1998 Ford Mustang Cobra Convertible

Ask any guy who has gone out and spent a ton of coin on a diamond engagement ring, and he'll reiterate what the jeweler told him the moment he walked into the store. When choosing a diamond, it's all about the four C's: cut, color, clarity, and caret weight.

Although Andrew Juhl wasn't looking for an engagement ring, he was searching for the one Mustang that would be the crown jewel in his garage. While he kept one of the C's (color) when he picked up his '98 Cobra convertible, he changed around the other three. Instead of going for clarity, cut, and carets, Andrew went for convertible, coolness, and cojones.

After owning a four-cylinder '81 Mustang, Andrew moved up the horsepower ladder when he picked up his second car, a '90 Mustang GT. The '90 was sold for his next car, an '89 GT convertible, before he picked up yet another drop-top, a '94 GT. "The '94 had all of the bolt-ons on it," Andrew says. "It had AFR heads, a Holley intake, a camshaft, and a Vortech S-Trim blower. Of course, after a while, I wanted something faster, but I knew that the stock short-block could break after the 500hp mark."

Instead of rebuilding the '94's 5.0L pushrod engine, Andrew sold it and went after the car he really wanted-a Laser Red convertible with black interior. The other item on his checklist was that he wanted a car that already had the work done to it to get him into the 10-second zone, all while still being driven on the street.

"I liked the look of the '94-'98 SN-95 body style better than the Fox-body or the '99-'04 Stangs," Andrew says, "so I started looking for a built '98 Cobra that was making over 600 hp." After checking out the classifieds on Corral.net, Andrew ended up finding a Cobra in Georgia that met all of the parameters he was looking for. Money was exchanged, Andrew picked up the car, and all was good. As it turned out, the solid, built motor that supposedly came with the car turned out to be a worn-out boat anchor. Enter Jake Lamotta of Lamotta Performance. Realizing the convertible's powerplant would need some serious polishing, he pulled the Four-Valve monster from between the framerails for a full-on rebuild.