This Father’s Day, I had hoped to drive my 1974 Mustang II (the Soul Survivor) up to the Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Regrettably, a major oil leak put the Survivor down for the count, and I had to explore plan B- flying to Denver and hitching a ride up the hill. Thanks to a kind offer from Bob Teets, owner of this quite rare 1968 Mustang that has both the High Country Special package as well as the unusual two-barrel X-Code 390 V8. I not only got a ride, but time behind the wheel of this beautiful coupe.
Here’s a shot over the hood of my borrowed steed, as we headed west out of Denver. For those unfamiliar with Colorado geography, Steamboat Springs is located about 125 miles northwest of Denver. The quickest route takes you west about 60 miles on I-70, followed by a run north out of Dillon for about 90 miles. The first leg of the route climbs to the Eisenhower Tunnel, which is located at the top of the Rocky Mountains, at an altitude of 11,158 feet above sea level.
This second shot gives you some idea of the challenges presented by the Colorado Mountains. Although I was a good ten miles past the Hogback (Denver’s portal into the Rockies), I was headed down hill, dropping down from Genesee into the Clear Creek River canyon. Colorado averages the highest altitude of any state, and it’s mountain roads often cross from one watershed to another, running up one ridge only to drop back into a valley. This taxes both driveline and brakes, while at the same time the thin air means less oxygen for combustion, reduced heat transfer, and a lower boiling point. Thanks to all these issues, you frequently see cars parked on the shoulder of I-70, done in by the stresses of high altitude driving.
Other cars, but not Bob’s High Country Special. The HCS was simply an appearance package, so buyers could choose any engine package available in the Mustang, from the base 6 to the 428 Cobra Jet. Lucky me, Bob’s car came from the factory with a quite rare X-Code 390 FE V8, which has a two-barrel carburetor along with high compression, and rated at 280 (gross) hp. The X-Code 390 was a mid-year addition to the engine line-up. With 6.4 liters to provide twisting power, that little Mustang never ran out of breath. Bob prefers driving his other 1968 High Country Special (packing a 428 Cobra Jet), but I was very satisfied with the “limited” power available in this 390 powered car.
In Dillon, Colorado, a series of stoplights separated me from my convoy. Heading north out of town, I ended up with half a dozen cars between me and my friends. Since State Highway 9 only provides a single lane in each direction, I found myself doing the two lane passing dance, exploring full throttle acceleration with my little pony. Even at 8,500 feet in elevation, the motor provided plenty of jump, and I quickly passed the blocking traffic, joined up with my friends, and continued North to the Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup (RMMR).
Steamboat in the Summer
Since moving to California ten years ago, I’ve tried to make it back to Steamboat every Father’s Day. The organizers do a great job with the car show, but the real attraction is spending a weekend in Steamboat Springs. The weather in June is always perfect, and visiting ski towns after the winter masses depart means decreased crowds and increased satisfaction.
The Car Show- Our View South
The Car Show- Our View North
On Saturday, Bob was tied up helping with event parking, so I had to rise early and drive his Mustang into town. The RMMR is a Main Street show, so by 10 AM Steamboat Springs has 500 show cars positioned up and down it’s business district. We were set up about dead center in town, so I pointed my camera both north and south, to give you a sense of the size of the show, as well as the intimate feel of this Main Street show.
After six paragraphs of travelogue, I suppose I should share some pictures of the car. This 1968 model was the final year of the High Country Special, and this shot shows most of its unique features. In addition to the Shelby style taillights, trunk lid spoiler and quarter panel scoop, the High Country Special included side stripes and a special badge.
Up front, Ford did not use Shelby body parts. Instead they removed the grille crossbars, and mounted Lucas Fog Lamps in grille opening. Most cars came with standard ’68 hood with turn signal indicators mounted in two indentations. If you want to get a better look at this signature Mustang feature, review the over the hood pictures at the top of this post.
