After introducing us to the new Bullitt Mustang, Ford is doubling down on the nostalgia-fueled, special edition muscle cars.
First appearing on the scene in 1968, the original California Special Mustang featured a smattering of cosmetic tweaks including fog lights, hood pins, and a stripe down the side that ran into a new side scoop. For 2019, Ford is bringing the Golden State-inspired limited edition back, giving its muscle car a similarly light sprinkling of upgrades.
The 2019 Mustang California Special’s headline mechanical feature is auto rev-matched downshifts for manual, V8 model owners who’d like to heel-and-toe but, y’know, can’t. For the driver’s aural pleasure, the car also comes with a 12-speaker, 1,000-watt Bang & Olufsen sound system along with a quad-tip, active valve performance exhaust system for four-cylinder EcoBoost models.
Most notably, perhaps, is the Cali Special’s fading side stripe that flows from the “5.0” badge and into the side scoop. New five-spoke wheels, blacked-out grille, and a front splitter borrowed from the Performance Pack 1 round out the cosmetic changes. Climbing inside, this limited-run Mustang is adorned with Miko suede seats, red stitching, and special “GT/CS” embroidering throughout.
Ford says the California Special Mustang will be available in a variety of vibrant-looking paint jobs including, crucially, the same Dark Highland Green that comes on the Bullitt.
