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2025 Ford Mustang GTD Spirit of America Up Close: Awesomely Pointless

ford mustang gtd spirit of america 2025 01 exterior front angle jpg 2025 Ford Mustang GTD Spirit of America | Cars.com photo by Steven Pham

I’m never going to knock a halo performance car. That any automaker makes one at all is a fantastic thing, as it means someone in marketing got together with the engineering enthusiasts in their company and convinced the brass to spend a ridiculous amount of money to build a vehicle that only a handful of customers will ever get to own. I’ll wager that’s what happened with the new Ford Mustang GTD street-legal racecar. So if you’re already going to be building a rarified $300,000 sports car that only a handful of Ford aficionados will be allowed to drive, why not make an even more special special edition?

That’s what we have with the 2025 Ford Mustang GTD Spirit of America.

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Despite there still being no official price tag for the Mustang GTD, nor word on how many will be built or who’s been approved through the application process Ford has to purchase one, the company has announced a special-edition homage to the “American spirit of ingenuity” that also celebrates land speed record pioneer Craig Breedlove. M’kay, sure, why not.

Even More In-Your-Face Looks

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The Mustang GTD Spirit of America is basically a trim and sticker package, but the GTD didn’t need anything to improve its performance if Ford’s claims are accurate. The 815-horsepower, carbon-fiber-bodied, 202-mph-capable Mustang already claimed the title as the first American production car to lap the famed Nurburgring racetrack in under seven minutes. Adding some special paint, stripes and detail trim to the GTD to make it look even more in-your-face to those European competitors just kind of seems to be in keeping with the latest American spirit these days, doesn’t it? I can’t fault them for emblazoning the absolutely massive rear wing with “Mustang” script, however — that might actually be useful, as other Nurburgring drivers can easily see what it was that just blew past them in a haze of V-8 noise.

Though the new Mustang’s interior isn’t all that attractive to begin with, with its big rectangular screens that provide no artistry whatsoever, material choices and the new seats look and feel good with their mix of colors. If you can fit in the Recaro seats, you’re likely to be satisfied with the cabin that surrounds you. A particularly cool detail is the clear panel over where the backseats should be that shows you the suspension in action (although I shudder to think what this is going to look like after your GTD hits some wet weather).

Overall, the new GTD and its special Spirit of America edition is awesome — and pointless. It does supercar stuff for a supercar price and is unobtainable to the common man, just like a supercar. But that’s totally OK; in an era where everything’s rapidly becoming an electric SUV, the fact that Ford spent the money to make this incredible monster warms my heart. I’ll likely never get to drive one, and you likely won’t get to, either, but I feel good just knowing it’s out there.

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Aaron Bragman
Detroit Bureau Chief Aaron Bragman has had over 25 years of experience in the auto industry as a journalist, analyst, purchasing agent and program manager. Bragman grew up around his father’s classic Triumph sports cars (which were all sold and gone when he turned 16, much to his frustration) and comes from a Detroit family where cars put food on tables as much as smiles on faces. Today, he’s a member of the Automotive Press Association and the Midwest Automotive Media Association. His pronouns are he/him, but his adjectives are fat/sassy.
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