The Car of the Month
August 1999
-Ford Mustang Hard Top De Luxe, 1968-

There are few people who own exactly the car of their dreams. Among those privileged few is Gábor Kiss, who spared neither time nor money in fulfilling his dream: to own a 1968 Mustang. Not 1967, not 1969 -- 1968. Now he is exactly the same age as his car. For a while he lived in Mexico, where he finally succeeded in his long search, discovering this splendid piece.

The common belief is that in Mexico, there are many old American cars, but most are in very rundown condition. This is true, but one should not generalize, for it is also still possible to chance upon a few remaining fine cars. Because of the lax public security you won't see many on the street -- Gabor also only once ventured out from the yard with his for this one photo session.

The 1968 Mustang wasn't rare, with more than 300,000 units manufactured in the USA with out of this, around 250,000 hardtop models, and of these quarter-million, not more than 9,009 units were made with Deluxe interior. Gabor's car, with its Mexican assembly, falls into an even rarer category.

The luxury version can be recognized by its white leather top, deluxe seat covers and door panels, center console, modified instrument panel and dual exhaust. An interesting feature of the Mexican Mustangs is that they lacked heaters and air conditioners, had a speedometer calibrated in kilometers, and were also not equipped with power steering.

The values in the car's VIN of AF07HR18186 on the original data plate mean: A - USA standard, F - Assembled in Mexico, 07- Hard Top, H - 1968, R - February. The number 18186 indicates that in 1968 this car left the Mexican factory as the 8186th unit of all Ford models.

Another noteworthy item is the license plate. According to Gábor, the frame itself is not overly interesting, any Mustang may visit a shop to receive one like this. :) What is more interesting is the registration number itself, according to which the car may not be in service on a Thursday in Mexico City. Because of the smog, on any weekday cars with given numbers in their registration may not run in the city.

Mexico City, similar to us, uses a format of three letters and three numbers, however they already used the letter "L", whilst we are just at the "H". This Mustang GPW license number is more than five years old, thus it was possible to put it in this manner onto the bumper another day. Anyway this is a big rule, in adverts, the car salesmen indicate which day the car mustn't be used. :)

The comfort and beauty of the Deluxe Interior design stands out. Notable to observe on the dash is the strictly decorative heater control bezel on the left edge, and the value of the car is further enhanced by its factory radio. The three-speed manual shifter is not too frequently seen on an American motorcar.

The factory 289 (4.7 litre) V-8 murmurs delightfully to your ears, and with the original four-barrel carburetor provides 270 horsepower of performance. Gábor's Mustang "buys into savings," as only two barrels feed fuel, in this way the gas hungry Mustang engine is kept in line, content with 15 litres in its engine.

I believe, as these few photos prove, that this car deservedly won the award for the most beautiful sports car at the spring meeting. Not only beautiful, but also one or two points away from totally original condition. Keep your eyes peeled in Dunaújváros, where this car will also be, so it's worth taking a closer look!

(c) 1999 V8