1967 Shelby Mustang

In the last 15 years or so the 1967 Shelby Mustang has become one of or maybe the most desirable Mustang model ever made. These days most Shelby's are financially out of reach for many, but hey we can dream right?

Many movies have had effect on the desirability of cars but the Eleanor Mustang in Gone in Sixty Seconds seemed to secure its place in recent pop history. After the movie the demand for the cars and parts to convert cars to "clones" skyrocketed. Granted I'm not a big "clone" fan. I think you should customize your car to make it just what you want, heck go crazy. But I really hate to see the market diluted with fake cars. When Shelby build the 67 Mustang GT 500 it was a complete makeover. They left little unchanged. In 1967 Shelby rolled out the big guns with the 428 with dual carbs! This beefy engine produced 355 horsepower and had the now iconic oval Cobra air cleaner and cool finned cobra valve covers. Just as a side note did you know that a very limited number of 1967 GT 350 had Paxton superchargers? Dare you to find one of those in a junkyard. The 67 GT 500 had the heaver duty C6 transmission or the Ford top-loader 4 speed.

It doesn't seem like Shelby did much to even identify the 67 GT 500 as a Mustang, maybe because of the classic lines they didn't feel like it was necessary or maybe they just wanted to set it that much further apart from the more traditional Fords. In 1967 they made the front of the car 3 inches longer using fiberglass hood and other nose pieces. In the style that would look a lot like the 1969 Mustang Shelby mounted two driving lights at the very outside edge of the special Shelby replacement grill. Like in earlier models Shelby also put a larger opening in the fiberglass front valance to help with cooling the big block hidden under the restyled fiberglass hood.

The interior of the 1967 Shelby was very similar to the deluxe interior of the 1967 Mustang. But even on the interior Shelby remove the direct reference directly to Ford. The door sills on the Mustangs read Product of Ford and on the Shelby's those were replaced by a plate that read Shelby American Inc.". All of the 67 Shelby's had the wood rim steering wheel with brushed three spoke stainless interior. They also sported a 140 MPH speedometer and a 8000 RPM tachometer. They also had the fold down rear seat.

Of special note was the 427 GT 500. Less than 50 427 1967 GT 500 were made with the 427 engine. These certainly are cars of legend, in all my years of working with Mustangs and Shelby's I have never seen one. Count yourself among a select few if you have one in your garage.

In order to keep your mustang up to date you should always invest in the best Mustang Parts. Learn more about mustang parts at superiormustangparts.com

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1968 Mustang High Country Special and California Special

In 1968 there were 4,118 California and High Country Specials built. Of these models produced, 3,867 were the California Special and 251 were the High Country additions.

Being from Colorado I guess it is only natural that I have a keen interest in the Mustang High Country Special. The Mustang High Country Special was very much like the California Special. The only difference between the two is the side scoop. Instead of the GT/CS on California Special it had a shield style decal the read "High Country Special '68" with a running horse. The decal was in two shades of blue with gold lettering. Of course it also had a 51 District Code "DSO" number because all of the cars were delivered to dealers in the Denver District. The High Country and California Specials were only available as hardtops in 1968, no Convertibles or Fastbacks were produced.

There were many differences from the standard Mustang though. You would think that the differences would be performance related though, if you think that, you would be wrong. Even the Mustang California Special and High Country Special came standard with the 6 cylinder engine. Although, all the same performance upgrades were available just like in the standard Mustang. The fact is that most modifications for the "Special" were purely styling.

The Mustang "Special" features were a blacked out grill, with no running horse and corral, Lucas fog lamps, some early models had Marchal fog lamps, Non functional fiberglass side scoops, fiberglass rear deck lid with a spoiler molded into it, which by the way was just like the one used on the Shelbys in 1968, fiberglass rear panel with the same long rectangular tail lights, Side stripes that extended down the side of the car from the front fender to the back of the side scoop, desk lid stripes that followed the edge of the rear spoiler from just above the bumper clear around to the bumper on the other side and it had twist type hood locks and the optional louvered hood. Of interesting note the Mustang California Special had script emblem just above the reflector on the rear quarter the 1968 High country special did not have the emblem.

Even to this day this Mustang is a widely sought after model. Due to is styling upgrades and aggressive appearance. If you were wise enough at the time to order your car with one of the very desirable high horsepower V-8's and the available suspension upgrades, you may already know you have a very collectible car on your hands

In order to keep your mustang up to date you should always invest in the best Mustang Parts. Learn more about mustang parts at http://www.superiormustangparts.com/

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Sturgis Mustang Rally

We started going to the Sturgis Mustang Rally in 2007 and haven't missed a year since. As some of the rallies go this one is not the oldest but certainly one of the best if not the best rally in the country. This year the rally starts on September 1st and runs to September 5th.

I'm just guessing in round numbers but I believe in 2007 there was about 500-600 cars last year (2010) I think it was more like 1,000 cars. I have been to lots of car shows and rallies in my time and I'd have to say that this is one of the best organized events I have ever been to. From the check in to the final dinner it is well attended and well organized. Most people have heard of Sturgis because of bike week which is just two weeks earlier by the way. Lots of people have asked me how it compares to bike week and I just tell them it is like bike week except there is no fights, no gangs, not nearly as many drunks and no topless girls. So, for the most parts it is very family friendly. We did got on the bar crawl the last two years and they have lots of drinking games but for the most parts everyone is very well behaved.

I noticed that registration this year is at the Thunderdome, in previous years it has been held downtown. Also, I noticed that they have added a burnout competition which is at the Thunderdome from 6-9 on Friday. Guess I'll throw some old tires on my trailer before I go this year.

The highlight of the rally for me is the poker run tour. They take us through some of the prettiest areas in the country. I'll warn you it is pretty long, I forget how far it was last year but I want to say it was over 100 miles. But they had some great stops set up, I wish I could remember the name of the little gas station gift shop. It is out in the middle of nowhere but tons of fun.

I'm not a big gambler but it is really fun to go up to Deadwood in the evenings and put some pennies in the slots (I did win $250.00 last year though). The casinos are clean and nice and the town is fun just to walk around.

They have an autocross that runs several times over the weekend, it looks like a lot of fun but frankly I'm way to anal to work my car that hard. On Saturday night they do open up the 1/8 mile drag strip and let you run down it. We haven't done that in the past but if all goes we'll try it this year.

The rally is getting more and more popular so it is very important that you get hotel reservations early! We made ours almost a year early this time. If you try and wait for the last second you'll be camping out.

In short as a Mustang fanatic I would highly recommend going to Sturgis! Get your reservations early, go on the poker run, take the kids, take 50 bucks to blow in the slot machines and do the bar crawl (but don't plan on beating me in beer pong).

Oh and shake the hand and say thank you to one of the volunteers who put this on every year!

In order to keep your mustang up to date you should always invest in the best Mustang Parts. Learn more about mustang parts at http://superiormustangparts.com/

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