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Prices for Everyman's pony car jumped an average of 4.25 percent for 1968, with the $2,578 hardtop up $117, the $2,814 convertible up $161, and the $2,689 fastback up $97. In comparison, the increase from 1966 to 1967 averaged less than 1 percent, and from 1 965 to 1966 the jump averaged about 3.5 per-cent.
Like the changes made to the "slightly restyled" 1966 Mustangs, the 1968 mod-els had revised grilles, wheel covers, gas caps, Styled Steel wheels, and quarter panel trim. The horizontal grille bars from 1967 went away and an inset chrome trim strip mimicked the shape of the grille opening, the FORD lettering on the hood was eliminated, the fender Mustang em-blem was in script rather than block let-ters, the louvered hood option from 1967 became standard and, in response to man-dated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Stan-dards, front and rear fender side reflectors were added. This was the first year that a bench front seat was not offered in a Mus-tang convertible. At the beginning of the model year, except for exterior colors, interior design, and options changes, that was about it.
Ford's marketers probably felt like surfers trying to hook up with a rogue wave, and that may explain why they an-nounced the availability of the highly tout-ed W-Code 427ci, 390hp engine. The huge "Cobra V-8" made its mark in the sales literature and enthusiast magazines, but reality tells us that providing the en-gine to Mustang customers became too great a task. With a handful of exceptions, mainly for "insider" special orders and es-tablished drag racing teams, the 427ci Mustang never reached the public.
Ford also hit a snag in trying to intro-duce the high-performance "Tunnel Port" 302ci engine. During the winter months, detailed information concerning the hot setup appeared in the major automotive magazines but, not only did the Tunnel Port 302 fail the reigning champion SCCA Trans-Am Mustang (Terlingua Racing) Team (that, in 1967, as Ford executive Austin Craig wrote ten years ago, "taught Roger Penske and Bud Moore just what it took to win...."), it never came close to production. It is interesting, however, that ACSCO, a California design studio that worked with Ford in other projects, was commissioned to create a steering wheel insert for the proposed Tunnel Port 302 Mustang. In 1988, California Special guru Paul Newitt located several TP-302 drawings while researching his 1968½ Mustang GT/California Special Recognition Guide & Owner's Manual.
The 427ci and 302ci Tunnel Port at-tempts probably brought plenty of frustra-tion to the folks inside Ford who wanted to supply the Mustang with serious perfor-mance. Before the 1968 model year ex-pired, however, true Ford horsepower would steal the headlines.
The muscle car wars were well into gear by the fall of 1967. With the pony car arena heated up by the Mustang's 1964-1967 sales power, General Motors, already two years late with the Camaro, searched for a key to capturing market share. By correctly gauging the mood of the late-1960s youthful car buyers, they too went for engine performance in their SS396. As a result, 1968 became a year for scrambling in all camps. In retrospect, this Mustang lull, this year without a star-tling appearance change, may have worked in Ford's favor. While the compa-ny appeared to lag behind, even while claiming "Only Mustang Makes it Happen," powerful preparations were under-way.
Yet strange new problems would sur-face during the year, with the main hitch a prolonged assembly plant strike from Thanksgiving into January. According to researcher Walt Bruegger, author of The Mustang Production Handbook, the strike's settlement introduced small but telling economies into the Mustang pro-duction line. Cost-cutting moves like the elimination of certain dashboard cushion-ing strips, the change in style of the rear fender safety reflectors, plus shifting the pre-January standard louvered hood and front bumper guards to optional equip-ment status, helped cover the factory workers increased salaries.
Another problem took almost ten years to rectify. In April 1977 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration re-quired Ford to recall all 1968 and 1969 Mustangs and Cougars with front bucket seats. It was discovered that the driver's seatback inboard pivot pin bracket could break without warning and cause the seat-back to rotate rearward. According to the recall letter, the defect "can cause, and has caused, accidents in the past." Even cars that had had their pivot pins previ-ously repaired were requested to have a newer replacement part installed.
