Once again my faithful dash-cam captures another classic, whilst driving north. And this one is all too familiar.
I had to be at the Haifa branch of our company, so I took to visit my Mom the day before, as it’s on the way. And here’s what I saw:
No need to explain about Mustangs on Curbside Classic, I presume. Also, this is not the first hardtop I’ve captured and brought here, as these are very popular in Israel among the classic car commune (many many imported into the country in recent years).
As for this particular car, I have photos of it dating almost ten years ago from various classic meetings, as it’s a well known participant:
Pretty standard, as you can see, and only really ruined by those ugly mud-flaps. you decide about those yellow rectangular inner lights.
Here are more 1967 Hardtop photos from classic meetings:
You can’t go wrong with these wheels, that enhance the Mustang’s looks ten times fold. And see the next photos for yet better looks:
This white car is another regular at classic meetings, and quite possibly is the best example of the current Mustang owners, that prefer the classic unmolested body but indulge in some enhancements, such as those stripes and the modern sized (but classic look) wheels.
Last two photos are of same vintage convertibles, just to be diverse. Enjoy:
A nice stable of 2nd Gen ponies. Not certain of the heavy Mascara look in the 4th Pic. And the Black vents in the “C” scallop on the side is disruptive. But then, it is not my car. Have any of the Fast backs of that Gen been found?
Well, there’s a 1967 that its owner turned into an “Eleanor” replica:
The rims on the cream colored one really work for it. Nice find!
That top one has been massaged just a bit. The black paint in the headlamp nacelles is an addition and that dark silver color (at least as it appears on my monitor) was not a 67 Ford color (though it does look nice). Also those are 68 wheelcovers, which are subtly different from the 67 versions (as shown on the blue convertible at the end.)
These days it is the truly stock Mustangs that stand apart from the crowd. Give me the Pebble Beige hardtop with the cool wheels or the Brittany Blue convertible.
Here’s another nice clean example:
The Pebble Beige coupe is beautiful, isn’t it. Looks heavily optioned too, with the optional wheels, sport steering wheel, tinted glass, remote controlled mirror, rocker molding and at least the 289. The ’67 is my favorite Mustang of them all, the refresh that year working perfectly. True to the original, it improved throughout. Love the concave tailights and new instrument panel.
Here’s another look at that car, which is turning out the be the crowd’s favorite:
+1. The ’67-’68 refresh was just about perfect. Still had the same clean proportions and look of the original, but added a lot of character with the sharper creases. The biggest improvement was with the fastback roof, which was the pinnacle of that body style (helped in no small way by Bullitt).
Then Ford began losing the plot in ’69, getting away from the easy driveability that had endeared the car to so many women drivers.
The nearly-stock beige one got Photobombed by a Chrysler R-body, a New Yorker. That is probably more than there are in my entire city!
Here it is in all its glory:
Two of these have side marker lights, which makes them ’68s.
’67-’68 has always been my fave generation of Mustang, although having driven and lived with one – and a ’69 Camaro – the Camaro wins hands-down.
If you haven’t seen this before, here’s the full-length version of the ’68 Mustang ad that Ford often ran on Sunday night prime-time – like the Smothers Brothers – on CBS. (Whereas Chevrolet often sponsored NBC’s “Bonanza.”)
Thanks for that, I never knew the difference between a 1967 and a 1968.
The easy tell from the front is that the 67 has a grille with crossbars (like the 65) and the 68 has a plain grille with the horse in the middle (like the 66).
From the side the 67 gets the body-colored ribbed simulated air inlet pieces in the side scoops while the 68 has a plain piece of chrome (similar to the 65, this time).
Look at the steering wheel , if it has the padded round cylinder horn pad it’s a ’67 as its one year only for all fords
Yes, ’67-’68 best looking Mustangs.
Excellent pics, Yohai!
BTW, were Mustangs imported in Israel at the time, or all of them were brought in as classics?
Yes they were, but rarely were purchased at the time – most you’ll see nowadays are new imports.
Mud-flaps ruin the looks of any car, but what’s the point of having mud-flaps in Israel? driving through dirt roads during the rainy season?
If you ask me – no point. Yes, we do have rain here, but not THAT much that you’d seriously consider mud flaps. Anyway, I think they work much better as hard (plastic) units rather than rubber flaps, and only on modern cars.
The blue one with the road hugger tires is my fav, followed closely by the cream one. There’s a few too many accessories on the silver one for my taste, mud flaps and fog lamps were already mentioned, but I have a real anti-luggage rack bias personally.
I love the 67-68 coupes, can’t decide which year I prefer but I feel this was the most visually pleasing and practical form of Mustang there ever was.
Thanks as always for you comments.
🙂
Adding only that Mustangs – which were officially offered in Israel right from the start – sold reasonably well for what they were (expensive imported coupes), certainly better than the other pony cars. This changed in the 70s when, if you wanted a car like that, the only “proper” things on the market were the Camaro/Firebird twins. Mustang IIs were laughed at even in Israel.
What’s the deal with the reflective stripes on the back of several of these? Are there many hazy or foggy days in Isreal?
This reflector tape used to be mandatory for all cars in Israel, right up until 1995, so cars that took to the roads before that year must still bare these for eternity…
Most classic car’s owners have found a way to round that square; they use magnets with strips attached to them, just to pass the MOT, after which they remove and throw them in the boot. The police doesn’t bother enforcing that sticker.