Al Valdez sent these photos in of his tricked out 68 Mustang along with his description of some of the updates hes done to it.
This is a really neat car Al, and Thanks for sharing this with us!
This is a 1968 Mustang that my friend Ron had and wanted to customize. He
did the wrenching and assembly while I did the body, fiberglass, frame
modifications and paint.
I took a Shelby front apron and opened it up for a bigger grille opening
and glassed it all into a one piece assembly. I cut, welded and rechromed
the original Mustang front bumper into 2 bumperettes similar to a '71
Camaro SS.
We called Ford and ordered a pair of quarter windows for a 2005 Mustang
and I cut, formed, welded, leaded and flush-fit them in the area that had
the extraction louvers in the quarter panels. Then I cut rear brake vents
into the lower quarter panels and ducted them to the disk brakes. I took
3 1965 Mustang grilles and made the extra large front grille and also
matching inserts for the side brake vents.
We bought a fiberglass Shelby rear lamp panel and I modified it to
accept taillights from a Cougar and used a Shelby quick-fill gas filler
in the center. Then I sculpted the lower rear valance panel to match the
custom exhaust tips he picked out.
The hood is a custom fiberglass unit with a cowl breathing blister...also
screened to match the grille.
The instrument cluster is a specially made piece with a new factory bezel
and white faced Classic series Autometer gauges. Caroll Shelby signed the
passenger side woodgrained dash insert.
It has a built 390 Ford, 4 speed toploader (I wanted a 6 speed), 9"
locker, custom full length subframe connectors, traction bars, 14" Baer
disk brakes, roll bar and a custom power rack and pinion steering unit.
The busy photo at bottom was taken at last year's Russo Steele muscle car auction
in Scottsdale.
Click on Photos for full size view.