To wrap up our exterior pictures, I took this close-up of the High Country Special badge. In 1968, Ford also brought out the California Special, which included the same body modifications. Ford built these two regional specials at the same time, but instead of a scoop badge, the West Coast car included chrome script on the fender reading “California Special.” Because Ford built many more California Specials, Mustang fans are more familiar with them, and may think they provided the inspiration for the High Country Special. However, in 1968 Ford had been building the Colorado model for three years, making it the inspiration for the California Special.
It’s been a few years since Bob restored this car, so it shows a little wear here and there. The steering wheel has some minor cracking and the vinyl at the top of the center stack is pulling away from the dashboard. Still, most of us would be more than happy to add this car to our stable. Bob keeps a John Denver 8-track in his tuner/tape player, but on the drive up, I chose not to test the drive mechanism. I’m not that familiar with the trim levels available back in 1968, but the full length console and factory tachometer tells me it must be a step or two up from the base Mustangs.
On Sunday we headed south, running through the open grazing lands in Routt County. Heading home after a long weekend is always a bit of a downer, which could explain why I began to notice a few issues. First off, the heater controls do not include a vent setting, mostly because there’s no dash mounted vent outlets. As a child of the seventies, I don’t remember driving any cars without this basic feature. Second, the recirculating ball steering lacks a certain precision. I’m sure I’ve driven better examples of this system, but based on this trip, I’ll stick with rack and pinion.
We did have one small traffic issue on the trip home, pictured here. This slow down occurred where US-6 merged with I-70, and we dealt with slow traffic from there to Idaho Springs, a distance of about 28 miles. The Colorado DOT warns of heavy traffic on this stretch of I-70 from 2 to 5 PM on Sunday afternoons but I took this picture at about noon. This weekend traffic is far worse in the winter months, and the locals tell me it has really put a damper on weekend ski trips. At the end of the day, I had a great trip- I hope you enjoyed this report as much as I enjoyed the weekend. I wanted to once again thank Bob Teets for the chance to drive his great car. For more on the High Country Mustangs and to see pictures of Bob’s 428 CJ, check out this article at the Mustang 360° web site: Rocky Mountain Highs.
Actually, a few 390-2Vs were produced…the “X-code” cars…pretty uncommon. In fact, your friend’s placard states that his car is an “X-code” car.
http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/concours-forum/537257-68-x-code-390-2v.html
I remember reading somewhere that the X-code was somewhat experimental. They were attempting to duplicate what Olds did with the Turnpike Cruiser Cutlass the year before, a torquey but mild engine that would return good highway economy. In the Mustangs case, it was somewhat of a failure simply because of the sheer mass that it put over the front wheels. The incremental gain in fuel economy simply wasn’t worth the loss in handling agility.
This is a sin that all BB Mustangs are guilty of, but at least in the hotter versions of the FE, you got something in return.
The advent of the 351 Windsor in ’69 rendered the whole thing moot.
Still kind of neat to have, though, just for the oddball factor. Just leave lots of time in case you want to change the plugs.
The whole point of CC: to learn something new, and that happens pretty much every day. Never heard of the X-Code in a Mustang. Seems a bit odd, to say the least.
Here’s the late year brochure back page.
My buddy’s base model ’68 Cougar had the 2-barrel 390 in it. One trip to the junkyard later, it wasn’t a two-barrel anymore.
Re the interior trim: That is simply the standard interior with a handful of stand-alone options. The tach, console and 8-track (sorry, I mean “Stereo-Sonic Tape System”) were all ala-carte options. This car also has the “Deluxe Seat Belts”, which meant you got a shiny pushbutton release on the buckle, along with a tack-on warning light under the dash.
All in all, nice car. A handful of California Specials made it into Canada, and I don’t know how many arguments I got into over the years with numpties who insist on calling them “Shelbys”.
On second look, I just noticed something about the radio. It should have 4×10 rectangular speaker grills in the lower forward portion of the doors, but this one doesn’t. That unit was added later.
+1 on the X-code, just looked it up. 2bbl 390, 280hp. The 325hp 390 4bbl is an S-code
Both HP figures are up 5 HP from the engines offered in the 67 Galaxie – 270 for the 2 bbl/regular gas and 315 for the 4 bbl/premium gas.
