During World War I, Great Britain was in desperate need of a countermeasure against the German U-boats that were demolishing convoys of cargo ships carrying much-needed supplies. The solution to this problem was the creation of the Q-ship. It would pose as an easy target-disguised as an old tramp steamer-but, in fact, carried hidden armaments. Once a U-boat surfaced to fire its guns (since torpedoes were in short supply), the Q-ship would quickly transform itself from a defenseless sheep into a ravenous wolf. False panels dropped to reveal hidden firepower that was used to strafe the German submarines.
From those early war years, the Q-ship expression has since expanded to include all sorts of conveyances that camouflage their true nature. Take Mike Drever's '04 Ram, for instance, which might appear to be somewhat sheep-like at first. Crack the throttle, though, and it clearly has the horns of a Ram. While certainly not disguised as a tramp steamer, you'd never expect this champagne-colored Dodge 4x4 to have the kick of tequila under its hood. Yet when menacing diesel rigs surface on the dragstrip, Mike lowers his false front and proceeds to blast off a quarter-mile run in the 11s. Who'd a thunk it?
Not even Mike. When he bought the pickup back in October of 2003, it was just a work truck for his job running an oil field company based in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Not surprisingly, his initial upgrades were modest and tentative, but he soon became addicted to power-adders.