1968 Mustang California Special

[Duddly01]

While I am waiting for the 2K clear on the 1974 Corvette to cure I decided to see what it was going to take to get a Resin Tran-kit of a 1968 Mustang California Special I picked up a short while back to fit well. It will be a slow build while I finish the Corvette and my wife asked me to build. 1957 Thunderbird next. 
 

Now that I have finished the five current family owned Mustangs I decided I am going to build a series of “the ones that got away”. I used to own a J-code (302-4v), auto, PS, AC California Special in lime gold, with standard lime gold interior. 

The resin body needed a lot of work to make things fit, even the parts that came in the resin kit didn’t fit all that well together. The resin front seats will not be used, they really don’t look good to me. The 1968 GT kit seats look and fit better. I started fabrication to get the front windshield from the 1968 kit and an old AMT coupe back window I had in the parts bin to fit. That still needs a lot of work. 

[jose1129]

Nice body, my favorite !

Will be following this build…. 

btw, any source for the body?

[Bainford]

Cool project. Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

[kelson]

It's a little rough looking,but i think you have the skill to make it work.?

[rickcaps55]

22 hours ago, Duddly01 said:

While I am waiting for the 2K clear on the 1974 Corvette to cure I decided to see what it was going to take to get a Resin Tran-kit of a 1968 Mustang California Special I picked up a short while back to fit well. It will be a slow build while I finish the Corvette and my wife asked me to build. 1957 Thunderbird next. 
 

Now that I have finished the five current family owned Mustangs I decided I am going to build a series of “the ones that got away”. I used to own a J-code (302-4v), auto, PS, AC California Special in lime gold, with standard lime gold interior. 

The resin body needed a lot of work to make things fit, even the parts that came in the resin kit didn’t fit all that well together. The resin front seats will not be used, they really don’t look good to me. The 1968 GT kit seats look and fit better. I started fabrication to get the front windshield from the 1968 kit and an old AMT coupe back window I had in the parts bin to fit. That still needs a lot of work. 

Where did you get the resin kit.

[Duddly01]

6 hours ago, Bainford said:

Cool project. Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

Thanks.

6 hours ago, kelson said:

It's a little rough looking,but i think you have the skill to make it work.?

Yeah, quite rough. No where near the quality of some of the other resin body vendors, and it was a lot more expensive. I love the bodies I have gotten from Jimmy Flintstone. Much better and less expensive but I really wanted a California Special.

27 minutes ago, rickcaps55 said:

Where did you get the resin kit.

I am not so sure I would recommend it unless you really want to build a California Special bad. Like was said, it is rough.

[Duddly01]

Getting back to working on the 1968 California Special. Created the rear window and worked on making it fit well, also took a lot of work to get the kit windshield to fit. Got the small block ford engine that I will be using from Iceman Collections and the c4 transmission from Texas 3D. Even has the trans filler tube. Cut out the grill and installed the kit from facia to the body. Started fitting the hood. This it going to be a lot of work to get looking good. 

[FoMoCo66]

Cool project! I'm following.

[Keef]

I was looking at one of those resin kits on facebook thinking I’d like to give it a go. IF it’s from the same person I’m not so sure now ?

Yours is looking good so far, can’t wait to see you work your magic with it! 

[Duddly01]

29 minutes ago, Keef said:

I was looking at one of those resin kits on facebook thinking I’d like to give it a go. IF it’s from the same person I’m not so sure now ?

Yours is looking good so far, can’t wait to see you work your magic with it! 

If I didn’t really want to build a California Special I wouldn’t have gotten it. Not sure who else might be making one.

[Duddly01]

1 hour ago, FoMoCo66 said:

Cool project! I'm following.

Thanks, hope it goes well.  

[deuces wild]

Love them California Specials.....??

Here's mine....

[Musclecarbuilder]

Man this is one of the coolest mustangs! I'm definitely following this one!

[Duddly01]

7 hours ago, deuces wild said:

Love them California Specials.....??

Here's mine....

Me too!

2 hours ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

Man this is one of the coolest mustangs! I'm definitely following this one!

Thanks, I have a lot of hope in making this one look good.

[Musclecarbuilder]

yeah its gonna look great!

[espo]

I'm not a Ford guy per say but I remember when Ford started these special Mustang models years ago. One, Ford did a great job with the appearance addons. Two, they sold like hot cakes. Very smart marketing in their part and a good deal for the buyers.    

[slusher]

This will be a great build, you have my interest!

[Duddly01]

Started assembling parts for paint. Drilled out gauges for LED lights. Adjusted fit on more parts in preparation. A lot more work to do to prepare the body. Iceman 302 engine, texas 3d c4 transmission and VCG Autolite 4100 carb. 

 

[espo]

5 minutes ago, Duddly01 said:

Started assembling parts for paint. Drilled out gauges for LED lights. Adjusted fit on more parts in preparation. A lot more work to do to prepare the body. Iceman 302 engine, texas 3d c4 transmission and VCG Autolite 4100 carb. 

 

Look'n good. 

[FoMoCo66]

Wow that resin body looks really good.

[Duddly01]

1 hour ago, espo said:

Look'n good. 

Thank you.

1 hour ago, FoMoCo66 said:

Wow that resin body looks really good.

It is starting too, taking a lot of work to get it where it is already at. Thanks.

[Musclecarbuilder]

Wow its looking great! I love the carb on the engine!

[drodg]

Loving to watch this build.  

[Duddly01]

28 minutes ago, Musclecarbuilder said:

Wow its looking great! I love the carb on the engine!

Me too, definitely going to have to make the air cleaner removable. Great detailed 3d print.

[Kenmojr]

Very interesting thread and conversion....