53 Cool Concept Cars... Part IX

Image by alandberning via Flickr

Sleepers...  Sleepers are cool... and I'm not talking about the big cabs on 'over the road' trucks, I'm talking about cars that don't have an outward appearance of 'speed' but when the pedal hits the metal, they have the juice.

I've owned a couple of sleepers, and I'm wanting a car at the moment that is a 'quasi-sleeper'.  Among the sleepers I've owned was a '65 Mustang.  It wasn't exceptional to look at, with faded paint, missing emblems and wheels that weren't perfect.  But, it also had an extra couple hundred horsepower under the hood and a few suspension tricks to make it really hook up.  Another that I had was a 1970 Plymouth Satellite Station Wagon.  It had a 440ci engine, and with the 'Cheetah Slicks' on the rear (snow tires that were 9" wide and made from the same tread compound as drag slicks), it could romp... and it was seriously ugly!

The one I am looking out for is a Dodge Magnum R/T or SRT8.  They do have a pretty menacing look, so they are really a sleeper, but they still have a more potent punch than most people are expecting from a lowly station wagon.

Another factory sleeper is the Cadillac CTS-V... it CREAMS BMWs and Audis on the Nurburgring.  It has the 556hp engine from the Corvette ZR1... and it makes me happy.

For this week, I am thinking of a truck... maybe a diesel truck.  They are all over the place, and have meaty tires...  AND, it is REALLY easy to drag some serious power from late model turbo-diesel engines.  I have seen Dodge, Ford and GMs pull almost 1,000hp and 1500 pd-ft of torque.  My choice would be a Ford F250 Crew Cab short bed.  It would have the King Ranch package on it (luxurious!)... and the 6.8L twin turbo diesel.  It would likely need the transmission to be beefed up a touch, and with the 5" exhaust and bigger injectors, along with a remapped engine management system and cold air intake, it should produce power that would make it do things when the light changed that would drop some jaws...