Conversion 1
It may not look like much, but this was one of my most labor intensive / rescue jobs to date. See the end photos for pictures of what it looked like when it came in. This client wanted a high end audio system with a custom trunk and console. The client purchased the vehicle from out of state and sent it directly to us without seeing its condition in person. Safe to say, the interior was completely shot. It was all original and absolutely showed its age. So to even start to do what we do, we had to completely start from scratch. The entire interior was removed and disposed of. To try and be as budget conscious as possible, we decided to do an OEM style interior restoration and add our flares of custom components where we originally planned.
So the entire car was specced and every possible new component was ordered. Every single thing was replaced down to the molding, carpet, screws, seat components, windshield washer hose, ect. We gutted the wiring and started from scratch, creating new fuse centers to ensure the system is safe and can easily be serviced. The old dash was cut out and a brand new version was painted an installed. Because of it being a classic car, mostly all the new parts did not fit, so mostly everything had to be stripped and gapped accordingly. This is why working on old cars is no bueno. The entire cars bare metal was covered with a combination of Hushmat and Soundshield. New carpet was laid over the floor and a one piece fiberglass headliner was installed.
The A-Pillars were fabricated to match to the new dash. Acrylic pods were created to house the Focal Utopia M Midrange and Tweeters. Kickpanels were created to house the 6″ Utopia M Midbass drivers. A brand new console was created to bring in a simplistic solution to include new door lock switches and our Helix Conductor DSP controller. We created magnetic inserts for our new alcantara shift boot for easy service. A wireless charging dock was created for modern day phones, while also doubling as the mount for the Astell & Kern SP2000 DAP. A Sony 10″ radio was chosen as our main source unit. What was left of the old deck was removed and a new one was designed to house two Focal 6×9 speakers and to offer a pass through vent for the air in the trunk to move into the cabin. We designed a speaker pattern grill which was carried out to each speaker cover. We used a similar engraving with the Focal logo which can be seen on each grille. We created a base laser floor over the existing trunk floor to house four Mosconi Pro amplifiers, a Mosconi Atamo 2 amplifier, XS Power auxiliary battery, Helix DSP Ultra, XS Power Intelligent charger, two Focal Utopia M Subwoofers and fuse panel. Trim was designed and created to give a seamless finish.