The options list for the 1968 Mustang dove further into the realm of luxury, con-venience, and style. "More from Mustang first with the most," read the brochure. But, for the first time, the Mustang's print-ed literature did not mention option prices. Dealer price tags, apparently, were given room to grow. Notable inclusions for the year were the new Deluxe bench seat interior for fastbacks and hardtops (at $110, a whopping $13 less than bucket seat Deluxe), a Rear Window Defogger (part number C8AZ-1 8397-A), Wide Oval tires (for V-8 cars), a new Collapsible Spare Tire, and the redesigned Styled Steel twelve-hole wheels (either chromed or painted argent, and with GT emblem cen-ter caps instead of plain caps for GT mod-els). Reverting to the 1965-1966 norm, one needed a four-barrel V-8 to qualify for the $146.71 GT Equipment Group (1967 models could have a two-barrel carbure-tor), and the C-shape GT stripe offered a new personality for 1968.
Ford dealers also had plenty of special items for Mustangs in 1968. Such extras as Speed Control (C8WY-9A81 8-A), an Auto-matic Headlight Dimmer (C8AZ-13A016-A), body side moldings, door edge guards, and Deluxe Headrests (C8AZ-62612A18-A) could be added to a car before it de-parted the showroom.
The 1968 model year was not without its special editions and promotions. The two most notable were the California Spe-cial/High Country Special Mustangs and, for the third year in a row, the Sprint Mustangs. Sprints were offered during "Sprint Time" in two unique equip-ment packages, generally referred to as Sprint A and Sprint B. The first group, available with either six-cylinder or V-8 engines, included the C-shaped side strip-ing, wheel lip moldings, full wheel covers, and a pop-open gas cap. Sprint B, for eight-cylinder Mustangs only, had the side stripes, gas cap, and wheel lip moldings, but replaced the full wheel covers with ar-gent painted Styled Steel wheels and added E70 Wide Oval white sidewall tires and grille-mounted fog lamps. According to information gathered by enthusiast J. R. Gillespie, other options, such as the Tu-tone (black striped) hood, the Interior Decor Group, and the hardtop vinyl roof could be combined with the Sprint Pack-age. Canadian Ford dealers also offered a Spring Promotion model of the Mustang.
Obviously, the biggest news of the year came April 1, 1968, when Ford un-veiled the Mustang GT 428ci Cobra Jet, a road rocket of the highest caliber. With its bogus factory power rating of 335hp, about 65hp shy of reality but low enough to class it competitively on the nation's drag strips, the Ram Air Cobra jet would dominate America's racing scene and enthusiast magazines, and carry the Mustang performance banner through 1970.
Mustang production fell victim to both an assembly plant strike and the com-petition during the 1968 model year. In 1967, with 472,121 units, the Mustang outsold the Camaro, Firebird, and Bar-racuda combined. In 1968, however, the competition lifted their tallies slightly while Mustang fell over 30 percent to a 317,404 final count. The years of Mustang pony car monopoly were gone.
| Hardtop, Standard interior | 233,472 |
| Hardtop, Deluxe interior | 9,009 |
| Hardtop, Bench seat interior | 6,113 |
| Hardtop, Bench seat Deluxe interior | 853 |
| Convertible, Standard interior | 22,037 |
| Convertible, Deluxe interior | 3,339 |
| Fastback, Standard interior | 33,585 |
| Fastback, Deluxe interior | 7,661 |
| Fastback, Bench seat interior | 1,079 |
| Fastback, Bench seat Deluxe interior | 256 |
| Total 1968 Mustang Production | 317,404 |
During what seemed to be Ford's "Year of the Engine Experiment," the fourteen combinations of engines and transmis-sions available in the 1968 Mustang drew from six engines and four trans-missions. Additionally, there were sev-eral trial engine applications and at least one false start. During the year the C-Code 289ci engine was phased out; the F-Code 302-2V engine took its place and remained the base eight-cylinder engine through 1973 (and be-yond). On a trial basis, the Mercury Cougar X-Code 390-2V engine was in-stalled in a limited number of Mustangs, including California Specials and, in April 1968, the 428ci Cobra Jet engine was made available in all body styles with a special GT package.
