Ford’s most extreme street-legal Mustang has a new stars-and-stripes attitude, and, mercifully, it hasn’t arrived as some half-hearted sticker pack. The Mustang GTD Spirit of America returns with a fresh look timed for America’s 250th birthday, wearing an asymmetrical Performance White, Race Red, and Lightning Blue livery that reworks the classic Mustang tri-bar into something much louder, sharper, and more suited to a car that already behaves like a GT3 program for the street. The name reaches back to Craig Breedlove, the aerospace technician who used a $500 jet engine to become the first person to break the 600-mph land speed barrier, which gives this GTD a pretty serious set of shoes to fill before it even turns a wheel. Ford Gave The Mustang GTD A New Patriotic Suit FordThe new Spirit of America look starts with a Performance White body, then adds offset Race Red and Lightning Blue stripes across the car. It’s asymmetrical, which is a fancy way of saying Ford didn’t simply run two neat stripes down the center and call it a day.Ford says the layout reinterprets the Mustang tri-bar, which makes sense given how much of this car already feels like a heritage nameplate stretched into supercar territory. The livery also draws attention to the GTD’s carbon fiber bodywork, including the front splitter and rear wing. That’s the right move, because the GTD’s aero hardware does most of the talking anyway.The exposed carbon fiber and Mustang lettering remain major visual pieces, while Forgeline wheels complete the package. It’s patriotic, sure, but it also looks functional enough to avoid the costume-party problem that can hit special editions this close to a national celebration. The 815-HP V8 Is Still The Main Event FordUnder the skin, Ford hasn’t changed the recipe, and that’s good news. The Mustang GTD Spirit of America keeps the 5.2-liter supercharged V8 with 815 horsepower and a 202-mph top speed. That makes it the most advanced and powerful street-legal Mustang ever assembled, according to Ford, which is a sentence that would’ve sounded completely deranged back when Mustangs were still fighting for traction with leaf springs and optimism.The Performance Package comes standard, so the Spirit of America keeps the serious hardware. Inside, the driver-focused cockpit remains unchanged, with available 3D-printed titanium accents and high-performance ergonomics. Quick Pony FordFord also ties the GTD’s mission to its Nürburgring achievement. The Mustang GTD lapped the German circuit in 6:40.835, putting it among the fastest cars to lap the legendary track. That number gives the patriotic paintwork some proper backing, because it’s a Mustang that went to Germany, dropped a serious lap time, and came home wearing red, white, and blue. Ford notes that North American customers who want a shot at owning one have until May 18 to apply for the opportunity to buy it.Source: Ford.
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