Skychief
Member
I have been watching your website for 2-3 years now and have learned a great deal from all of you. You don't know it but you played a big role in the restoration of our California Special. I waited to get the car finished and some presentable pictures before writing in for the first time. Thanks to all of you for your help.
Ours is a 1968 Mustang California Special, 289 engine, auto transmission, air conditioning, Marchal fog lights. Color is Gulf Stream Aqua, located in East Helena, Montana. Current owners: Ken and Sue Mergenthaler. The California Special was a graduation gift to original owner. She drove the vehicle during her college years and for awhile after her marriage and moving to Montana. The second owner was Mike Kelly of Helena, Montana.
Mike purchased the car in 1992 from Geraldine Layne, the original owner. My wife and I purchased the car in 1995 from Mike Kelly and are the third owners. I've always wanted a California Special (as you can see by the trunk lid in the pictures of the race car) and told Mike that if he ever wanted to sell the car I would like to have the first option on it. Mike stayed true to his word, and called when he was going to sell it. Mike works at the local Ford dealership and was able to get the front and rear lower valances and the rocker moldings NOS. (They were bent up by driving in deep snow in Montana) In 2004 we started taking the car completely apart. Everything came off or out of the car. When it was disassembled we took the car, piece by piece to have it plastic media blasted. This car unbelievably, had no rust, only a few minor dings and no previous body work. It was painted the original color by our friend Scott Bracken here in Helena. Every thing that is not original was replaced with either NOS or the closest reproduction parts we could find. The things that were changed to the way we wanted them can all be put back to original. We saved all of the original parts, they were cleaned and packaged for storage. There isn't as much as a hole drilled in the car that wasn't there from the factory.
We are still working on a few things and working out little bugs, but for the most part she is back to her original state, fun to drive and she can really catch your eye when you see her going down the road. We made the final push to have the California Special ready for the 25th annual Icebreaker rod run and muscle car roundup held Memorial Day weekend here in Helena. We got the car ready to go at about 3:30 am Saturday morning, just in time to watch it rain for the next 3 days. We did get to go to an afternoon BBQ on Sunday with it, as you can see by the mud on the tires.
The next big event here was July 1st and 2nd. Blast from the Past had 1/8th mile nostalgia drags (heads up run watcha brung and hope you brung enough).
That is where the other 68 Mustang comes in. The Burgundy 68 is set up for drag racing with a 289, C-6, 5.43 9" with ladder bars and coil overs. It ran a 7.19 ET. We had the CS there also and made 1 pass with it. It got a lot of comments and questions. All in all we had a great weekend. We are looking forward to going to more car shows around the state with the California Special, and we try to cruise each Wednesday evening with a local group. Again thanks for all you help.
Ken, Sue and Hoss (the Boston Terrier)
Ours is a 1968 Mustang California Special, 289 engine, auto transmission, air conditioning, Marchal fog lights. Color is Gulf Stream Aqua, located in East Helena, Montana. Current owners: Ken and Sue Mergenthaler. The California Special was a graduation gift to original owner. She drove the vehicle during her college years and for awhile after her marriage and moving to Montana. The second owner was Mike Kelly of Helena, Montana.
Mike purchased the car in 1992 from Geraldine Layne, the original owner. My wife and I purchased the car in 1995 from Mike Kelly and are the third owners. I've always wanted a California Special (as you can see by the trunk lid in the pictures of the race car) and told Mike that if he ever wanted to sell the car I would like to have the first option on it. Mike stayed true to his word, and called when he was going to sell it. Mike works at the local Ford dealership and was able to get the front and rear lower valances and the rocker moldings NOS. (They were bent up by driving in deep snow in Montana) In 2004 we started taking the car completely apart. Everything came off or out of the car. When it was disassembled we took the car, piece by piece to have it plastic media blasted. This car unbelievably, had no rust, only a few minor dings and no previous body work. It was painted the original color by our friend Scott Bracken here in Helena. Every thing that is not original was replaced with either NOS or the closest reproduction parts we could find. The things that were changed to the way we wanted them can all be put back to original. We saved all of the original parts, they were cleaned and packaged for storage. There isn't as much as a hole drilled in the car that wasn't there from the factory.
We are still working on a few things and working out little bugs, but for the most part she is back to her original state, fun to drive and she can really catch your eye when you see her going down the road. We made the final push to have the California Special ready for the 25th annual Icebreaker rod run and muscle car roundup held Memorial Day weekend here in Helena. We got the car ready to go at about 3:30 am Saturday morning, just in time to watch it rain for the next 3 days. We did get to go to an afternoon BBQ on Sunday with it, as you can see by the mud on the tires.
The next big event here was July 1st and 2nd. Blast from the Past had 1/8th mile nostalgia drags (heads up run watcha brung and hope you brung enough).
That is where the other 68 Mustang comes in. The Burgundy 68 is set up for drag racing with a 289, C-6, 5.43 9" with ladder bars and coil overs. It ran a 7.19 ET. We had the CS there also and made 1 pass with it. It got a lot of comments and questions. All in all we had a great weekend. We are looking forward to going to more car shows around the state with the California Special, and we try to cruise each Wednesday evening with a local group. Again thanks for all you help.
Ken, Sue and Hoss (the Boston Terrier)
