(Pics) 1968 California Special Mustang

Beautiful pics Mike !  I had the light yellow (Springtime Yellow)? and was hard-pressed to find ANY fault with it that’s how well replicated it was. The wheels are absolutely incredible. Chris, do you have one ?
Steve

Posted by: @100ford2003

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"Chris, do you have one?"

It's a great looking GL  'Stang and yes, the wheels are pretty good.    Autoart's  versions, however, are a bit better.       Awesome pics Mike!  😎 😀 

Thanks ! It is a really good-looking car and replica of it. I wonder how many of these 1:1 Calfornia Specials have survived through the years ? In any case, I really like it.

Great looking model looking terrific all over the country!

Lol, yes, I wonder if you could order this version of the Mustang from a Ford dealer in another state. I would imagine they would not have a real one on display at their dealership.

Some cool extra parts were on that Special!  Wiki says:  Fog Lights, twist-type DZUS hood pins, side scoops, pop-open gas cap, rear spoiler decklid with end caps, taillight panel with 1965 Thunderbird taillights, Side stripes.

Those are some pretty cool add-ons and options, Karl ! I wonder if you could special- order those items together in another state's dealership ?

I think there may have been "Texas Special" editions of this car in Lone Star state dealerships.

SunStar made the the special automobile show and exhibition "Dale Robertson" one-off version of the big 1958 Buick Limited in 1/18 scale that had an added Dale Robertson scale figure included and the was was the "I Love Lucy" 1955 convertible Pontiac.

I have this model with white vinyl top. It was a special order for Supercars somewhere in 2007.

The vinyl imitation came out too coarse, and the entire batch was scrapped.

Selected pieces were sold through Replicarz. 

Posted by: @carcass1996

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"....and the entire batch was scrapped.    Selected pieces were sold through Replicarz."  

Wow, talk about some 1/18 diecast history: that's pretty cool.   Who knew, right?    I'd be inclined to FIX that top but of course that would be unwise as I'd be "wiping away history."    After all, it would be foolish to fix the very thing that makes this car special - "California Special."     😉 😉 

What a beautiful white vinyl top (and rare) automobile and diecast replica of it from Ford and SuperCars. Very nice !

As a Ford Fanatic, I generally liked all Fords.  However, I must admit that, on many occasions, I was irritated by the way Ford executed certain design elements in their cars.  My gripe in 1968 (and still today) is how poorly they executed the government-mandated side marker lamps.  They looked like cheap add-ons.  Ugh!  

In my opinion, GM and Chrysler embraced the new safety requirement with much better side-marker lamp designs than Ford.  Ford cars, and particularly the Mustang, looked like they were ordered from the J.C. Whitney catalog. Heck, it was just a reflector and didn't illuminate!  Those side-marker lamps were almost as bad as the dashboard Ford designed for the '66 and '67 Fairlane!  Horrible and CHEAP! 

Chrysler's design was simple and far more elegant, with round chrome units with amber or red color lamps that illuminated.  They were obviously low-cost, and in an effective cost-saving measure, they used the exact same lamps across all Chrysler Corporation cars.  GM went a step further and, with the rear quarterpanel lamps, frequently integrated the manufacturer's logo into the lens.  One barely noticed they were there!  I thought the GM and Chrysler designs were far more appealing.  

@marty-johnson  That's funny to me....  I've owned both: a '68 Buick convertible and a '68 Plymouth hardtop and although I really like the looks of both, '68 Mopars, IMO, was a hasty "drill a hole"  approach corrected in 1969 when they went with slim rectangles - like those seen on Fords. 

I always thought Ford "got it right"   from the start.  😆 😀 

@marty-johnson I agree Marty.