Mike Rodden of Alpha Omega Auto Sound in Taylorville, Illinois, took care of the interior of the car. He went so far as to fabricate one-piece fiberglass rear quarter-panels finished in the same vinyl as the rest of interior pieces. The most challenging portion of the interior install, however, was done by George and Clint. George fabricated his own armrests, and it took three weeks for the pair to use floral-arrangement foam, bathroom paneling, and door handles from a Ford Ranger to create the custom pieces.
Bob Matthews at Bill Matthews Auto Body was called upon to shoot the body panels with the BASF tri-coat Extreme Series paint. Painted before the transformation was undertaken, the Purple Haze hue fits the car quite well. Adding to the outward appearance of the Cobra, George had Matthews bolt on a factory '80 Cobra cowl hood, a Saleen rear wing, and quarter-windows from an '89-'93 model.
Unlike the original turbocharged four-banger, the '80 Cobra now required a computer tune to get it started and down the road. Chad Miller of FC Customs came to George's rescue, using a Predator tuner to come up with a custom tune-up that results in 450 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque at the rear tires. The finishing touches to the Cobra came when George bolted on 17x8 front and 18x8.5 rear OE Cobra wheels from Wheels Direct. The fronts are shrouded in Goodyear Eagle F1 245/40ZR17 tires, while BFG 255/40ZR18 G-Force TAs are mounted out back.
It took five months of hard work to finish it, but the Cobra is now exactly what George had envisioned. It's docile yet potent, and packs a punch both sitting still and moving down the track or road. Case in point was the Lambert family trip to the St. Louis World Ford Challenge event. Commuting the 180-mile round trip to and from the three-day event, the Cobra knocked down 19 mpg, while traveling above the speed limit with the air conditioning turned on full blast. George even got to test the four-wheel disc-brake system at 140 mph without being detected by a cop.
Surely, George would have gotten out of the ticket. The cop would not have wanted to be bitten by Lambert's snake. He might have wanted one of his own.