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?
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In 1979 or 1980 I recall being a passenger in my best friend’s 1970 “worked” 350 Chevelle SS with a 410 rear end and both of us feeling pretty invincible should anyone decide to challenge us on the street that day. At a traffic light in Chicago, a Triumph TR7 pulled alongside of us and indicated that he was up for the challenge, at least we thought it was a TR7. Unfortunately, we were able to determine it was a TR8 by the callouts on the rear of the car as it drove past us in the short straightaway we had.
The 1957 Rambler Rebel. Who would think a 4 door Rambler would be perhaps the fastest car you could buy in 1957.
Yes Kurt!! l was looking for someone to mention the ’57 Rebel! The ultimate sleeper, perhaps! 0-60 in 7.5 seconds – factory stock! Naturally aspirated.
Also consider a ’64 Studebaker Commander or Challenger (yes , Studebaker used the name in ’64) 2 door with a supercharged R3 engine and 4 speed with the right rear end ratio. About 400 hp at the rear wheels and 0-60 in well under 7 seconds. Factory stock and nothing except a couple of inobtrusive badge to give it away.
Gotta agree with that!
The best sleepers are the base-model sedans without the performance clues like big-engine badges, blacked-out trim, or adornment. Like a base Chevelle, Nova, Dart, Duster, Falcon, etc that was either equipped with “the big engine”, or had an engine swap. One of the best factory sleepers ever would likely be one of the few ’66 Belvedere 4-door sedans that got Hemis, especially if it only got the inscrutable “HP2″ fender emblem. My own best effort at the genre was a fairly ratty Duster that hid a 512” Indy-head BB and ran low 11s. What it needed was a set of basic steel wheels, and quieter mufflers to complete the deception.
Well, any “big engine” 1968+ Nova would be an SS and not a sleeper (in my opinion). But the 1966 and 1967 Chevy II 100-series 2-door sedan with the 350-hp L79 327 would absolutely be a sleeper.
That was when “options” could purchased singularly, not as convenience packages. Radios were even optional back then.
Swapping out the engine call out badges allowed the L79 to be a 283. SS badge removed Chevelle’s and Nova’s with 396 replaced by 327 on the marker trim.
That Chevy II was a stocked item at the dealership I worked at, as well the others. We also were involved with Yenko for Corvair’s.
Speed sold in the 60’s and everyone was involved. Great times. No replacement for displacement. Strangely enough 427 is small now with that being a small block and 540/572/632 being a big block.
The Dodge Omni GLH Turbo, and even more so, the Shelby GLHS version. These cars looked like econoboxes (which they were at their core), but would outrun almost any contemporary vehicle … at least up to 100 mph.
There was a guy in Crawfordsville, IN “back in the day” that had an all-black 63′ Biscayne 2-door sedan base model. vinyl seats, rubber floor mats, black walls with chrome center wheel covers. The only thing that gave it away, was if you had a chance to look inside it had a 4-speed and the tach in the dash like a SS. It had a dual-qual 409 under the hood.
The 1969 Chevrolet Biscayne is even more of a sleeper car, plus anything that you could get for the same year Chevelle SS, including the LS6 engine, was an option for that car.
I’ll go along with Carroll Shelby’s favorite Q-Ship (in fact he said it was his favorite Shelby-produced vehicle of all time): the 1986 Shelby GLHS Omni Turbo.
A blacked-out 4-door little bottle rocket that was in the top 5 quickest mass-produced cars in the world (not just the US) for that model year. I refer you to the April 1986 cover story of Hot Rod Magazine, “Shelby GLHS Whips GT350” at the race track.
A car that is a true sleeper are the late ’50’s Eldorados with their standard Dual Quad or Tri-Power set up.
Not that they were the fastest cars on the road, but no one expected them to take off the way they did when you stood on the gas. I owned a ’59 Eldo with the standard 390V8 and 3 Deuce Carburation. When I floored it, the car would leap forward like it waned to fly. No one would believe it was a stock engine.
The Volvo wagons Paul Newman and Letterman had. The slowest vehicle I have ever driven was a Volvo wagon, those should have surprised anyone.
How about a 1963 Bonneville with 421 Super Duty? 421 cid with Tri Power and 425 horse and a 4 speed, had a convertible. Perfect sleeper, looked like a grandma car. Ran great when I got those 3 deuces working together. Ah the good old days.
That LTD ad cracked me up!
I had a 1972 Chevy Vega Wagon 2.3 L four cylinder… oh, never mind.
Lots of great suggestions here, but I feel the Spirit R/T deserves a spot on the list. Sure, it was a performance variant with delightfully 90s color-keyed wheels; but essentially no one knew about it and, well, it was Dodge Spirit and maybe slightly understated vs. a Galant VR-4 (which is always worth a look).
The other one I must mention is the 1989 to 1990 Mercury Cougar XR-7. This offered 100% of Thunderbird Super Coupe performance and manual shifting in a more subtle package, including the more “formal” Mercury rear window. Say no more!
The sleeper-est car I’ve ever had (and I’m a classic car dealer) was the one I sold in order to start my business. It was a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda 340 Formula S notchback, finished in Spanish Gold and green interior. It was also a 4 speed AND a stripe delete car. Other than 3 round emblems on the car, you couldn’t tell what it was…..until you put your foot into it. That car would LITERALLY rip the knobs off the dashboard while trying to find grip. It destroyed stock 383 and 440/4 Mopars with regularity—yes, at the strip. An absolute torque monster, and with manual steering, manual drum brakes, No AC, and flat as pancake bucket seats, the single-most uncomfortable long-trip cruiser I’ve ever been in.
But I’d about give my left arm to have it back.
Best sleeper ever from the early ’60s. My mother had a ’54 Lincoln Capri 4dr sedan (317c.i Y-block)into which my father added solid lifter cam, dual 4bbl Holleys (the old teapot type), Mallory ignition and dual exhausts (quiet though). Surprise!