Sleeper (car)

For a train carriage with sleeping facilities, see sleeping car.

A Third Generation Mercury Marauder, the performance version of the Mercury Grand Marquis.

A sleeper (US English) or Q-car (British English) is a car that has high performance and an unassuming exterior. Sleeper cars are termed such because their exterior looks little or no different from a standard or economy-class car. In some cases the car appears worse due to seeming neglect on the owner's part, typically referred to as "all go and no show". While appearing to be a standard or neglected car, internally they are modified to perform at higher performance levels. The American nomenclature comes from the term sleeper agent, while the British term derives from the Q-ships used by the Royal Navy.

The earliest known reference to the term 'Q-car' is in the February 1963 edition of Motor Sport magazine. The editor, Bill Boddy, said of the Lotus Cortina: "...the modifications carried out by Lotus have turned it in to a 'Q' car par excellence...".

Examples

Some cars are equipped this way at the factory to suit the tastes of those who want performance without attracting attention of the police, car thieves, or drag racers. For instance, many high-performance sedans look hardly any different from the lower-powered models in the range. Cars with obvious external badging, or overt visual elements that give the impression of high performance, are not true sleeper cars.

Some examples of sleepers include:

• Acura TL Type-S
• Audi S6
• BMW M5
• Buick Regal GS
• Cadillac Deville Concours
• Chevrolet Impala SS
• Chrysler 300 SRT
• Ford Taurus SHO
• Holden Commodore
• Infiniti Q45
• Lancia Thema 8.32
• Mazda 6 MPS
• Mercedes 500E / E500
• Mercury Marauder
• Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
• Nissan Sentra SE-R
• Pontiac G8 GXP
• Rover 620Ti
• Saab 9-5 Aero
• Saturn Vue Redline
• Skoda Octavia vRS
• Subaru Forester 2.5XT
• Subaru Outback 2.5XT
• Peugeot 405 Mi16
• Toyota Corolla XRS (120)
• Volkswagen Passat W8
• Volvo S60R

Beginnings

The Chrysler 300 letter series began in 1955 with the Chrysler C-300. With a 331 in³ (5.4 L) FirePower V8, the engine was the first in a production passenger car to be rated at 300 hp (220 kW), and was by a comfortable margin the most powerful in American cars of the time. By 1957, with the 300C, power was up to 375 hp (280 kW). These cars were among the first sleepers, marketed as high-end luxury cars from the traditional luxury marque Chrysler, but with a high-end homologation racing engine.

The Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 was a powerful sedan with an intentionally subdued exterior, and a popular choice on the options list was a removal of the '450SEL 6.9' badging from the car's trunklid. Without this badge, the car is visually identical to any other period Mercedes saloon and belies extreme performance. This trend of overtly powerful saloon cars with subtle body modifications is exemplified by the work of Mercedes-AMG and Brabus on unassuming Mercedes saloons. These tuning-shop modifications are also in contrast with actual in-house modification, such as the BMW M saloons.

Owner-modified cars

Other vehicle owners create sleepers by swapping more powerful engines or other performance modifications like turbochargers, leaving the external appearance exactly the way it came from the factory. Sometimes hints of the car's true nature show if one looks and listens carefully: wider tires, a lower stance, or a different engine tone or exhaust note. Gauges and instrumentation are often kept to a minimum. Some owners go as far as to use weight reduction techniques employed by other performance enthusiasts, such as removing items not fundamental to street racing, such as rear seats, interior trim, spare tire, air conditioner, power steering, or even the heater.

In some countries, customized sleeper vehicles (as with other heavily modified street cars) may be considered illegal for road use because the car's level of performance is higher than intended by the vehicle manufacturer; if the owner has focused only on straight-line performance, the existing braking, steering, tires, and suspension systems may have been rendered inadequate. The emissions control system (such as intake and exhaust restrictions or the EGR system) is often bypassed or removed entirely in customized sleeper vehicles.

Owners sometimes reduce the evidence that their high-performance car is such by removing characteristic badging and trimmings. Sleeper cars often contain stock body work and wheels found on their less-capable brethren to better blend with other traffic and appear unassuming. Some owners simply like having performance without show, but a more predatory use of the sleeper is in street racing, where it is used to fool an opponent into underestimating a car's performance for the purposes of "hustling". Some have even gone so far as to leave their cars' exteriors banged up and rusting and sometimes even causing additional rusting with the use of battery acid. Often older cars from the 1930's to 1970's could look like restored stockers but with uprated drivetrains, including suspension and brakes as well as engine swaps . These are closely related to resto rods and rat rods.

Sometimes sleepers will be cheaper to insure when compared to an equally fast sports car, but some insurance companies may refuse insurance to owners of heavily modified vehicles. Successfully and intentionally performing this feat may be considered insurance fraud.

Similar usage

The term "sleeper" is sometimes used in the PC gaming community as well to refer to a powerful computer that has been built into a plain-looking and rather unassuming chassis. Also known as "Sleeper PC".

See also

• Drag racing
• Hot rod
• Rat rod
• Contrast: Rice burner