Right from the archives of SUPER FORD Magazine this is the one and only original artwork hand drawn by noted automobile artist and instructor Tom Hamilton for the original SUPER FORD MAGAZINE as the #61 SUPER FORD COLLECTOR SERIES on the 1968 Ford Mustangs. Tom was chosen to hand draw the renderings of each car in the series not just an artist, but because he was a genuine "car guy" his whole life. His attention to detail was uncanny as he brought the style and attitude of each car to life by hand drawing them in pen & ink then depending on the car itself, he would add some pencil shading or watercolor effects to the art.
The artwork is mounted on a black 1/4" thick foam studio artboard. Also included on this artboard is a NOS print of the actual Super Ford Collector series that the art was originally drawn for, and it is signed by the author. The artboard measures approximately 30" wide X 14 1/2" tall X 1/4" thick. (I have included a picture of me holding it to give you a better idea of its size.) I have a total of 26 different one off original art boards that were commissioned from 1976-85. Most were displayed at the Super Ford Magazine building thru '89 then shipped with me to Florida in 2002 and put in storage. THEY ARE NOT PERFECT. THEY ARE 40+ YEARS OLD. Some may have minor smudges or tell tale spots where Tom revised or made corrections, and maybe a ding here and there.
HERE'S A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON HOW AND WHY THE COLLECTOR SERIES ARTWORK CAME ABOUT.
In 1974 I had put together a contact list of 88 fellow Ford racers, and I decided to mail out a list comprised of Ford cars and parts that I was selling. Many of the recipients of my list are names you'll recognize like: Mickey Thompson, Bob Glidden, Don Nicholson, Bob Tasca, Connie Kalitta, Carrol Shelby, Hubert Platt, Gapp & Roush Racing, Holman Moody and many others.
Some of these racers bought parts from me, some made trades with me, and a few wanted me to add their parts and cars that they wanted to sell to my list and do another mailing to the people I had on my Ford mailing list.
I sent out two other Ford Parts lists that included cars and parts from other Ford racers, and I charged them $10 to include their parts and contact info to my list and I blasted the new list out to my 88 Ford Racers. The response was amazing! As these lists made it to the Ford Racers and they saw that other Ford Racers were included with their parts and cars on the list, I was overwhelmed with Ford Guys that wanted to be on the mailing list or wanted to add their cars and parts to my next mailing. And so it began. That's when I started the SUPER FORD PARTS EXCHANGE as a paid subscription publication with paid advertising for Ford cars and parts for sale.
As the SUPER FORD PARTS EXCHANGE grew, I decided to add a special one-page review of a particular Ford or Mercury that I felt had a "stand out" place in Ford Motor Company's history. This special addition was dubbed: "John Paradise's SUPER FORD COLLECTOR SERIES". Each car, or group of cars, was meticulously chosen and a review of the car, its history, its place in automotive history, production figures, and more. Noted automotive artist Tom Hamilton was chosen to hand draw the renderings of each car in the series. Not just an artist and an art instructor, Tom was a genuine "car guy" his whole life. His attention to detail was uncanny as he brought the style and attitude of each car in the series to life by hand drawing them in pen & ink then depending on the car itself, he would add some pencil shading or watercolor effects to the art.
As the number of subscribers rapidly rose and THE SUPER FORD PARTS EXCHANGE evolved into SUPER FORD MAGAZINE, the popularity of the SUPER FORD COLLECTOR SERIES grew so much that with every new collector series I did, we had to increase the number of extras we had to print to keep up with the demand for them with new subscribers.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE NOS COLLECTOR SERIES ARTICLE THAT IS MOUNTED WITH THIS ARTWORK
1968 FORD MUSTANGS
It was October 7, 1962, when Ford Motor Company introduced a sporty little two-seater called the Mustang I. Anxious onlookers praised the sporty little car as professional race car driver Dan Gurney, hot shoed it around the Watkins Glen track in excess of 120 mph. Much to Ford's advantage, Chevrolet's mid-engine, Corvair based, Monza GT experimental sports car also showed up for public display at Watkins Glen. The new Mustang I overshadowed the Monza GT so much that the Chevrolet display looked more like a wake than a new car showing.
Things rolled quickly from that point, and by the year's end, Lee Iacocca's Ford Division people were hard at work designing the Mustang production car. When Ford dealers opened their doors on the public introduction day of Friday April 17th, it was the beginning of "Mustang Madness". An estimated four million people visited their local Ford dealers that first weekend to see the new Mustang. It was Lee Iacocca's intention to create three styles of the Mustang: an economy version, a luxury version, and a performance version... he had done it all.
In it's first twelve months, 418,812 Mustangs were sold, a new all-time record for a first year entry.
By 1966 the Mustang had gained the reputation of being the most fault-free car ever produced by Ford.
But it was as early as mid-1965 that it was obvious that Chrysler and GM would be pushing hard to come up with a viable competitor for Ford's revolutionary new "Pony Car". The word was out, Chevrolet's Corvair would never make the grade so a totally new car called the Camero was scheduled to make it's debut in 1967, and Chrysler Corporation's incredibly slow selling Barracuda was scheduled for a complete facelift for 1967.
At this point, Ford had a problem - "How do you top an act like the original Mustang ?" Early in 1966, Ford's design studios were putting the final touches on the 1967 Mustangs. Ford continued the three model lineup - hardtop, fastback, and convertible, but the car featured a completely reshaped body, while still resembling the original Mustang. The interior changes included larger gauges in the dash, and an overall "more expensive" look. For the performance enthusiasts the big news was under the hood. With minor redesign to the shock towers, the second generation Mustangs could now accommodate the FE series Ford big block engines.
Admittedly, Ford never set out with the intension of topping the original Mustang, but the second generation was obviously number one in the pony car field. The most startling facts came at the end of the 1967 model year when the production figures were in. Mustang kept the lead with over double the sales of the new Chevrolet Camero.
1968 will be noted in automotive history as the year the government stepped in. Safety requirements included a collapsible steering column, side marker lights, redesigned interior door handles, window cranks, control knobs, coat hooks, and seat backs including release levers. Under the hood, the government initiated it's phase one emissions controls.
This "collector series" article continues to cover the actual body and trim changes, the interior upgrades, the production figure, and last but not least the muscular 427 and 428 CJ engine options under the hood.
Thus 1968 signaled the end of the second generation of the one and only, original pony car ... the Mustang.
Note: All information is based on research done by the author at the Ford Archives at the time of the article's publication.