The 4 Types Of "Sleepers"

The Urban Dictionary definition of sleeper is "A car that has high performance but intentionally looks to be ordinary or even beat up."

A Car Non Gearheads Think Is Slow But Gearheads Know Is Fast

This kind of car may fly under the radar of most people on the road but true car guys know what’s under the hood; a great example would be a Cadillac CTS-V. Most people wouldn’t expect it to be as fast as your average supercar but those who truly know the car know what it’s capable of.

The Wild Card

This designation applies a lot to modified cars; sometimes the question isn’t whether or not a car is fast, the question is HOW fast is it? If you see a turbocharged Civic for example it could be just a simple bolt on turbo kit with low boost or it could also be a car with forged internals and over 20 PSI of boost. It’s this roll of the dice that plays out with street and grudge races across the globe.

Hood Closed Sleeper

A hood closed sleeper stays a sleeper as long as it’s hood stays closed because that’s where the juicy stuff lies. You could walk by it in a parking lot and have no idea that it runs 9 second quarter miles because the cover of this book is sedate but it’s contents are anything but.

The Ultimate Sleeper

I think these kinds of sleepers are the best kind of sleeper. This kind of sleeper not only fools those who don’t know much about cars, they fool seasoned car guys as well. The ultimate sleeper even with it’s hood up looks bone stock yet is anything but. Ported cylinder heads, a high lift camshaft that doesn’t sound lopey and short gearing are mods that can add hidden speed. A flashy carburetor and intake manifold won’t fly here because that could give the car’s quickness away; you could maybe use those fancy parts but make them look like stock parts just to be safe.