California Special Mustang

The California Special Mustang, called the GT/CS, was a factory built limited edition Mustang marketed from mid February 1968 by the California Ford Dealers through the Ford Dealer Advertising Fund. The hope was a production run of 5,000, but only 4,118 were made, including 251 remarketed in Denver, Colorado as the High Country Special, and production ran for only about five and a half months to early August 1968. The theme was California Made it Happen. It answered the new pony car rivals for 1968 and the fact that California alone bought 20 percent of Mustangs and Thunderbirds. Southern California sales manager Lee Grey took ideas from the Shelby GT500 prototype Little Red to Lee Iacocca, and Shelby Automotive engineered the parts, including fiberglass pieces made by A.O. Smith. Collectors now find these cars very desirable, and a second Shelby prototype, the Green Hornet EXP-500, was built from one in April 1968.