More Sleeper Action

If you follow my blog you’ll come across some sleeper posts every so often. You either get them and understand the need to drive a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or you simply can’t understand why you would dumb a performance vehicle down. Remove the badges, grills and actually disguise the big exhaust? What, are you crazy?

No.

You see, there’s something smug about out-dragging a Porsche in something deemed only fit for a run to the shops. I love this concept and will build one at some point in my life – perhaps dumb down a wagon of some sort.

To any readers into this sleeper business, I was happy to find the latest edition of Mighty Car Mods on YouTube. These funny Aussies know a thing or three about building a sleeper, and Marty has revealed his new Subaru project. It’s a wagon (with the help of STI components) that can already hit the 1/4 mile in 11.9 seconds. The aim is to make it even quicker, to hit the 11 second mark – that’s damn quick for a wagon they affectionately call “Gramps”.

Check out Gramps and tune in to see what this rather affable vehicle will be capable of.

5 thoughts on “More Sleeper Action

  1. Sleepers used to be common in the late 70’s/early 80’s, I remember reading about Ford cortinas that even had their original basic steel wheels, rust etc and yet underneath had V8’s and custom built suspension systems – I think you were far less likely to get pulled by the police if driving a vehicle that didn’t look like it had been modified.

    I had ‘sort of’ a sleeper many years ago – I fitted a V8 into my old and knackered ‘looking’ 88″ Series Land Rover that was covered in dents from years of off roading. Underneath however the mechanicals were A1. The engine was tuned and fitted with quad SU carbs on a boxer manifold. For years (as a diesel) every morning when leaving for work I’d get overtaken by a guy in an old 911 who lived near me and left for work at the roughly the same time. Often he’d catch me up within a mile or two or leaving my village and blasted past me once we reached a long straight. Shortly after fitting the V8 he attempted the same thing only to find that as we reached the straight the battered old Series in front of him roared off into the distance leaving him standing……..it was worth all the money on the conversion just for that one occasion ?

    Sadly the V8 got replaced with a diesel again six months later as I found I could not afford to run an 18mpg vehicle……. ðŸ?¦

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    • That story is what dreams are made of. My dad had a series 3 Land Rover and I did drive it a few times. I love them, particularly the Defenders. I think it’s even more admirable that someone would leave the rust and old rims covering the top notch mechanics underneath.

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      • I’m building another at the moment, a 1960 Series 2 but will be fitted with a 2.5 turbo intercooled diesel from a 1992 Land Rover Discovery, it’ll only have 120hp but the truck also only weighs 1400Kg (3100 pounds) and has low gearing so acceleration will be more than a match for most traffic lights ðŸ?‰ (Right up until the gearbox and halfshafts die that is). Despite stripping the truck down to the last nut and bolt for a rebuild I’ve left many of the dents in the panels and deliberately sprayed a semi-matte paint so that it looks aged. It will surprise a few people I think 🙂

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