1968 Hawaiian GT/CS

[Konabully]

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking on this forum for the past couple of days since I found it. I've been a fan of the '68 GT/CS my whole life, literally. In fact, it was a GT/CS my dad drove home with me and mom after I was born. Another reason I joined was that I had entered the VIN of this car in the registry and found it! Luckily, I had the old owner's manual with my parent's address and also the embossed plastic warranty card. According to the registry, it was recently owned by Mr. Wayne Rupp in Nebraska and he is known here as RUPPSTANG.

VIN# 8R01C143536
Paint: "X" Presidential Blue
DSO 72

Mr. Rupp, if you could PM me, I can give you more history on the vehicle and answer any questions you may have. That is, if you still own this car or if it even still exists.

My father was stationed in Pearl Harbor, HI when he purchased this car from Honolulu Ford on 3-15-1968, on my mom's birthday. It was a plain C code 289 2bbl w C4 auto, plain hub caps, but came interestingly enough as a heater delete model. When my dad's military obligations were done in March 1970, he had this car shipped to Fullerton, CA where my family is originally from. My dad was a police officer back home and it was his daily driver until my mom started driving it as her car. That is until a drunk and uninsured driver smacked the left front fender and core support in 1975. My dad bought her a new Torino and the GT/CS was parked in the backyard to rot. When I was older, I tried to "rescue" it as I was about to get my driver's license but being a kid, I just tore it apart and got an old truck to drive. I eventually moved out of state and reluctantly sold the car (actually, a rolling shell at this point) to a hot rod shop in 2001 who in turn, re-sold it. Even though it pained me to sell it, it did help pay for the down on my first house.

Anyways, I'm glad to have joined this forum. I'll have to search but I know I have some pictures of this car. I'll post them once I find them.

Best regards,
J

 

[Ruppstang]

Hi J,
I am Ruppstang Marty Rupp. Wayne Rupp is my dad. It is so cool that this forum has brought us together. What a great story of the cars beginnings, We can hardly wait to get more.
Our part of the story starts on 2-23- 2011 dad had seen ad on EBay for the car. It was in Green Bay Wisconsin and I said if it is from there it is a rust bucket. The owner clamed it was nearly rust free and I thought sure it is. Dad wanted to go see it so we hooked up the trailer and 8 hours latter we were in Green Bay in 20 inches of snow. After getting stuck twice we finally got to the garage. Amazingly it was as the owner said nearly rust free although still badly damaged from the accident you described. A deal was struck and I could not wait to get out of there and on the road home. The restoration started on it right a way. I am a MCA gold card judge and this was the first car I have see with the heater delete, not a desirable option here in Nebraska. We added a heater. The restoration was completed early in 2014 and is beautiful. I will try to post some before and after pictures. We recently found a 68 HCS that we are restoring. Dad is 81 and I am 57 and we both love to restore cars.
Thank you for your post.
Marty Rupp

 

[somethingspecial]

What a cool story. Glad you two were able to hook up. Lots of history there now known as well as original owner info. Great, Great, Great. I'm going to add this story to the files. Matry, When you get all the info of the progression of owners, Let me know. Mike

 

[robert campbell]

HOW TOTALLY COOL! I would love to know where my first Mustang is!! Just a 1967 Fastback 289 auto. Doubtful I will ever know.

What a great story and it is just beginning!!

Rob

 

[stangfan]

So cool!! I can't imagine hearing from the first owners of my car. Great story! :grin:

 

[admin]

Wow! This is very cool. The wonderful powers of the internet.

Thanks Konabully for posting. Yes, if you can find any photos of the car from it's past life we (especially Marty :wink: ) would love to see them.

 

[Konabully]

Hello Marty,

That is fantastic! I'm very happy to hear that the car still exists and is being enjoyed. I am also happy to hear your personal side of this car's story. I have many, many great memories in that car. I will reply to your message shortly with my contact information.

To the admin, it may take me some time to find them but I will post some pictures after I unearth them from storage. I just recently moved from Phoenix, AZ back to So-Cal a couple of weeks ago. I was a Ford mechanic for years in San Diego then moved to Phoenix when the housing went crazy in 2000. I was a tech until 7 years ago (Bell Ford) when I changed careers and worked in the firearms industry.

Jeree

 

[clubpro]

My old C.S. was from Honolulu Ford and was a heater delete car as well. When researching my car which included a trip to Hawaii I learned that you would receive a $35 rebate if you ordered the car without the heater and of course you don't need a heater in Hawaii.

Thanks for sharing the story! I can't wait to see the photos.

Cheers,

Ron

 

[Konabully]

Ron,

That makes sense. My dad was an E-5 in the navy and could hardly afford to live off base, let alone buy a heater. :wink:

Even though I have owned several 1st generation mustangs (1965 GT coupe, 1967 and 1968 fastbacks), I never had the time or money to put towards this car.
Partly because it was an overwhelming project for me being newly married but it also scared me since I lost my dad at age 19. I had an opportunity to sell it to a known good Ford engine builder in Phoenix named Brian Duffee at Duffee Motorsports. He then immediately sold it to someone in Wisconsin.

