1967 Ski Country Special

Hot off the heels of the 1966 High Country Special, the Denver Sales District was eager to release another classic Mustang limited edition just for the Colorado market. Unlike the HCS package, which was only offered on the Mustang, the Ski Country Special could be had on the Galaxie, Fairlane, Ford Country Sedan and Mustang coupe and fastback (no convertibles). The Ski Country Special package consisted of special paint, a fender emblem and a few other items catering to the snowy high country. Paint colors were unique to this package and named after local ski resorts; Vail Blue, Winter Park Turquoise, Aspen Red, Breckenridge Yellow and Loveland Green.

The Ski Country Special Registry is run by Bob Teets who has about a dozen cars registered. Bob and Kevin Marti have confirmed total production of 198 cars, with the majority being coupes and very few fastbacks.

Here’s a quote from a newspaper ad run in the 1967 Rocky Mountain News,

“Now! Specially equipped Ski Country Fords – Five Ski Country Specials now at your Ford Dealer’s. Galaxie, Mustang and Fairlane hardtops, Mustang Fastback and Ford Country Sedan. Five special colors. Specially equipped with ski racks, snow tires, equa-lock rear axle, coffee bar and medallions.”

Identification: Basically the key elements of this special package are the paint color and fender badges. Of course with a 40+ year old car it’s very likely it’s been repainted, which in one step probably eliminated the tell-tale original special color paint and the emblems. Like many special edition Mustangs there was nothing special about the VIN that proves it’s heritage. They came down the assembly line just like every other Mustang. The final touches were either added just off the assembly line or by the dealer upon delivery.

Luckily the special paint does leave a trail. The DSO (see the door data plate) on Ski Country Specials will be a 6 digit number instead of the normal 2 digits. The first 2 digits will be “51” designating the Denver sales district. The next 4 digits are the key and indicate it was a special order, in this case special paint. Both the 1967 Ski Country Specials and 1666-1967 High Country Specials will have this unique 6 digit DSO.

Following are the Dupont Paint numbers that correspond to the original 5 special colors:

Aspen Red = 2721H 93-83001H
Loveland Green = 4209 181-95020
Vail Blue = 4690L 181-97344
Brekenridge Yellow = 4711L 93-97845H
Winter Park Turquoise = 4495L 93-96938

===== UPDATE August 2010 ====

Rowland Smith was kind enough to send in these great photos of his 1967 Ski Country Special (see red car with black stripes above). If anyone else has photos they’d like to share please email me: [email protected]

Here’s the description from Rowland:

The stripes were added by someone on mine.  As far as I can tell, everything else is original except the carb which is a ’72. This thing is in such immaculate shape and I have the original invoice, warranty cards, registrations, ski flag, emblem, ski racks and even some notebook pages where the salesman was taking notes and adding up the accessory package. Mustang Monthly will be doing a feature on it next year after the restore and clean-up.