What a way to start the new year--with a tangled mess of spaghetti behind my back seat. Toward the end of '03 I noticed that the top motor wasn't working right, and the switches seemed to be a little strange. Turns out it wasn't my imagination: the top motor burned out, and I think that the electrical power somehow fried the switch too. It took several hundred dollars and a few days to correct the electrical situation.

Did I ever mention that this car has never seen winter? Well, that was true until mid-January. This is finally the year that I get a new top installed on the car. Bad news was that the top was stuck down--of course. And nobody had a trailer available to borrow on short notice. Luckily it was only a 5-minute ride to the upholstery shop. The guys there immediately jumped on the wiring problem. It was so bad that they needed to call in a specialist to fix it.

After getting the car back from the upholstery shop, I turned my attention to the interior. First up was a trip to the stereo shop, where I got hooked up with a new stereo system and a new state-of-the-art alarm system. Believe it or not, I planned my whole interior around the new Blaupunkt LA72 MP3 silver-faced CD deck.

I was inspired to do a little customizing with the whole interior, and I've always wanted to see a full brushed aluminum treatment. So off I went to the hardware store to buy a few sheets. After many hours of hand forming and careful planning, the result is seen here. Note that I did not make the heater panel piece, nor the instrument cluster piece (the only parts I actually bought), but everything else brushed aluminum was hand built by yours truly.

Here's a shot of the headlight switch piece. That was probably the worst one, and it took about 8 attempts, but it's pretty cool now. Note that I had to paint the wiper and turn signal levers silver. Also, this is a good shot of the Bullitt pedals I installed in late 2003.

And what wouldn't be a complete year without yet another recovering of the seats! Only this time I did it the smart way. The seat is still mostly covered in off-white leather. Behind my back (where I tend to sweat the most in the summer) is light blue perforated cloth, which is very absorbent. And on the bolsters (where I need kept in the seat the most) and headrests is a pearl white suede. Yep, I made my own Ultrasuede, and couldn't be happier. These seats rock!

Also had the Cougar logo embroidered on the seats in a silver blue thread. After a few trips now, I can report that the seats are much, much better in helping keep me cooler and comfy.

A final inteior touch: custom brushed aluminum panels on the doors. Being that these are the not-so-common "high series" LS door panels, I wanted something to accent them a little...this did the trick. Up toward the front is the stock EL coach lamp surrounded by more suede. Carpeting on the bottom of the doors and in the car itself is navy blue. I suppose you can say I'm in my "blue" period.

The new subwoofer box. Speakers are 12" Kickers, powered by a Kicker amp. Inside the car are 8 MB Quart speakers powered by a Soundstorm amp. Total wattage is around 2500...not bad, especially since I can now feel bass even with the top down. Also added were a few more 1/8" stereo mini jacks for plugging in any version of the iPod.

What would a winter be without a wiring project for the convertible? This was voluntary, though, as I'd built a new instrument cluster.

The new cluster featuring all Auto Meter Pro Comp silver faced gauges, sunk into a custom-chopped Turbo Coupe gauge cluster. Note the countersunk bottom gauges...that's something you don't see in too many cars.

The completed cluster mounted in the car. Despite the wiring photo above, this new cluster can be removed or installed in less than 10 minutes. While not as easy as dealing with factory wiring, it's not bad for going aftermarket. All factory lights and indicators still function as intended. The speedo is especially cool as it can be calibrated for any tire/rear gear combination. Overall the quality of the gauges are outstanding and I'm really happy with them.

This was a holdover year, with no changes whatsoever to the car. It was the first time since I owned the car that I didn't do something to it, other than change the fluids and maintain everything. Actually I'll admit that it felt kind of...dirrty. For a change it was nice to not have to shell out a lot of cash for something!

But of course, I can't go TOO long without spending money. So for 2007 I changed up the carpeting again, this time to the 1985-86 Regatta Blue, and I've got to say that it's absolutely stunning. I feel like the interior is totally complete now. Also, I chose to install a matching painted dash cap, even though the stock dashboard was absolutely perfect. This was simply a little easier to install.

FINALLY, after years of things conspiring against me, I got some matching floor mats. Swell.

As the saying goes, "Who knows what the future will bring?" Right now I don't have any definite plans for the convertible. There are things I'd like to do, of course, but life takes interesting twists and turns and alas, the days of spending freely on this car are probably over for quite some time. But it's not like I'm unhappy with it, not by any stretch! For now it's still the coolest car I've ever owned, and my reward after all this hard work is to just turn the key and drive it.