a G6/Malibu/Impala.
I bought an 89 5.0 mustang that started life as a 4-banger. Shortly after I bought it, one of the tail pipes fell off of the hastily installed dual exhaust, so I picked it up and threw it in the back. I rode around in this very 4-cylinder looking mustang with one tailpipe out the back for a couple of months before I finally got around to putting it back on. I surprised quite a few folks at the green light.
I was going to mention the Ford LTD – the very hum-drum looking 5.0 capable Ford
Another honorable mention is the mid-80s 4-door Malibu which came off the assembly line with V6s or gutless v8s in most cases where one with a little enhancement would make a pretty effective sleeper
The 55 Pontiac Chieftain modified by Vic Hubbard (or his shop –story is murky?) with a 421 SD Pontiac engine in the early 60s.
It would have looked like a borrowed parent’s car to any onlooker.
Factory sleeper is tricky, since they can’t resist call out badges, graphics or blacked out elements. The supercharged Studebakers that weren’t an Avanti could fool a lot of people.
On that note an original 62 Catalina SD is the ultimate plain Jane sleeper…. Until the cutouts are unbolted
We owned a 1988 LeBaron GT Turbo Coupe once, and although it was a little fancier-looking than your ordinary K-Car, it was an absolute bullet when your foot ticked that turbo into action. I surprised plenty of Mustangs with it.
My best sleeper, though, wasn’t a factory car – it was built in my garage. I had a ’56 Chevy pick-up that had been a ranch truck, so it had all of the requisite dings, scratches, rust spots, dull paint, cracked side glass, and dog dish hub caps. After dropping a 325 horse 396 and 4-speed in it with 4:11 rear gears, it fooled a lot of people at the red lights downtown.
Can confirm had it in a convertible and did way too many stupid things lol
Undeniably it would be a Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 or more recently a Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG, preferably a wagon. The former was a 150-mph sedan–in 1970! The latter (2005-2006) goes even faster and does 0-60 in 4.1 seconds. Mine has 125,000 miles behind it and has surprised quite a few muscle-car owners. To make it an even better sleeper, simply remove the E55 AMG logos. Even cops never give the wagon a second look.
I once had a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere 1 station wagon with a hemi automatic. White with dog dish hubcaps.
I had fun with it.
Now THAT is a sleeper!
There were a few Polaris’s that came out with the big v-8 power under the hood with no badging. The only give away was the factory dual exhaust.
I have a 1966 Chevy Impala 4 door sedan. It has dog dish hubcaps and looks like a family car. However, it has the factory 396 under the hood, 4 barrel carb, and headers. Puts out about 375 horse. I have high performance tires with the lettering turned inward. Love to have little bubble cars think I am driving grandma’s car on the interstate until I open it up and …!
The First Callaway Corvettes were very understated. The only real external clue was a boost gauge in a AC vent. Or if you were lucky the Dynamag wheels if optioned.
Back in 1988 the Vette was not all that fast but it was the best thing around. But the Callaway was good for 200 MPH and much faster 1/4 miles.
The real truth is most real sleepers are built by people not MFGS. Many of the cars named here need work to make them faster. The 5.0 LTD was nothing special till you worked on the engine a bit with the many Mustang parts that would fit it.
Also the Buick Riv GS with the duel quads was a good sleeper as well some coupe Deville’s from the early 60’s that came with duel quad carbs. They appear as normal cars but packed real power.
Today many cars we take for granted are some what quick vs past cars. My wifes SUV with a 3.6 DOHC runs 14 seconds in the quarter at over 4,000 pounds as does my truck. Most cars today pack power unheard of in even the performance cars of the 80’s.
It is a matter of perspective.
The real surprise today is cars like a Z06 that can clip off a 10 second run today. Same for some of the Dodges today. Times like that 20 years ago were only for the well modified.
Fantastic points all around, as per usual. Thank you!
The easiest way to find a sleeper is to invite your Grandmother for a ride, if she refuses to get in the car, then it’s not a sleeper. On the other hand if she goes for a ride and she will never ride with you again, then you have a sleeper on your hands.
What if a. I do not drive and b. my grandmas are dead?