I don't know what it's called but I want it
January 5, 2011 5:59 PM Subscribe
What is the term for a shabby looking car that is tricked out like a muscle car underneath?
Sleeper
posted by sanka at 6:01 PM on January 5, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by sanka at 6:01 PM on January 5, 2011 [2 favorites]
Yeah, that's a sleeper. Basically refers to any car built for performance that doesn't show outward signs of those changes.
posted by cosmicbandito at 6:03 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by cosmicbandito at 6:03 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
I came here to say sleeper, but I don't know that I'd say shabby. How about stock appearing? Dog dish hubcaps instead of mags, no hood scoop, plain Jane.
posted by fixedgear at 6:18 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by fixedgear at 6:18 PM on January 5, 2011
If it's an old Model A, T Bucket or other Pre WWII car, it's commonly known as a Rat Rod.
Sometimes you'll also hear a car called a Q Ship. This is a car that looks bland but is powerful underneath. They are named after ships in WWI and WWII that looked like freighters but were actually armed.
posted by JohntheContrarian at 6:41 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sometimes you'll also hear a car called a Q Ship. This is a car that looks bland but is powerful underneath. They are named after ships in WWI and WWII that looked like freighters but were actually armed.
posted by JohntheContrarian at 6:41 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
In Australia it would not be uncommon to call something like that a 'Q Car'. So seconding the Q Ship reference.
posted by tim_in_oz at 7:19 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by tim_in_oz at 7:19 PM on January 5, 2011
If it looks like they pulled it out of the scrap yard, and maybe has a bunch of parts from the wrong make on it (e.g. Ford stuff on a Chevy, etc.), then i'd say it was a Rat rod. Otherwise i'd say it's a sleeper.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 7:37 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by ArgentCorvid at 7:37 PM on January 5, 2011
Yeah, a sleeper isn't quite the right phrase. A sleeper is a car that looks completely normal, maybe even dull, but is really f-ing fast. Doesn't even have to be modified under the hood, I don't think. I'm pretty sure they used that (back in the day) to refer to some of those models that were family sedans or grandma cars, but had a 400 cid engine under the hood.
A sleeper would be a Crown Victoria with a Mustang Shelby powertrain hiding under the hood.
(Ran into one of those just the other day, in fact. Was driving down the expressway, and a dopey looking Hyundai did 65 to about 90 in the blink of an eye.)
Rat rod used to mean that, but it has morphed a little bit to mean what JohntheContrarian describes. Instead of a type of car, now it is a style of car.
Dammit, now I *know* there is a word for that. Possibly from the Fast and Furious movies. Stealth something? Hidden gem sort of feel to it.
posted by gjc at 7:38 PM on January 5, 2011
A sleeper would be a Crown Victoria with a Mustang Shelby powertrain hiding under the hood.
(Ran into one of those just the other day, in fact. Was driving down the expressway, and a dopey looking Hyundai did 65 to about 90 in the blink of an eye.)
Rat rod used to mean that, but it has morphed a little bit to mean what JohntheContrarian describes. Instead of a type of car, now it is a style of car.
Dammit, now I *know* there is a word for that. Possibly from the Fast and Furious movies. Stealth something? Hidden gem sort of feel to it.
posted by gjc at 7:38 PM on January 5, 2011
I've always heard them referred to as "skins" - e.g. "it's really a Corolla, but it's got a Lamborghini skin".
posted by julthumbscrew at 8:10 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by julthumbscrew at 8:10 PM on January 5, 2011
Whoops! I just described the EXACT OPPOSITE of the thing you asked for. My apologies. *shame!*
posted by julthumbscrew at 8:11 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by julthumbscrew at 8:11 PM on January 5, 2011
No, sleeper is definitely the right word. Take this crappy looking Dodge Caravan minivan which just happens to run a 12.223 quarter mile. That is a sleeper.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:20 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by Rhomboid at 10:20 PM on January 5, 2011
My brother-in-law calls them "stealth racers." He has a Bullitt edition Mustang.
posted by mecran01 at 10:52 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by mecran01 at 10:52 PM on January 5, 2011
I'd still call it a sleeper.
