Vehicle Description
1968 Ford Mustang High Country Special
If there was ever a car that changed people's lives, the Mustang is
one. This fabulous 1968 Mustang High Country Special comes directly
to us from a couple that are steeped in Stangs. The fit and finish
are clean and the classic color combination is very eye catching.
This is one of those Mustangs that you can get in and drive until
your heart is content and then keep on going. The steering is
tight, the engine responsive, and the transmission shifts with
ease. Now is the time to take advantage of the the other guys work
and have this rare Mustang when spring is ready fun.
Features
Rebuilt 289 V8
Automatic 3 speed transmission
Newer 205-70R14 Cooper Raised White Letter Radial Tires
Chrome Wheels with Correct Chrome GT Hubcaps
Rebuilt Front End
Newer Carpets and Interior
Finished in freshly buffed and waxed Springtime Yellow
Factory correct Steering Wheel
Dual Outside Rear View Mirrors
Driving lights are mounted in the grill and there are newer Sill
Plates
Full Dual Exhaust with correct Dual Tips
Correct High Country Special Stripes and logo
Correct turn signal indicators and functional hood pins adorn the
hood
Front and Rear Wheel Lip Moldings
Front and Rear Seat Belts
Factory Instrumentation
Correct Shelby Style Brake Ducts behind the doors
Freshly Detailed Engine Bay and Trunk with Mat Jack and Spare
General Info on the HCS
this info was lifted from Mustang 360, by line is Tracey Ellis
2004, credit where credit is do
Offered during the '66-'68 model years and available at 100 Ford
dealers in the Colorado, Wyoming, and Western Nebraska regions, the
High Country Specials were among the first of the promotional
Mustangs created to enhance sales. For the first two years, the HCS
Mustangs were set apart by their unique colors, while the '68s
borrowed heavily from the Shelby-like California Special
styling.
In 1966 and 1967, High Country Specials were available in all three
body styles, all painted with one of three promotional colors:
Aspen Gold, Timberline Green, and Columbine Blue. The front fenders
sported a brass badge featuring a running horse in a blue-sky
background over a mountain horizon and the words "High Country
Special." A delete-paint-code number on the data plate and a DSO of
51 for Denver, followed by a four-digit code, identified a Mustang
as a High Country Special. Bob Teets, the recognized expert on High
Country Specials and keeper of the registry for these rare
Mustangs, suspects the four-digit code represented a dealer number
designating a group for a certain dealership.
Teets has updated the production figure for the '66 High Country
Special from 330 to 333, based largely on publications he has
uncovered. A Denver Post advertisement dated July 26, 1966,
mentioned, "Only 333 people in the entire United States will be
driving one of these High Country Specials." In August 1966, a
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad publication called Green Light
reported, "333 of them rode flanged wheels of steel across the Rio
Grande on July 18 from Salt Lake City to Denver, the first full
trainload of sports cars to move as a single shipment across the
system."
The production figure for '67 High Country Specials now stands at
416, thanks to Kevin Marti's production database for Ford, Lincoln,
and Mercury cars and trucks built from 1967 to 1973. Teets believes
that other documentation, such as a Rocky Mountain News
advertisement stating "This special emblem marks your Mustang as
one of the 400," was close, but not as accurate as Marti's
Ford-based figure.
For 1968, the High Country Specials were nearly identical to the
more widely recognized California Specials, including the
nonfunctional fiberglass side scoops on the rear quarter-panels, a
fiberglass decklid and quarter-panel caps that formed an integral
spoiler similar to the '68 Shelby, Mustang script lettering in the
upper right corner of the spoiler, a fiberglass rear panel with
Shelby taillights, and a pop-open gas cap. The side stripes were
centered from the leading edge of the front fender to the rear edge
of the side scoop. Special stripes also accented the unique
integral spoiler formed by the fiberglass rear decklid and
quarter-panel caps.
The '68's triangular decal was originally designed as part of the
striping on the fiberglass side scoop. Teets reports some HCS
Mustangs never received this extra piece of stripe on the side
scoop. The standard Mustang chrome running horse and corral were
deleted from the front grille, and Lucas fog lamps were mounted on
both sides of the grille opening. The standard turn-signal hood
fastened with twist-type hood locks. Special promotional paint was
not part of the '68 High Country Special, but all had a DSO of 51
for Denver.
When Tony Popish, founder of the Special Order Paint Registry for
'64 1/2-'73 Mustangs, ran across a program from Continental Divide
Raceway, where Denver-area Ford dealers premiered the '68 High
Country Special, he immediately routed it to his friend, Teets. The
program stated, "Today you are getting the first public look at the
exciting new High Country Special '68 featured in the drivers
parade lap and on display. Only 250 will be built. Inspired by
Shelby GT ... but priced like a Mustang."