"I would never have been noticed if not for that car," said Harris, who is now director of research and development for Rockford Fosgate. "The Terminator Hearse is part of my life. I'd never consider selling it. That would be like selling my own kid, if I had a kid".
Harris said the Terminator was a real trendsetter, introducing several new concepts to car audio. "It was the first car to have bus bars, dual alternators, on-board video – lots of stuff," he said. "It was way ahead of its time".
The interior was designed to resemble cockpit of a jet aircraft. It has various LED displays, a steering wheel from a Beechcraft airplane, and Recaro seats.
Here is THE TERMINATOR!
These are the three custom designed 24 inch speakers.
A view of the enclosure before being completed.
The navigation console ("cockpit") in the works.
The "cockpit" after completion.
The driver and the front-seat passenger each have their own pair (left/right) of MTX 1-inch tweeters and 5-inch midranges installed in the overhead console. In the rear are three 24-inch subwoofers. And built into the floor are eight MTX Terminator 12-inch woofers.
Besides its thunderous sound system, the Terminator also had an array of gadgets that are considered high tech even by today's standards. There's a rear-view camera, an Apple computer system to monitor the car's electronic functions, an ETAK navigation system, and a TV in the center console. An electronic message board inside the windshield that scrolls messages about the car. It also has a security system, radar detector, VCR, and best of all, a CD player, which was considered rare in 1985.
The Terminator cut a wide path on the sound-off scene, which was in its early stages in 1985. Harris said he won $500 to $750 almost every weekend in 1985 and '86. He even won a Chevy S10 pickup as first prize at one event.
He retired the Terminator from competition in December of '86 when he was hired by Orion, but he continued to show the vehicle at car shows until 1993. The last public appearance was at the Phoenix World of Wheels show in January 1993.