The X-code was a premium fuel 2 barrel.
Nice car , nice write up too .
-Nate
+1
Ah, what a great trip. I have never seen a High Country Special before. That 390 2 bbl sounds like the setup in my 67 Galaxie convertible. It had a tall rear axle and I could eke some pretty impressive gas mileage out of that thing if I kept highway speeds down (not hard in the 55 mph era). And the 390 was such a torquemaker, it could handle the tall axle pretty well in city driving.
Your ventilation comment puzzles me. Didn’t all of these Mustangs have the little ventilation doors deep under the dash near each kick panel? Ford’s bigger cars got cable-operated vents operated by dash knobs, but not these, which used manually operated doors (like in Mopar A bodies). Did any 60s era FoMoCo cars incorporate vent controls into the hvac panel?
I do recall a ventilation door down in the kick panel of my Dad’s ’66 full size Ford wagon, but the this panel did not have an outlet grille, and I did not see a knob for fresh air under the dash.
There should be a pull cable for the left vent, the right side one was a door with a latch that you opened.
Whether or not it had a foot well vent, there’s still no face vents. Maybe I’m getting crotchety in my old age, but I’d like the fresh air delivered to my face, not my feet.
With those old ones, you got fresh air blown everywhere. I recall them blowing over my upper body and face quite nicely. Damn, but I miss those old fresh air vents.
Factory a/c Mustangs had them starting in ’67. The ’71-’73 non-a/c cars had face vents on the driver and passenger sides, but not the center stack.
There was a rare, ’69 only called Power Ventilation. It had AC-like vents in the center stack only, with a Power Vent setting on the heater control.
I am surprised the High Country Special does not have bigger brakes, a larger radiator, and other features to help it deal with the High County. Nice looking car and good photos. My folks and I have only driven through the Eisenhower Tunnel once and have taken Loveland Pass every other time. When you get back to Colorado check out Idaho Springs, they might still have that 1994 Caprice 9C1 in service.
Needs to adjust the back of the hood down. Typically high after a removal and then placing back on. Has to gently push back on the hood (more open) and a helper tightens down the hinge bolts. May have to do more than once.
I’ve only seen one High Country Special in a magazine a few years ago.That was a blue 390,strangely with a bench seat,the only time I’ve seen a bench seat in a Mustang.
Did these have sequential turn signals like the Shelbys or just the taillight assemblies?
Thanks Dave for a nice article on an interesting car – and to Bob also of course. Looks like a great weekend trip!
Like Gem I’ve seen a couple of California Specials but never a High Country. What a great looking car in dark metallic green with gold stripes – a combo available from Ford here in the era as well as in more recent times on FPV GTs. While the Shelby tail lights are a nice unique touch I actually find the standard lights and rear panel one of my favourite features of these cars.
The appearance stuff was the Mustang GT of the day . . . . most Cal. specials I’ve seen since childhood and through the years were this green color or the yellow with black stripes.
Cool! Something new! I never knew of the High Country Special, but not surprised as being a S.F. kid, saw a decent number of the ’68 “California Specials” (San Jose built); those CA specials usually were 289 2-V’s, and a couple of 302 4-bbls. . . . however, I never knew a Mustang (or Cougar) of ’68 had an available 390 2 pot. I have seen 390 4-bbls from the time . . . . anyway, for S & G’s, I did a 10K in Kailua on the 4th of July and found this forlorn ’68 302 Mustang needing some serious TLC as it is suffering from top-on-down rust bubbles due to the Windward Oahu rain/salt air/sun. The registration sticker proves this was a sold-new-to-Hawaii car (the window registration stickers went out after 1968; license plate stickers and rear bumper safety inspection stickers came into being in the Aloha State in 1969) . . .
The Kailua, Honolulu County ’68 302 . . .
Period correct Green & Whites . . . .
I am currently restoring a numbers matching X Code convertible. only 67 ever made.
I also have an x-code convertible for restoration. I have heard that there is an x-code registry but have not had any success locating the source, Marc Schultz? Any hints or help you might be able to give me in the restoration would be appreciated.