Some years back, a friend of mine and I were at a local Honda garage shooting the breeze with the mechanics. Being 19-year olds, the conversation naturally turned to fast cars. The guys started talking about a late-70's Civic (the old CVCC) 1200 that they fixed up and took out on Speedway Blvd. for Saturday night cruising. Headers, new cam, ported and polished, on and on. They said that little car was amazing and shocked a lot of guys who thought they had fast cars.
This friend of mine was always buying cars and looking for performance on the cheap. One day he saw an ad for a Honda. Doesn't run, many hi-perf parts according to the ad. He bought it for a couple hundred. He needed it fixed, so he took it to the shop. When he brought it in, their jaws dropped. It was The Car. Needless to say, they got it back up and running pronto.
Cruising around town in this car was a riot. Holy smokes, it was flippin' fast. That little, old, beat up Honda looked like any other clunker that some schmoe would use for basic transportation. Until you peeled your Camaro out at a light only to find yourself seeing the tailights of the little clunker disappearing from you. This little car would leave molten patches of rubber on the street when launched hard. He let me drive it a few times, and the best way to describe it would be that it was like driving a motorcycle.
Anyway, I'd go with "sleeper."
posted by azpenguin at 11:17 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
Some years back, a friend of mine and I were at a local Honda garage shooting the breeze with the mechanics. Being 19-year olds, the conversation naturally turned to fast cars. The guys started talking about a late-70's Civic (the old CVCC) 1200 that they fixed up and took out on Speedway Blvd. for Saturday night cruising. Headers, new cam, ported and polished, on and on. They said that little car was amazing and shocked a lot of guys who thought they had fast cars.
This friend of mine was always buying cars and looking for performance on the cheap. One day he saw an ad for a Honda. Doesn't run, many hi-perf parts according to the ad. He bought it for a couple hundred. He needed it fixed, so he took it to the shop. When he brought it in, their jaws dropped. It was The Car. Needless to say, they got it back up and running pronto.
Cruising around town in this car was a riot. Holy smokes, it was flippin' fast. That little, old, beat up Honda looked like any other clunker that some schmoe would use for basic transportation. Until you peeled your Camaro out at a light only to find yourself seeing the tailights of the little clunker disappearing from you. This little car would leave molten patches of rubber on the street when launched hard. He let me drive it a few times, and the best way to describe it would be that it was like driving a motorcycle.
Anyway, I'd go with "sleeper."
posted by azpenguin at 11:17 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's a sleeper in the US and a Q car in the UK.
Also - it's not really sleeper, but what happens when you put an F1 engine in a Renault Espace?
posted by MuffinMan at 1:20 AM on January 6, 2011
Also - it's not really sleeper, but what happens when you put an F1 engine in a Renault Espace?
posted by MuffinMan at 1:20 AM on January 6, 2011
FWIW,--and this may not be quite the same because it involves standard equipment--in about 1980 I had a '68 Plymouth Fury with the "Super Commando" 440 engine, which was the burliest of, IIRC, four engine options. It looked like a tired old lady but it flew. Anyhow, I sold it to a guy who said he wanted to race it, but about five years later I saw it around town with the vanity plate RipVanW.
posted by carmicha at 3:55 AM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by carmicha at 3:55 AM on January 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
I used to have a Pontiac Bonneville that was a Pontiac, Michigan sheriff's car. Plain dark blue on the outside, dog dish hubcaps, etc., but it had all the Police Interceptor good stuff underneath. That car surprised a lot of people. These kinds of cars were always called "Sleepers" by everyone I knew
posted by Lone_Wolf at 8:21 AM on January 6, 2011
posted by Lone_Wolf at 8:21 AM on January 6, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by smcameron at 6:00 PM on January 5, 2011 [5 favorites]