1998 Cobra Convertible - The Crown Jewel

With the car still seeing street duty, Andrew couldn't get too crazy with its suspension. The end result is a nice mix that allows the Cobra to hike the wheels on the strip and still drive nicely on the street. The front sway bar was tossed aside for weight transfer, and a pair of Lakewood 90/10 shocks and QA1 springs were put in up front. Out back, a Steeda sway bar, Competition Engineering shocks, Eibach lowering springs, and Steeda adjustable upper and lower controls arms can be found. Tying together the flexible convertible frame is a set of Kenny Brown Extreme subframe connectors and a 10-point chromoly rollcage. Stock brakes hide behind the Weld Racing Pro Star wheels sized 15x3.5 front and 15x10 rear. The lightweight rims are surrounded by Mickey Thompson balloons. Under the front fenders lie the 26x7.5x15LT skinnies, while 325/50/15 drag radials are squeezed under the quarter-panels.

With the car having only a little over 38,000 miles on it, the body and Laser Red paint are pretty much intact. The only deviation from stock is in the hood department, where the hood was tossed in the discard pile in favor of a Cobra R-style unit. As for the interior, the 'cage is graced with a pair of five-point safety harnesses. The stock seats were set aside, and in their place went Monaco Cobra seats. A rear-seat delete kit eliminates rear passengers, and helping Andrew keep tabs on the beast under the hood are a host of Auto Meter gauges. He hits the shift points on time thanks to an Auto Meter 5-inch Monster tach and accompanying shift light.

What began as a headache ended up as being the crown jewel in Andrew's long and storied car-loving history. Not only does his Cobra look good, it hauls the mail as well. "The best time to date has been a 9.80 at 139 without help from the nitrous," Andrew says. "I've made an eighth-mile pass with the juice on, and the car went from 111 to 114, so I'm hoping for 9.40s or 9.50s at 140 mph with the nitrous."

Andrew says the best part of the Cobra is the fact that he can still cruise around on the street with it. "It's a fun car to drive power-wise. I can drive it anywhere I want, it's a convertible, and it runs nine seconds in the quarter-mile."

While a twin-turbo setup might one day replace the blower, one thing that won't be replaced is the Cobra. Andrew found the perfect combination of the four C's, and you can bet his jewel will be around as long as possible.