Jeree

 

[robert campbell]

Jeree,
Marty and his Dad restore some of the nicest Mustangs in the country! Your car could not have landed in better hands!

Rob

 

[CougarCJ]

Steve or Rivertrash's GT/CS is another one from Hawaii. That makes 3 so far?

 

[Ruppstang]

Hi Jeree,
Here are some more photos of the car as we got it and some of the restoration process.
I will try to get some current ones soon.
Do you have any thing else from the car but the warrantee card?
If you ever get in the Omaha NE. area come and see us. Who know we might go for a ride in your car.
Marty

 

[Ruppstang]

Here are some current photos. They are not the best as it is not a great day to be out side in Nebraska. Hope they bring back some memory's.
Marty

 

[robert campbell]

Marty,
I love that color!!!!! AWESOME!! It must be stressful trying to figure out which of your cars to drive!!

Rob

 

[franklinair]

Its a Beauty. Well done.

Neil

 

[Konabully]

Marty,

Sorry for the delay. I have been out of town and the transmission in my truck went down.

Thank you for the pictures! You and your father have done a fantastic job at the restoration (actually a resurrection) on this car. I am stunned and almost at a loss for words. Absolutely beautiful work! You have definitely brought me some fine memories, all of them good and some of them funny.

I learned a lot of things sitting in that car. My dad worked the graveyard shifts so he would wear a light sweater over his police uniform and he would take me for a father & son drive before his shift. In those days, we didn't have car seats for kids like they do now. My perspective was in the front seat with a lap belt on and barely peeking over the window. I remember we got pulled over for speeding...of course, we didn't get a ticket. On the way home, we would drive under the Commonwealth Rd. train tunnels and he would rev up the motor for me. We also "raced" a guy in a Camaro down by Knott's Berry Farm when my dad told me to wave "bye-bye". That's when I learned what the middle finger was for, a secret code saying "you're number 1!" and that we shouldn't tell mom about it. One of the funniest is when we stopped at a light across from the college. There were several people waiting on a bus bench next to us. My dad said, "Say hi to the lady with the big boobies". So I did. I smiled, waved, and said, "Hi, lady with the big boobies!" The half-dozen people on the bench roared with laughter and the poor young lady in mid-wave just dropped her jaw. It was not the reaction I was expecting. My dad had the biggest Cheshire cat grin behind his Ray-Ban sunglasses. I will always laugh at that one.

When doing your restoration you may have noticed it had been rear-ended once. A different drunk hit it when it was parked on the street in 1973. My dad knew one of the body shop guys at McCoy & Mills Ford in Fullerton to repair it. His name was "Babe". (He and his wife were wonderful people). After the body work, they painted it without putting the stripes on. By the way, the two creases on the driver's side roof were caused when a huge pecan tree branch landed on it during a rainstorm in 1974.

If it survived, you may have also noticed a faded decal in the driver's side rear window. It was round and had a picture of a smiling pig's face, wearing a Keystone Kop's hat. It also had "Pride, Integrity, Guts" (P.I.G.) lettered on it. It was the early version of the "thin blue line" decals you see today.

Thank you for the invitation. I may take you up on it some day. I remember I had to fly to Omaha to pick up a newly built fire truck some farmer built and drove it back to Phoenix. That was about 10 years ago. I imagine not much has changed.

I only have the warranty card and owner's manual. I found them with my dad's personal effects after I sold the car. I always thought I might be able to track this car down one day since I had the VIN#. I guess that just happened.

As for pictures, I still need to find them. Once I do, I will need to convert the color slides into electronic pictures.

Best regards,
Jeree

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[somethingspecial]

What a great story. To have the Warranty card. WOW. I hope Marti Auto Works can make these some day. Marty, You and your dad are very lucky. I am still looking for the Original owner and/or his son on my S code. Mike

 

[Ruppstang]

Jeree,
Your dad must have been a lot of fun. Your stories made me laugh. It was great to hear how the damaged occurred on the car. Often when I am making repairs I wonder what the story was and how it happened. Now we know. I am curious if you put the extended spring shackles on? Also was the original engine in or with the car when you sold it? We also found the third member gears to be trashed like it had been abused. We thought it had been raced and the engine blown.

The wind chill here today-40 it is nice to think about the car driving the beaches of Hawaii.
It would be awesome to find some license plate frames from Honolulu Ford for the car.

Best regards
Marty

 

[clubpro]

Here you go Marty,

They are a little spendy, but how often do you see them?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SET-NOS-Hon...tal-/331040288665?hash=item4d1389ef99&vxp=mtr

Cheers,

Ron

 

[robert campbell]

Ouch! But how cool!!! This car deserves them!!!

Rob