At the end of the recent Consumer Electronics Show, a Pagan Gold GM Pontiac TransAm bathed in artificial white light stole my attention away from the many distractions and noises of the show. Beautifully poised on a metallic floor was what appeared to be Focal Audio's example of its finest work. I immediately noticed the sharp attention to detail: 19-inch 542-Forged 3-piece HRE wheels wrapped with Pirelli-P-Zero rubber tucked perfectly under the flawless wheel wells; the 13-inch, 4-piston caliper Brembo brake setup; chassis stability via a Hochkis upper strut bar; anti-sway bars; trailing arms; pan-hard rod, and springs; and Bilstein for high performance shocks.
The reflections of numerous flashes from photographers seemed to harmlessly bounce off the GM superbeast as I took a peek at the interior. I was met by purpose-fit 3-inch, 5-point RCI race harnesses tucked symmetrically into the upright deep bucket Sparco REV race seats. At that point I thought, oh great, another show car with seats and harnesses, this car can't be that fast. There was only one way to check, look under the hood! I walked around the front to discover this TransAm is supercharged via a huge chrome Vortech Engineering unit. The informational plaque stated that it has a fully ported and polished head, SS Racing Engine Valves, valve springs, retainers, push rods and cams all by Competition Cams; pistons by Ross; rods by Callies; clutch and flywheel by Centerforce; a huge Flowmaster dual exhaust; Rytek ExZt 2b exhaust tips; a Rytek catch can; and a K & N air filter to take care of cool incoming air. Okay, that justified the race seats and harnesses, but why was this 10-second show car sitting in an audio booth? I investigated on the spot and bumped into the mastermind of the project. Dindo Cajulis met me with a smile, a handshake, and gave me a brief overview of the car. I wanted more in-depth info on the audio setup.
Dindo opened up the doors so I could get a closer look at what was going on. Just behind each race seat, sitting on a beautifully molded Element enclosure, is a Focal Utopia 12-inch 33WX subwoofer. Powering these Focal flagships is a set of Dimension amps rated at 200w/mono (20 -70 Hz) resonant @ 50 Hz. On the midrange line-up we have a set of Audiom 6W 6.5-inch speakers powered by a 75/ch - (70 - 3500 Hz) amp by Dimension, and T51 Utopia line tweeters on demand backed by another Dimension amp. Controlling all of these components is an Eclipse 5506 CD unit.
We set up a full blown photo shoot out in Oxnard, Ventura County California. That is the home of Rytek Projektz, and is Dindo's local stomping grounds. I asked him straight out, who are you, where did you come from, and how did you get started in the audio industry? While Dindo was in school in 1985 he built his own system for personal use. He built a quadruple amplified 3-way crossover sound system when everyone else was rocking the 6 x 9s. He did this one system and people started to take notice. Before long he was doing installs on all his friends' cars out of his girlfriend's condo. His actual target market at the time was the fraternities. He built up a clientele among the college kids in San Luis Obispo and it didn't take long before everyone knew, if they wanted a stereo hooked up well, Dindo was the person to talk to. He began doing so many installs he ran out of time for himself, so once he graduated college he stopped doing installations. Dindo considers car audio a hobby and would not label himself a professional. He is an enthusiast, but he says his installs are flawless. The proof is in the end result.
Complete attention to detail, wiring, and installation are crucial. Dindo never uses any wood due to the fact that the car never came with wood in the first place. He prefers to wire the car exactly like an OEM manufacturer would wire it. No need for fiberglass or any sensitive materials. Why put these fragile materials in a tricked out street/race car and not drive it hard? His installs are all about function and style. When you blend those two, it is a powerful combination.
There are many different things that distinguish audio manufacturers. Style, quality, function, and brand name. The major difference with Focal is that they are strictly a speaker manufacturer. That is all they do, and they have become extremely good at it. They achieve their quality by bringing to the consumer the same units that high-end home audio collectors are utilizing. Some of these setups are in the $50,000 dollar range for the home systems. Imagine applying that same technology to the car audio market and you can see why Focal units are raising the bar to the next level while remaining competitive. They make it a point in all of their advertisement not to mention exactly how good their products are. There is no need to when you have a product that speaks for itself, so to say.
When I asked Dindo how the integration of GM, Rytek, and Focal happened he explained that in 1991 when he was building a lot of home speakers, he noticed a Focal distributor that was selling car speakers. That was before any Focal speaker found its way to America. So he bought a bunch of those up and began installing them. But as time went by he laid off of the scene for a while, then got back into it -- he didn't see Focal again. He began installing in show cars once more with other reputable brands, but it didn't have that same quality that the Focal units possessed. He called the company to find out what was going on with their products, and ended up talking to their owner to work out a deal. Dindo supported Focal before they even knew him, but now he was established, building show cars; it was a mutually beneficial situation. So, for the past three years now Focal has been using Rytek's (i.e. Dindo's cars) for all of the CES shows. He has blended these three companies to form a hot combination. With GM's automobiles, Rytek's performance and know-how, and Focal's audio components, he has once again merged function, style, and performance to build an amazing street, track, and show circuit car.
Dindo choose this particular type of vehicle because he has a lot of experience building "F-body" cars. It is a body style he is extremely knowledgeable about. GM knew this so they approached him and invited him to build one. Dindo saw this as a familiar but challenging experience. It was being built for GM as a corporate show vehicle. The masses would have to appreciate it, but it would have to appeal to the extreme market as well. Consider the color of the car; it's something unique to this vehicle. It is called Shimrin Kandy-Pagan Gold over FBC-01. When I first asked him what color it was, he told me to go to the local bar and pick up a Fosters beer. It was the same color!
It appeared to me that GM had given Dindo a lot of creative freedom to do what he wanted. Indeed GM did put a lot of faith in him and whole-heartedly gave Dindo the green light on creative expression as long as it was in the best interest of General Motors and the consumers that will ultimately buy the car. (This car is actually the main Firebird campaign car and will be in all the major shows including Detroit, San Francisco, L.A., etc.) That is one of the main reasons this car is very stunning and bold but does not have fiberglass and wood everywhere. It maintains a lot of its stock sleek lines, but with a new twist, a lot more function, and incorporates a bold statement.
Everyone at the show was impressed with the Pontiac TransAm. Clean execution, knowledge of the project you are working on, unique insight, and originality are the key factors for producing a work like this. With 550 horsepower, race seats, the top down, your favorite CD spinning away producing chassis shaking tones through the 12-inch beasts behind your seat, you would have to agree that all the work certainly paid off.