I have always felt that my antenna was too high in the air.   I know, you're saying, "Is that all he's got to think about?"  Well, one day I stumbled onto Scott Winger's Web Page.

He had a story about this guy he met at the "4.6 Modular Shootout,  July 2000."   He had a shortened antenna on his Cobra.  Scott asked him to do his.  He said "sure," and a few minutes later he was done ... didn't even use any tools.     It's kind of an interesting story, and if you want to read it, go to This LINKl.  There are some other good LINKs there.

                                                                                                                     As far as my antenna goes, I did use a hacksaw, a pair of vise-grips, some super glue, and spray paint!   After cutting it to length, I slid the vise-grips up and down the last few inches of the antenna, hitting against the ball, trying to get it to come off.  It placed some nice little marks around the bottom edge of the ball (paint covered that up)!   The shorter you cut the antenna, the larger the diameter of shaft you have to put back into the ball!!  Well, I had to drill out the hole in the ball, to accept the large diameter shaft.  If you end up doing this, be careful drilling the ball.   It has to be kept secure while you're drilling it, because the ball will try to turn, and you don't want to score it up or crush it - so go slow.  I then tapered the end of the shaft with a file and super glued it onto the antenna.  Lastly, I spray painted the whole antenna with a good type of paint, and put it back on the fender.   Looks a lot better than the "whip antenna."