Acapulco Blue painted cars

[Rich Plescia]

Acapulco Blue paint was not an RPO (Regular Production Option) paint when 1967 Mustang production started in August 1966. We’re not sure when it was first offered as an RPO, but we do know that Shelby began placing orders for the Acapulco Blue G.T. cars beginning with DSO 2590, typed on 2/22/67 (received 3/2/67).

This would seem to indicate a mid-model-year introduction.

When was it first offered on the Mustang? (The earliest Marti Report date found so far shows an ‘Order Received” 2/24/67 with an “Actually Built” 3/20/67 - where the paint code “D” is used) 

Ford paint code D - Acapulco Blue (Mustang Only); Nordic Blue (Cougar Only) - Listed as Ford part number “M32J 3077-A“

 

What about other Ford models? (Fairlane, Galaxie, Falcon) This website page seems to indicate it was available on other models.

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?type=sample&ditzler=13357&syear=1967&smanuf=Ford&smodel=Mustang&sname=Acapulco%20Blue&name=1967_00091_01

Shelby American coded Acapulco Blue as paint code “0” (the 10th color they offered for ‘67).

A total of 145 Shelby G.T. cars were painted Acapulco Blue.

• 144 cars received the 5A knitted black vinyl trim.

• 1 car, #02614, a GT350,  received the 5U knitted parchment trim. It was the only unit on DSO 2603 and was most-likely a special order.

• Though 6A luxury black vinyl (smooth) was a material substituted at times during the production run, no Acapulco Blue cars received the 6A trim.

• 81 G.T. 350 cars painted Acapulco Blue were ordered across DSOs: 2590, 2591, 2596, 2598, 2599, & 2603

• 64 G.T. 500 cars painted Acapulco Blue were ordered across DSOs: 2592, 2593, 2594, 2595, 2600, 2601, & 2602

• It is highly probable all 145 Acapulco Blue cars received the 67-½ style front-end (a.k.a. ‘Outboard’ high-beams) as 5/23/1967 was the earliest date that SAI completed the first Acapulco Blue cars.

Ford San Jose (FSJ) base unit build date range: GT350 and GT500 5/4/67 – 6/5/67

Shelby American Inc (SAI) completion date range: GT350 5/23-7/26: GT500 5/24-7/24

Acapulco Blue may have been available on earlier cars, but only as a special paint option. We believe there has been at least one Mustang that appears to have been painted Acapulco Blue prior to it becoming a standard production color. The Marti report of this ‘67 Mustang GTA Fastback, apparently painted Acapulco Blue, had the paint code field blank (column 15), just like ‘67 Shelby’s painted in the “Thunderbird Only” #1900 Charcoal Gray Metallic. The door tag is blank in the paint code as well. The “Order Received” was 9/26/66 and the “Actually Built” date was 11/12/66. Earlier in the production year the color code would not be allowed on a Mustang due to data entry parameters (much like Charcoal) as indicated by the blank code in the Ford record. 

This related topic includes a time-plot of when each paint color was introduced and discontinued. 

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/shelbyresearch/xMh2RMLAXdc/gTf0tEN4DQAJ

[Brian Styles]

Adding to the timeline:

Car #0463 (G.T. 500 4-speed Air/Con), after fulfilling the engineering role of "Air Conditioning Cooling Tests" during Feb & March, 1967, was re-purposed and modified to serve a new role as one of the two 1968 photographic (advertising) cars. The other car was the G.T. 500 convertible, #0139.

When #0463 was updated with A.O. Smith's hand-crafted '68 styled front end, hood and rear tail light panel (built in Ionia and shipped to Los Angeles), the factory Lime Gold car was repainted Acapulco Blue.

This transition to '68 styling and the Acapulco Blue respray took place after the official A/C cooling tests at the Goodyear test track in Texas. #0463 was returned to California on March 28th, 1967. 

It is estimated that the two cars (#0139 & #0463) were re-purposed, received their A.O. Smith fiberglass and were repainted sometime between mid-April and mid-May 1967.   .......... possibly around the same time Acapulco Blue paint became available on the Shelby G.T.