Super-rare, Super-clean Mustang High Country Special Hits Auction Block

Sunlit Gold 1968 special-edition pony is one of 251 ever built, and was only available to Colorado enthusiasts.

Special-edition Mustangs are nothing new. Even back in the 1960s, when the Mustang’s overnight, runaway success surprised everyone in Detroit, Ford was looking for ways to keep its million-dollar baby fresh.

Somewhere between the marketing and styling departments, Ford decided to offer special editions in certain areas of the country to appeal to regional tastes. California had, naturally, the California Special. Kansas City had the Twister Special. Colorado had the High Country Special, like the one seen above from Hemmings.

Produced in very small numbers (333 in 1966, 400 in 1967, and 251 in 1968), the High Country Special was more or less an appearance package, with unique brass fender badging. For those looking for a more functional regional special edition, Denver dealers offered a Ski Country Special for 1967 only, with a ski rack, luggage rack, limited-slip rear axle, and a pair of snow tires.

This 1968 High Country Special represents the rarest of the breed. By ’68, which was its final model year, the High Country Special was pretty similar to the California Special, with the noticeable addition of beautiful enameled brass badges in the rear Shelby-style side scoops.

This Sunlit Gold exterior and Code 2Y gold interior scheme is classically beautiful, and the polished Ford GT steel wheels add to the car’s unique and mesmerizing appearance. It is powered by a C-code 289 V8 with a three-speed automatic transmission that were both very well maintained. The top end of the motor was rebuilt after about 8,000 miles, and the transmission was also completely restored after only 5,000 miles.

Despite the fact that we’ve never lived in Colorado, this classic Mustang gives us that Rocky Mountain High feeling, and we’d certainly love to add it to the MustangForums stable.

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Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.
He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.
In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.
You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.
When he's not busy working on his Harley-Davidson bike, the vastly experienced writer has covered an array of features, reviews, how-tos, op-eds and news stories for Internet Brands' Auto Group and is also a co-founder and co-host of the popular podcast Cammed & Tubbed.

Check him out on Instagram at: Camvanderhorst.

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