I had been debating whether to finish my car as a Luxury Coupe, or to save myself some trouble and delete a few items from the original Interior Decor Group, such as the vinyl top and its related trim and the tail panel appliques. I even considered changing the color to a more modern but timeless one (whatever that means!). I finally decided I would go ahead and finish it as a Luxury Coupe with all its original look elements. Looks are all subject to taste. Some folks dislike the "period" (a sensible term when refering to old, dated, passé) look that the vinyl top and Lime Gold color presents. I very much prefer the chrome bezels that surround the newly-designed concave tail lights of the 67'-68'. But most everyone tells me to keep the much rarer ribbed panel looks, which I'll do against my personal preference. Because not always it comes down to personal preference. Sensitivity to originality and/or budget (I already surpassed mine long ago and I'm not even halfway through) count also.
... I got the go-ahead from the Finance Department (read: wife) to complete my car as original. The Finance Department loves the period-look, along with the Lime Gold paint. The Production Department (yours truly) likes it too, but he is stuck with all of the difficult work. But the thing that sealed the deal was the realization of the relative (to standard coupes) rarity of my car, as shown by production numbers for the 67-68 Mustang. Here are the numbers as provided by The Mustang Source:
1967 Mustang Production:
For 1968 even less Luxury Coupes were produced, most likely as a result and reflection of sales of the 1967 Luxury Coupe. Hey, those were the REAL days of thunder; the Camaro had just come out, a C-Code Luxury Coupe was not in Ford enthusiasts minds that much.
1968 Mustang Production:
(Source: The Mustang Source, Timeline, which in turn comes from Mustang...By the Numbers, by Kevin Marty)
So, in the end about 31,000 Deluxe Coupes were produced for the 67-78 model cycle. One might think: "31,000, that's a lot of Deluxe Coupes", but I am certain that throughout the years, as the surviving of these "less-valuable" coupes fell in the hands of second and third owners, most of them modified these without retaining the original luxury coupe look; the original factory AC's eliminated, the vinyl top and trim never replaced, the applique panels sold to make money for that new Edelbrock 4-barrel carb, the "passé" and unsporty and common Lime Gold color (the most produced color in 67 and 68) replaced with other more sportier or modern colors, etc. Just exactly what I was considering, to save myself a few bucks and headaches. Once stripped of their former original appearance, very few enthusiasts are willing to spend the money to bring these cars back to their former look, knowing they will never get their investment back. So this is the reason why I see so few deluxe coupes out there, and when I see one, I spend a great deal of time (and megapixels) around the car. How many are there left right now? no one knows for certain. And since no one pays attention to the lowly coupe, there are no registries that I know of. No one is counting the coupes.....
Nowadays you can buy a brand new Fastback body and frame for a little north of 15-grand (you gotta really want it!), and close to the same for a convertible shell. It makes me wonder if the perceived value of original fastback and convertible project cars (notice I said project cars), is changing in the minds of collectors. 10 years ago a collector knew that a fully-finished or project fastback or convertible was what was left, there was no Dynacorn around. Even a parts car from a junkyard was valuable for its parts. So the mentality may have been to grab whatever was available according to their collector and/or project plans. Now these junkyard parts cars can rot to hell, since we have a huge variety of sheet metal parts in the vigorous Mustang aftermarket. The new mentality then might have changed to choose between either a restorable vintage for $30-40,000.0 or buy a new shell for about half and build a brand new 67-68. So I am wondering if the idea for the value of a car to restore has really changed, knowing now that you can go to a junkyard and grab the serial number tags of an old rotted out, nowadays unrestorable Mustang and weld them to a brand new Dynacorn shell, while a few years ago that old rotten car was valuable, since it was the only way to have a classic Mustang...
Oh but wait! Dynacorn does not make complete coupe bodyshells! (who wants them?!) That same reasoning can be applied to Deluxe Coupes like mine: what is left is what is left, no Dynacorn shells. Kids (who can only afford coupes) will continue to grab and modify them to their heart's desire.The Restomod movement and market is too strong and irresistible. Another potential original-look restoration will be lost. And so on and so on, until very soon than later, not that many will remain original.
Back to my car. So it was the numbers that made me decide to go the extra mile to restore my car to as much of its original look as possible, within a set budget, reusing as many parts as possible until I can afford to replace them with new parts. Long ago I ceased to let my decisions be influenced by how much money I could get if I decided to sell it. It is a bad driving force and takes the fun away. But knowing that your car is really special to me because of the way I perceive its rarity, makes my efforts a lot more fun and meaningful.......
