1968 Mustang California Special

[MrObsessive]

I printed this just a day or so ago, and I thought I'd post it here as it's been all over FB, and some have gone crazy over it.

1968 Mustang California Special which was a greatly modified file by me, as there are no files of this car out there. The main body file came from Cults3D.com, but I had to add the rear fender caps, taillight panel, new rear valance, side scoops, door jambs (the original file was very weak in this area), trunk spoiler, and I took off some of the trim on the roof and door frames as IMO they were a bit too heavy handed. The parts I added came from Forza game file cars of other Shelby's, and the original .obj file I have of the 1968 Mustang coupe. Print time was just over 16 hours, and it was printed on my Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4K at .030mm layer height, with AA turned on.

Enjoy!

This was originally a test piece for the nose section of a '68 Shelby convertible. It was the second failure for the 1/43, so I went back to the drawing board, and zeroed in on what the issue was. I've since printed the convertible which finished just this morning (1/25 scale), and later on I'll do a thread on that.

I got curious to see if the Green Hornet chassis/interior that I built, would it fit in the car with no issue. Well it does quite well, and with some slight wheelbase tweaks, the AMT '67 chassis would work very well with this car when the time comes to build it. The Shelby Green Hornet is on the downside of getting done............hopefully by next month it's all done and I can move on to the next one.

The wheels I extracted out of the .obj files I have of the regular Mustang coupe, and the files were then converted to be made printable. I extruded the GT lettering just a bit after the wheel was thickened up.....they showed up well, but a lot of pics of CS's don't have the GT lettering on 'em. No matter, I can use them just the same, and there's certainly Mustangs and other Fords of the era that used these.

Edited September 18, 2022 by MrObsessive

[vamach1]

Thanks for posting for the forum members not on Facebook.  As always your work is 2nd to none and just imagine what models could be made by the big model companies spent some time offering variations of kits that have been good sellers but are in desperate need of updating.

[espo]

Beautiful looking Mustang body and wheels.  

[TooOld]

Super nice work Bill !  I know that you're not offering anything for sale but man o man that's a nice looking GTCS !   And those wheels are without a doubt the nicest anywhere . . . why the heck can't kit manufacturers get these right ?!?!

Edited September 18, 2022 by TooOld

[Tabbysdaddy]

I'm never disappointed when I click on something you post. 

[yellowsportwagon]

Man do I need one of these. One of my best friends has one I’d love to build: 

[Rodent]

13 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

but a lot of pics of CS's don't have the GT lettering on 'em

GT/CSs weren't GTs. If the SS wheel was ordered on a GT/CS, it would have had a plain cap. That said, if it was equipped with the 302-4V or 390, it could have been ordered with the GT equipment group and would have had the GT center caps. I have heard that three 428 CJ GT/CSs were built and they would have had the GT caps as well.

I am slightly older than you are, and I grew up ~100 miles from the plant where these cars were built. They were pretty common when I was a kid and started appearing in the wrecking yards in the late 1970s. I am by no means an expert, but the overwhelming number of these cars I saw were 289-2V automatics with manual drums and low option content (AM radio, standard interior, no A/C, etc.) They were definitely available other ways, but I suspect that hardly any of the dealers ordered them as performance or luxury-oriented cars unless a customer special ordered one that way.

[Bills72sj]

Thank you for sharing! I have on;y seen two of these in real life. If a kit was ever made of one, I would buy it.