Mustang GTD Spirit of America Celebrates American Ingenuity, Performance
The Mustang GTD “Spirit of America” is a special edition of the 2025 Mustang GTD, created to celebrate Ford’s racing spirit and American heritage. It was unveiled ahead of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, tying into Ford’s return to Le Mans with a new Mustang GT3 race car.
- Unique paint scheme: It features a striking red, white, and blue livery — stars and stripes across the body — very patriotic, almost like a modern “American flag” Mustang.
- Performance: Mechanically, it’s still a Mustang GTD underneath — meaning a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 (targeting over 800 horsepower), carbon fiber body panels, active aerodynamics, and semi-active suspension. This is Ford’s most extreme road-going Mustang yet, aimed at rivaling the likes of Porsche GT3 RS and AMG Black Series.
- Special details: The Spirit of America version isn’t just cosmetic. Ford hinted it could offer bespoke touches inside too, like commemorative plaques, special stitching, and numbered editions.
- Production: The GTD itself is extremely limited — production will run into late 2025 or early 2026. Only a fraction of those GTDs might be built in the Spirit of America trim, and they’ll likely be even harder to get.
In 1962, a small team set out to turn a compact sedan into a sporty car called “Mustang.” It beat Europe’s best in its first race and hasn’t looked back, becoming the first car from an American automaker to lap Germany’s famed Nürburgring in less than 7 minutes.
To celebrate these accomplishments and more, Ford today debuts the Mustang GTD Spirit of America.
Mustang has been uniquely American since 1965, from its V8 power to its iconic galloping horse logo emblazoned across a red, white and blue badge. Mustang GTD Spirit of America represents more than Mustang’s performance legacy. It honors the American spirit of ingenuity and courage in the face of challenge.
It’s also what drove Craig Breedlove, a structural engineering tech in the aerospace industry to buy a $500 jet engine from a Korean War fighter plane and became the first person to break the 500- and 600-mile-per-hour barriers on land.
Breedlove’s record-setting efforts in a sport dominated largely by European aristocrats and playboys helped inspire decades of American designers, engineers, and inventors, including the men and women of the Mustang GTD program.
To bring Mustang GTD Spirit of America to life, Ford Design has created a Performance White body with twin racing stripes in Race Red and Lightning Blue, mimicking the iconic red, white, and blue Mustang tribar that debuted in 1964. The stripes run the length of the Mustang GTD Spirit of America’s body. The design also matches the overalls that Craig Breedlove wore when he broke both the 500- and 600-mile-per-hour barriers in the 1960s.
Exposed carbon fiber is a primary element on the Mustang GTD Spirit of America’s aerodynamic elements, including the front splitter, as well as on the rear diffuser and spoiler. That spoiler includes Race Red end plates and a “MUSTANG” wordmark on the underside, leaving no doubt for trailing cars about what just passed them. Owners have a choice of Race Red or exposed carbon-fiber mirror caps, while Race Red calipers are standard. Additionally, the Mustang GTD Performance Package is standard.
Mustang GTD Spirit of America features a package-specific seat option to present a unique take on the focused, all-glass cockpit. The seats are leather-trimmed with Dinamica inserts. Black Onyx features prominently, with a Race Red gradient stripe down the middle and Re-Entry White trimmings on the exterior, while Victory Blue contrast stitching provides a subtle pop of color. Victory Blue also appears as a contrast element throughout the cabin. The paddle shifters, shift ring, and IP badge are available in 3D-printed titanium, as well.
The all-new 2025 Mustang GTD, including Mustang GTD Spirit of America, is the apex of any Mustang ever engineered by Ford. It sets a new performance bar with 815 horsepower, 664 pound-feet of torque and a top speed of 202 miles per hour, the most of any street-legal Mustang ever.
Context around the Mustang GTD and the Spirit of America theme:
The 2025 Mustang GTD is Ford’s answer to the GT3 RS or even a McLaren-level track weapon, but with a distinctly Ford-American personality. It’s a massive flex by Ford: taking the Mustang, a car often seen as a “muscle car,” and making it something that could genuinely fight the best in Europe — not just in a straight line but on a technical racetrack.
GTD name: The “GTD” stands for GT Daytona, linking it directly to the IMSA GTD Pro racing class. Ford’s racing program with the Mustang GT3 (built in collaboration with Multimatic) will attack global endurance races like Le Mans and Daytona starting 2024.
The Spirit of America version draws from a few deeper Ford traditions:
- 1960s Le Mans dominance: Think Ford GT40, American drivers with stars-and-stripes liveries, and Henry Ford II’s personal war against Ferrari.
- 1970s Trans-Am Mustangs: Big, loud, American muscle beating European imports on technical circuits.
- Bill Elliott’s NASCAR Mustangs: Red, white, and blue paint schemes became synonymous with American pride in racing.
- Carroll Shelby’s marketing tactics: Shelby loved American flag imagery when selling the Cobra and GT350 overseas — making “America’s sports car” something Europeans would take seriously.
The Spirit of America GTD isn’t just a wrap job — it’s symbolic of Ford telling the world: we’re back in international racing, and we’re doing it the American way.
Deeper mechanical notes:
The Mustang GTD is basically a road-legal Mustang GT3 with modifications to stay street compliant:
- Engine: Supercharged 5.2L V8 (same block as the GT500 but heavily reworked), targeting over 800 hp. This might be the most powerful street-legal Ford V8 ever made.
- Transmission: 8-speed rear-mounted transaxle (similar to a Corvette layout), for near 50/50 weight distribution — unheard of for Mustangs.
- Suspension: Semi-active inboard pushrod suspension (F1 tech, basically) — again, a first for a street Mustang.
- Chassis: Massive carbon fiber use, including a carbon fiber driveshaft. The Spirit of America version may have a different aero kit or lighter options compared to a “standard” GTD.
- Brakes: Carbon ceramic brakes standard.
- Price? Around $300,000+, if you can even get an allocation.
Collectibility and Positioning:
- If you know Ford’s history with special edition cars like the GT350R (1965), Ford GT (2005 and 2017), and the Carbon Series GTs — they become instantly collectible.
- The Spirit of America GTD will be even rarer because it taps into Ford’s motorsports narrative. It’s like buying a modern Ford GT LM edition — pure motorsports, pure patriotism.
- Expect these to be snapped up by serious Ford collectors, Le Mans enthusiasts, and maybe some hardcore racers who want something different from the usual European exotics.