As the 1968 model year began, Ford announced the availability of the W-Code 427ci, 390hp four-barrel en-gine. Since then, numerous publica-tions and books have stated and restat-ed that "a limited number" of W-Code cars were sold to the public; many books claim that the 427ci engine was offered for many months, then phased out with the 428ci Cobra Jet introduc-tion. Yet over the years, no one to this writer's knowledge, including noted re-storers, collectors, magazine editors, and researchers, had ever really seen a bona fide consumer-delivered 427 Mus-tang. In early 1993, however, we re-ceived word of a legitimate W-Code car stored in southern California. It had been specially advance-ordered by the owner of a Ford dealership, and was one of the first half dozen 1968 Mus-tangs oft the San Jose assembly line. It may well be the sole example of a pri-vate owner, standard assembly W--Code Mustang.
Another intended 1968 offering was the "Tunnel-Port" 302ci engine, and Ford stylists even went so far as to design exterior and interior trim pieces to highlight the option. It, too, never be-came available to the consumer.
A fully synchronized three-speed transmission served the 200ci six-cylin-der, the 289ci eight-cylinder two-barrel, and the 302ci eight-cylinder engines. Three-speeds were not available with 390ci and 428ci engines. The Ford four-speed transmission was available with all V-8 engines, except for the limit-ed-use 390-2V X-Code Cougar engine that was mated only to the C6 automat-ic transmission. The C4 SelectShift Cruise-O-Matic could be mated to the six-cylinder and any of the 289/302 en-gines, and the C6 SelectShift Cruise-O--Matic was applicable to 390ci, 428ci, and high performance small blocks.
200ci Six-Cylinder (Standard, Code T)
3.68in bore x 3.l3in stroke
9.2:1 Compression Ratio
7 Main Bearings
Regular Fuel
Single-barrel Carburetor
Automatic Choke
Self-adjusting Valves with Hydraulic Lifters
l20hp @ 4400rpm; l90lbs-ft torque @ 2400 rpm
200hp Challenger 289ci V-8 (Optional, Code C)
4.00in bore x 2.87in stroke
9.3:1 Compression Ratio
Regular Fuel
Two-barrel Carburetor
Automatic Choke
Self-adjusting Valves with Hydraulic Lifters
200hp @ 4400rpm; 2821bs-ft torque @ 2400rpm
230hp Challenger Special 302ci V-8 (Optional, Code J)
4.00in bore x 3.00in stroke
10.0:1 Compression Ratio
Premium Fuel
Four-barrel Carburetor
Automatic Choke
Self-adjusting Valves with Hydraulic Lifters
230hp @ 4800rpm; 3l0lbs-ft torque @ 2800rpm
280hp Thunderbird Special 390ci V-8 (Optional, Code X)
4.04in bore x 3.78in stroke
Two-barrel Carburetor (but qualifies for GT option)
No anti-smog fittings
Automatic Choke
Self-adjusting Valves
4031bs-ft peak torque
Single or Dual Exhaust
Mercury Cougar RPO, required auto-matic transmission.
325hp Thunderbird Special 390ci V-8 (Optional, Code S)
4.041n bore x 3.78in stroke
10.5:1 Compression Ratio
Premium Fuel
Four-barrel Carburetor
Automatic Choke
Self-adjusting Valves
Dual Exhaust
325hp @ 4800rpm; 4271bs-ft torque @ 3200rpm
335hp Cobra Jet 428c1 V-B (Optional, Code R)
4.1 3in bore x 3.98in stroke
10.6:1 Compression Ratio
Premium Fuel
Four-barrel 735cfm Carburetor
Hydraulic camshaft, Dual Exhaust
335hp @ 5600rpm; 4401bs-ft torque @ 3400rpm
Excerpt:
Motorbooks International, Muscle Car Color History,
Mustang 1964 1/2 - 68 by Tom Corcoran