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1968 Ford Mustang GTCS: Black Plates

mustangcalifornia

Well, talk about doing your homework: the seller of this 1968 Ford Mustang California Special listed on eBay knows the ins and outs of this car, and it sounds like he’s had his eye on it for years. It’s the classic story of meeting the original owner in 1989 when he considered selling it, and not giving up when he changed his mind. This GTCS has been in California all of its life, under the care of a husband and wife who clearly loved the heck out of this car. All of the important original bits are still there, according to the seller, even down to the uncracked Lucas fog lamps in the grill. And one of my favorite details on survivor-grade cars: the California black plates and dealer plate frames are still attached. Bidding is low at the moment and the reserve is unmet, but I suspect it will fetch a good number – and it should, for such a carefully preserved specimen.

Comments

  1. Avatar Mark E

    I’m amazed at how desirable these have become. Back in the day they were considered a fake shelby with just the appearance pieces. I’m also always surprised to realize how rare they are, having actually seen two ‘in the flesh’ back in the ’70s, one in my Minnesota hometown and one at college in Idaho.

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  2. Avatar JW

    There’s a maroon one of these at almost all the local car shows and cruises we attend. It’s the only one I know of in our area.

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  3. Avatar Barzini

    I’ve always wanted to own one of these because they’ve got interesting body lines.

    I also like the ad. It’s well thought out but does not go over the top as other sellers sometimes do.

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  4. Avatar piper62j

    It seems that all the early Mustangs up thru 73 have become very desirable lately and will continue on for quite some time.. We boomers have fond memories of them..

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  5. Avatar Dolphin Member

    The California Special was only appearance features like Mark said, and it has never appealed to me as much as the fastbacks, especially the Bullitt clones, which is what I would own if I had a ’68 Mustang.

    Ford marketed the CS with a special CS-only brochure that had great photography showing a red car and was more appealing than any of the brochures for any of the other vintage Mustangs, IMHO. I think Ford was having trouble moving Mustang coupes after 4 years of selling them, and that was the reason for doing the CS version, which was a special model without any new engineering.

    It’s good to see a detailed description in the Ebay listing, but as I understand it Ford made 4118 of these, not the less than 4000 the seller says.

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    • Avatar Kjell

      GT/CS 3867
      High Country Special 251

      Total 4118

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  6. Avatar Brakeservo

    Quite an apartment parking lot – that’s a Bentley Arnage next to the Mustang and interestingly, when new the price of that Bentley would bought a good little house in many areas of the country, today it MIGHT be worth less than the Ford it’s next to!

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  7. Avatar Howard A Member

    Anybody that’s into Mustangs, knows, this is a pretty rare car. An even rarer car, is the ’68 Mustang “High Country Special”, that had basically the same equipment, but was marketed in the Denver area, of which, 251 examples were made. I never heard of either car, until recently, but the fact that this is still around, at any price, is amazing.
    http://mustangattitude.com/mustang/1968/1968_00030_03.jpg

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  8. Avatar MikeW

    There were lots of Mustang variants in the ’60’s. How much they are worth is up to the buyer and seller. Most were duded up coupes, but some were even fastbacks in 69/70

    1967 Mustang GT, GTA, Shelby, Sprint, High Country Special, Ski Country Special, She Country Special, Stallion, Branded, Lone Star Limited, T-5, Other, Eleanor, Indy Pacesetter, Limited Edition 400, Tussy, Blazer Limited Edition, Centennial Special, Anniversary
    1968 Mustang GT, Shelby, NHRA Cobra Jet, California Special, High Country Special, Sprint, Golden Nugget Special, Rainbow Of Colors, Color Of The Month, Branded, T-5, Cardinal Edition, Bullitt, Dixie Special, Golden Mustang, Special Dakota Days, Challenger Special, Mustang Colt, Lady Mustang, Other
    1969 Mustang Grande, GT, Mach-1, Boss, Shelby, Rainbow Of Colors, Limited Edition 600, Mustang-E, T-5, 4.1 Liter Special
    1970 Mustang Grande, Mach-1, Boss, Shelby, Twister, Sidewinder, Grabber, Big Red Special

    https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/classicmustang/links/all/_Special_Dealer_Must_001119030917

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  9. Avatar krash

    oh….and one can’t forget the (Maine) Moose-tang, the (Disney) Mouse-tang, and the (NASA) Moon-tang…or am I Must-aken…

    …( hey, c’mon…just havin’ a little fun..)

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