The Arc Audio Cobra

Demitrious, the owner of Arc Audio (www.arcaudio.com) is a super cool cat.  His company makes some of the very best high end car audio equipment in the world.  Period.  This is a true high end brand that is on par with ultra high end exotic stuff!  Demitrious and Mike wanted us back after we performed some work on the Monkeemobile and a Woody showcar.

When Matt S. and I (Rod) first looked at this beautiful machine at Mike Gray's shop www.advancedrestorations.com in South Sacramento, we were both really curious about how and where we'd mount equipment in a Factory Five AC Cobra replica.  After looking and looking again, we kicked around really the only possible options, and CAI got to work.

*(Mike Gray is the master craftsman who restored the Monkeemobile in 2006!)

 

This is what the car looked like while Carl ran power wire, cables, speaker wire, fuseholder, and a pair of jumper posts for a car show power supply.  Carl had finished his wiring and put the car back down before the remote battery posts were added to the job.  doh!  Sorry Carl!  Man, you're a trooper, you got back into that light little racecar frame, dropped the battery and made it all happen.  Yowza.  Good job Carl!

I'm not sure if we'll see this car at SEMA or CES...maybe...

 

The Arc Audio Robert Zeff signature series 4200 SE amp has serious power for the Dynaudio 8" components up front and the pair of Arc Audio 8" subs in the trunk.  'sorry about the dark picture, the subs are hard to see on each side of the trunk.  Matt built a pair of identical 8" fiberglass and wood subwoofer enclosures for the 8's, he integrated each enclosure with the sides of the trunk, contouring to the ends of the amplifier.  The amp goes well with the black vinyl of the enclosures and the aluminum panels that comprise the trunk floor and walls.  Behind the amp is a blue LED stick lighting up the trunk at night.

 

Here is a picture of the trunk in the dark.

 

Here is a glorious shot of the front of this animal.  A modern 5.0 Mustang engine and T5 transmission make this lightweight little racecar fun to drive anywhere.

Here is a picture showing the magical, virtually impossible solution Matt created in response to nowhere to mount speakers in this car.  The doors themselves are lightweight fiberglass units with steel frames, but only and inch or two thick!  Matt fabricated a custom door panel/speaker pod for these beautiful Dynaudio component speakers.  This car sounds good.  I think it might have the best sounding stereo of any Cobra or Cobra replica in the U.S..  Maybe the world!!!

Yes, I know, this picture is blurry.  I've got a record number of bad shots of this car between lighting and a setting someone inadvertently had engaged on the camera while taking the pics.  Sorry!  Demitrious wanted us to also install a vintage, era correct speaker grill on the rear wall-which is vital to hearing any bass response from the trunk while on the road.  At night the blue LED illuminating the trunk glows through the small holes in this grill, into the interior.  We also installed the ashtray you see, and built a small housing for the McIntosh headunit and VU meter display unit.  I (Rod) am proud to say that this was my little part of the job, and Matt wrapped the black vinyl around it to match the rest of the dash.  We actually need to give Matt credit for most of the work on this car.  Thank you Matt!  Creativity and hard work lead to a legacy of work like that found in this car.  The work on this car is solid throughout and even the door panels are attached with quality fasteners, providing full function for many years.

 

Here's another shot (albeit blurry, again!) of the middle of the dash of this car.  Yes, the fire suppression system is real.   This shows the McIntosh headunit and separate meter display.  The blue illumination really fits the interior of this beautiful car.

Thanks Demitrious, we appreciate the opportunity to work on your sweet ride!