Karlos Saigado could have bought just about any car he wanted for his weekend party patrol, but few offer the comfort and accommodations of a Lincoln LS. As a resident of Kisimmee, Florida, having a plush ride is key to a successful night out on the town. In the event that a prowl produces partygoers, you'll need the extra room. And you'll need on-road entertainment.
You'll also need eye candy. While the typical Lincoln LS does little to get the ladies' motivated, a chrome set of dubs rollin' does the trick nicely. 'Los replaced the factory 17-inch sport wheels with 20-inch Kellener Sports for proper recognition. The body of the car was also altered with an aftermarket body kit offered by the dealership. The kit's side skirts, completely different front bumper and rear wing set this LS apart from the VP's down the road. A stainless steel Borla exhaust blats a commanding note, fending off would-be racers. Karlos loves that fact that his is like no other on the road.
Lincoln offers the sport sedan with an Alpine sound system as an option, but OEM Alpine, good as it may be, wasn't going to cut it. Instead, Karlos wheeled the LS to Audio Illusions in Orlando, Florida. Audio Illusions is no newcomer to high-end car audio. As builders of some of the nation's top-level mobile sound systems, Audio Illusions sets the pace for high-end Florida.
Like so many high-end installations, the interior was completely removed making way for a through treatment of sound damping materials from Dynamat. Specifically, the front and rear doors were treated as was the rear deck and floor. Even luxury sport sedans like the Lincoln LS are on the light side of what car audio buffs consider "dead". Reinforcing the interior with quality damping materials is a prerequisite for most installers.
This stage of the installation was also a good time for installers Noel Wolfgramm and William Fonseca to get a collective idea of how the installation would be tackled. Since this is a weekend show car and clubmobile, a flashy, fun installation was in order. Karlos wanted people to remember his car as a good time, not one that hides it qualities. As such, the components used would be on display and highlighted by custom installation touches. Like a good painting needs a suitable frame, key components in this installation would be highlighted with trick installation procedures. And the installation itself wouldn't conform to typical show car stats.
Daring DoorsInterestingly enough, the speakers used in this installation, Polk Audio Momo Series, would inspire styling for the entire installation. The Momo designed speakers represent the quintessential of automotive style and would make the perfect speaker for this off-the-wall installation.
Two Polk Audio Momo MM465 6.5" mid-bass drivers are installed in each front door for pounding punch. Housing the 6.5" speakers are custom wood and fibreglass enclosures recovered in factory black vinyl and capped with gel-coated fiberglass tubs that mount the speakers. Floating over each driver are Polk Momo MM400 1" tweeters mounted in one of the craziest configurations we've seen in a long time. Using fiberglass and lexan, Audio Illusions was able to create the wild shapes while gel-coating provided the smooth surface needed for a high-gloss yellow finish. When the doors are opened the tweeters are illuminated with red lights.
Front door speakers are passively kept within their optimum playing range with the Polk Momo crossover included with each Polk component set. Phoenix Gold 12-gauge speaker wire keeps the juice flowing. Two of the four channels afforded by a Phoenix Gold T1 500.4 drive the front stage with plenty of headroom.