When we think of rare or limited-edition Mustangs, many people think of Shelbys or California Specials – but the Golden Nugget is an equally, if not more rare breed, of Pony. This particular one is up for sale here on craigslist on its home turf of Newman Lake, Washington in the Pacific Northwest. What’s it all about? Read on to find out! (Big thanks to reader Local_Sheriff for the tip)
Anyone who knows anything about the Blue Oval knows at least some part of the Mustang story. What most people don’t know is the story of the Golden Nugget Special, so here it is: This special-edition 1968 Mustang was offered only in the Pacific Northwest market, and if my sources are correct, they intended to make 525 examples, but only 481 were actually produced. It was apparently a special promotional item that could not be ordered, you just had to show up, and if your dealer had their allotted single car available, it could be yours for no extra charge.
According to a listing on MustangAttitude : “All of the Gold Nugget Mustangs were only available in the Coupe model, with Sunlit Gold exterior paint, hood blackout stripes, and a black vinyl top with either black or nugget gold interior. They were produced with varying combinations of engines, transmissions and other available options. “We can see and/or are told that this particular one has a V8 with automatic transmission and black vinyl roof skin. The seller also says that the engine, paint, and body are all original, with some interior pieces having been replaced. It apparently hasn’t run in a few years, but that might not be too bad – presuming that the unmentioned mileage or engine health isn’t too bad. We aren’t given an ideal set of pictures, but we can get a pretty good idea overall.
I myself don’t know a lot about Mustangs, but I do know a unique machine when I see one. If I had the budget, I’d be on my way to check this out while writing this article about it! They’re asking $9250, so it might end up being a pretty decent deal. That’s what I think, what do YOU think? Let us know in the comments!
I feel like I’ve seen this one here before.
I like mustangs and hope this lil pony is not fools gold with work to be done.
The body looks good without rust but not sure on the engine and trans. If it only sat a while then pull plugs and leave them out and squirt oil in the cylinders and wait 72 hours and try to turn over. If no movement repeat etc. if no movement after 4 attempts then its probably time to rebuild if no luck
I like stangs that requires minimal body work and for that this is golden 👀👍
I hope the owner is negotiable as its a tad high.
Great find! Wish I had ~$10k laying around, would love to get this pony a home in my garage!
There was a pristine, original paint, golden nugget equipped identically to this one advertised for $28K in Hemmings last summer. The only non-original items were a set of magnum 500s and it was missing the engraved dash plaque. The car appeared to be rust free and sported 100% of its original paint, stripes, and vinyl roof. The only thing the car needed was a new owner.
No way you could get this car looking nearly as nice for the price difference between the two.
Meh. As a marketer and vintage car lover – many of these local limited edition things were done to try to sustain sales rather than offer something truly valuable. When you have a tsunami of revenue and profits, the marketers dream up ways to try to sustain the wave at the bleeding edge of their marketing spend. I know, I did this for a good long time in my career. No more interesting than Bicentennical beer cans or colored versions of vinyl records, IMO.
They sold another million of Mustangs in 1967 just like 1965 – check the total production numbers….not hurting for sales but maybe in that particular market.
I also have a Golden nugget. I didn’t know what it was at the time when it got re-painted. Gold was not my favorite when I was 16. Its green with white stripes now. If it ever gets done again it will go back to gold.