The Q-car, Sunbeam Tiger, is a Sunbeam Alpine with a 4¼-litre, later 4¾-litre, Ford V8 engine transplant.
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6.3 appeared like any other 300 SEL. Its performance was another matter. In 1966 company engineer Erich Waxenberger transplanted a massive 6.3 L Mercedes-Benz M100 V8 from the company's flagship 600 (W100) into a W109 chassis, creating the first Q-car from Mercedes-Benz. Full-scale production of 300 SEL 6.3 began in December 1967.
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The Lancia Thema 8.32, fitted with a Ferrari V8 engine, has been described by Road & Track as "one of the weirder sleepers to come out of the 1980s". The car which is most often credited as the start of the production Q-car trend in Europe is the Lotus Omega, which started out as an Opel Omega/Vauxhall Carlton.
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The CB&Q; and GN cars arrived in early 1942. The CB&Q; car, numbered 6000 and named Silver Pendulum, seated 60. GN numbered its car 999; it could seat 68. The introduction of the cars coincided with the entrance of the United States into World War II. As the cars arrived they entered service with their respective railroads.
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On 12 August 1966, a Metropolitan Police crew in an unmarked Triumph 2000 Q-car, registration plate GGW 87C and call sign "Foxtrot One One", was patrolling East Acton (although the incident was always reported by the media as occurring in Shepherd's Bush) in west London. Detective Sergeant Christopher Tippett Head, aged 30, and Temporary Detective Constable David S Bertram Wombwell, aged 25, were both members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) based at Shepherd's Bush police station in F Division. Their driver was Police Constable Geoffrey Roger Fox, aged 41, class 1 advanced driver, a beat constable who had served for many years in F Division (which covered the Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith) and frequently acted as a Q-car driver due to his vast local knowledge. All three officers were in plain clothes.
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The American nomenclature comes from the term sleeper agent, while the British term derives from the Q-ships used by the Royal Navy. In the February 1963 Motor Sport magazine editor Bill Boddy said "the modifications carried out by Lotus have turned the Lotus Cortina into a 'Q' car par excellence". The British film The Long Arm (1956; aka The Third Key) mentions a Q car (unmarked) patrolling the city by night, indicating that the term was in use among UK law enforcement at least a decade earlier. In July 1964, British magazine Motorcycle Mechanics carried an announcement from editor Bill Lawless of the use of two police 'Q–cars' – a black Daimler SP250 sports car and a green Austin A40 Farina – patrolling the A20 road between London and Maidstone, Kent.
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In 2003, the 260 version of the car was launched (codenamed X12 and X13 for the saloon and estate versions respectively), utilising a 4.6 litre V8 from the range of the Ford Mustang. The model was converted from front-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive, and was largely engineered by motorsport and engineering company Prodrive, before being completed by MG. Given the subtle external differences, the V8 is often regarded as a Q-car.
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Never available for private ownership, the car was produced in small scale all the way until 1981. In 1963, GAZ introduced the world's first Q-car, the GAZ-23, by transplanting the large V8 engine and the powertrain of the Chaika into the unibody Volga. The transmission was adapted to the steering column shifter. This car was primarily used as a motorcade escort by the KGB's ninth directive (responsible for personal security).
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38 Webley Service Revolver from the bag next to him (which also contained a third gun). He ran over to the Q-car and shot PC Fox three times through the window as he tried to reverse towards him and Roberts, who also fired several shots. As he died, Fox's foot jerked down on the accelerator pedal causing the car to lurch forward over the prone body of DS Head, who was already dying of his wounds.
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Midway through the series he was transferred to E Division's Q Car Squad and promoted from Sergeant to Inspector, a rank he retained when he returned to the Yard in 1963. Baxter had his own short TV series, Echo Four-Two. Unfortunately the show suffered from poor scripts and of 13 planned episodes, only 10 were made (30 minutes each, 24 August 1961 to 25 October 1961), interrupted by an actor's strike, and no more were made.
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The name for the Q45 was inspired by the term "Q-car", implying a high-performance vehicle without a high-performance appearance. At the time, Nissan was working on a program called the "901 Movement," with the aim of making Nissan's the best handling lineup in the industry. The Q45, accordingly, had carefully tuned suspension and was generally sportier than its Lexus competitor. In Japan, it was sold as the Nissan Infiniti Q45, and was exclusive to Nissan Prince Store locations, as its platform twin the President was exclusive to Nissan Motor Store locations.
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Quoted by Autocar magazine in the UK as a "Q car par excellence" sadly in France its 5CV tax rating made little sense in a small car and as a result sales were low compared to the Ami 8. In the UK however where no such tax penalties existed the Ami Super attracted healthy sales although is now a rare sight due to poor corrosion resistance, a feature suffered by many vehicles of this era. The Ami Super production reached close to 42,000 in sedan and station wagon by February 1976.
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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.Rodrez. Sleeper cars are so called because their exterior looks similar or identical to 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 have higher performance levels.
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