Show me sleds!

Bob Hirohatas Mercury.

I wish I had photo's but back when I was 17, I 'Sledded' an Austin 1100 - Picture this, it was slammed so hard that cats eyes scraped the centre exhaust, I painted it matt black and sprayed yellowy/greeny scallops down the sides, fitted a red leather interior from a Vanden Plas and made some rear fender skirts for it - Could someone do a Photoshop on one? I loved that car and got pulled over so often it got boring - the cops couldn't believe it was driveable whilst so low!

Loving these My ITV/MOT center in Fuengirola would hav a fit if I turned up in one of these lol

To my mind true sleds are 40s to early 50s styled cars. the curved, tail dragging style. There are lots of great customs and lowriders (which are are a different thing all-together) based on cars from he tail fin era and beyond but I wouldn't call them Sleds. My dissertation "Why The 55 Chevrolet Killed Customizing" is available in bound volumes or as a three hour lecture to anyone who dares ask.
But enough of that, here's a few choice selections of Brit built lead sleds from my files:-

Black with a bit love



my personal fav is this...

These choices may be open to debate, they're all non-standard base models for sledding and that in itself may push them into custom and lowrider territory. I'd be interested to know how they fit in and why from someone with more experience.

Height of the roof aside, the DS is practically a factory sled in my opinion with its smooth curvy body, covered rear wheels and tail dragging look.  They have a lot of potential that has rarely been taken advantage of, even when they could be got relatively cheaply.


Rolls Royce sled.  Spats (fender skirts) would make it that little better to complete the image and perhaps some Rolls Royce full disc wheel covers too.  There's a hint of hot rod to my eye because of the colour choices and wheels, other than that I feel like it fits in with the idea of a sled.


These two Saabs, however, I'm not so sure of.  In some ways they do fit with the sled idea but they are both very small and that affects their proportions so you lose some of that grace you get with a larger car.  Beautifully finished the pair of them, with some well considered touches that makes the best of the original shape and improves upon it.  They may fall more into custom territory, I'd be interested to know what would or would not make them a sled from someone that knows the genre better.

Bit of a cheeky one 'cos it was a show concept for Holden rather than a shop-built sled.
But the 'Efiji' (efigy) is amazing work:





But then - real 'lead sleds' should be Mercurys IMHO