Two-tone deluxe seats of the Interior Decor Group
... I got the go-ahead from the Finance Department (read: wife) to complete my car as original. The Finance Department loves the period-look, along with the Lime Gold paint. The Production Department (yours truly) likes it too, but he is stuck with all of the difficult work. But the thing that sealed the deal was the realization of the relative (to standard coupes) rarity of my car, as shown by production numbers for the 67-68 Mustang. Here are the numbers as provided by The Mustang Source:
1967 Mustang Production:
| Convertible, standard: 38,751 | |
| Convertible, bench seat | 1,209 |
| Convertible, luxury | 4,848 |
| Coupe, standard | 325,853 |
| Coupe, bench seat | 8,190 |
| Coupe, luxury | 22,228 |
| Fastback, standard | 53,651 |
| Fastback, luxury | 17,391 |
| Total | 472,121 |
For 1968 even less Luxury Coupes were produced, most likely as a result and reflection of sales of the 1967 Luxury Coupe. Hey, those were the REAL days of thunder; the Camaro had just come out, a C-Code Luxury Coupe was not in Ford enthusiasts minds that much.
1968 Mustang Production:
| Convertible, standard | 22,037 |
| Convertible, deluxe | 3,339 |
| Coupe, standard | 233,472 |
| Coupe, bench seats | 6,113 |
| Coupe, deluxe | 9,009 |
| Coupe, deluxe, bench seats | 853 |
| Fastback, standard | 33,585 |
| Fastback, bench seats | 1,079 |
| Fastback, deluxe | 7,661 |
| Fastback, deluxe, bench seats | 256 |
| Total | 317,404 |
(Source: The Mustang Source, Timeline, which in turn comes from Mustang...By the Numbers, by Kevin Marty)
So, in the end about 31,000 Deluxe Coupes were produced for the 67-78 model cycle. One might think: "31,000, that's a lot of Deluxe Coupes", but I am certain that throughout the years, as the surviving of these "less-valuable" coupes fell in the hands of second and third owners, most of them modified these without retaining the original luxury coupe look; the original factory AC's eliminated, the vinyl top and trim never replaced, the applique panels sold to make money for that new Edelbrock 4-barrel carb, the "passé" and unsporty and common Lime Gold color (the most produced color in 67 and 68) replaced with other more sportier or modern colors, etc. Just exactly what I was considering, to save myself a few bucks and headaches. Once stripped of their former original appearance, very few enthusiasts are willing to spend the money to bring these cars back to their former look, knowing they will never get their investment back. So this is the reason why I see so few deluxe coupes out there, and when I see one, I spend a great deal of time (and megapixels) around the car. How many are there left right now? no one knows for certain. And since no one pays attention to the lowly coupe, there are no registries that I know of. No one is counting the coupes.....
Nowadays you can buy a brand new Fastback body and frame for a little north of 15-grand (you gotta really want it!), and close to the same for a convertible shell. It makes me wonder if the perceived value of original fastback and convertible project cars (notice I said project cars), is changing in the minds of collectors. 10 years ago a collector knew that a fully-finished or project fastback or convertible was what was left, there was no Dynacorn around. Even a parts car from a junkyard was valuable for its parts. So the mentality may have been to grab whatever was available according to their collector and/or project plans. Now these junkyard parts cars can rot to hell, since we have a huge variety of sheet metal parts in the vigorous Mustang aftermarket. The new mentality then might have changed to choose between either a restorable vintage for $30-40,000.0 or buy a new shell for about half and build a brand new 67-68. So I am wondering if the idea for the value of a car to restore has really changed, knowing now that you can go to a junkyard and grab the serial number tags of an old rotted out, nowadays unrestorable Mustang and weld them to a brand new Dynacorn shell, while a few years ago that old rotten car was valuable, since it was the only way to have a classic Mustang...
Oh but wait! Dynacorn does not make complete coupe bodyshells! (who wants them?!) That same reasoning can be applied to Deluxe Coupes like mine: what is left is what is left, no Dynacorn shells. Kids (who can only afford coupes) will continue to grab and modify them to their heart's desire.The Restomod movement and market is too strong and irresistible. Another potential original-look restoration will be lost. And so on and so on, until very soon than later, not that many will remain original.
This extremely nice 1967 Branded Coupe was my Star of the show at the last Carlisle Ford Nationals. It was only one original coupe, among tens of much "more valuable" Shelby's.
Back to my car. So it was the numbers that made me decide to go the extra mile to restore my car to as much of its original look as possible, within a set budget, reusing as many parts as possible until I can afford to replace them with new parts. Long ago I ceased to let my decisions be influenced by how much money I could get if I decided to sell it. It is a bad driving force and takes the fun away. But knowing that your car is really special to me because of the way I perceive its rarity, makes my efforts a lot more fun and meaningful.......
Ivan, interesting statistics. Have you gotten a full Marti report for your car? It could be more rare than you think. When I first got the Marti report (deluxe) it didn't include the actual breakdown like the Elite report does. I did spring $60 for the detailed statistic report. That's when I found out my car was a 1-of-1. You won't regret going in the direction you're heading on the restoration. Personally, I like lime gold. : )
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