Sleepers: boring-looking cars with very powerful engines
Oldsmobile 88 (1949)
Although America’s greatest muscle cars were built during the 1960s, Oldsmobile boldly experimented with the idea of putting a big engine in a small car when it released the 88 for 1949. On paper, the recipe was simple: it put the 135bhp Rocket V8 it designed for the 98 into the smaller, lighter 76 body. Its 12.2sec 0-60mph time sounds slow in 2020 but it was extremely impressive at the time.
Performance sold well so Oldsmobile started setting stock car racing records to advertise its new model. It also won five NASCAR Grand National races in 1949. Part of its appeal was that it didn’t look quick; it was offered in six body styles (including a two-door coupe) and they all flew right under the radar.
Chrysler C-300 (1955)
Chrysler set out to steal the spotlight from Oldsmobile when it introduced the C-300 for the 1955 model year. Its Hemi V8 relied on a pair of four-barrel carburetors and a full race camshaft to deliver 300bhp, a number that made the C-300 the most powerful production car in America when went on sale.
Enthusiasts could only order the C-300 as a coupe priced at $4109 (about $40,000 in 2020 money). It was Chrysler’s second-most-expensive car, and it looked the part, but only a handful of checkered flag-shaped emblems informed other motorists about the serious power hiding behind the grille.
VolksVair (1960s)
California-based Crown Manufacturing made some of the more unusual sleeper cars of the 1960s. Starting with an air-cooled Volkswagen, it removed the flat-four and replaced it with a flat-six pulled out of an unsuspecting Corvair. The result, according to period ads, was a 200% increase in power. Speed junkies got a stock-looking Bus or Beetle that could pop a wheelie while spinning its rear wheels.
