The Ford Mustang GTD broke cover quite some time ago as what is promised to be the ultimate road-going version of the pony car to ever exist. In fact, FoMoCo is in the process of trying to lap Germany’s Nurburgring in less than seven minutes right now, which is a mark that few vehicles in history have achieved thus far. Given the fact that the Ford Mustang GTD costs over $300k and one must be approved to purchase it, it stands to reason that some folks will want to replicate its looks on regular old run-of-the-mill pony cars, but a recent attempt to do precisely that got a prominent YouTuber in hot water with the SEMA Show and seemingly Ford itself.
That YouTuber is TJ Hunt, who purchased a new Mustang with the intentions of creating a GTD replica body kit via Street Hunter Designs and bringing the car to SEMA just a few months ago. As is usually the case with these types of builds, things went down to the wire – which is great for dramatic purposes, of course – but as one might imagine, the idea here was to create something that could eventually be made and sold to interested customers. The process was coming along nicely, at least, until Hunt got a letter in the mail from a “certain auto manufacturer,” according to him.
Hunt noted that this mysterious automaker felt “offended and disrespected” by what he and his team were trying to do, and added that it was going to try and stop the Ford Mustang GTD replica from appealing at SEMA – or coming to light for customers interested in the body kit. Hunt doesn’t come out and say that there were copyright concerns regarding his kit, but did allude to it – noting that he feels there are some “key differences” between his kit and the bodywork present on the production GTD. Hunt did note that the manufacturer said it was willing to “work with us to a certain extent” in terms of getting the greenlight to sell the kit.
Regardless, Hunt proceeded to finish the project and even made the drive to Las Vegas, but ultimately, he wasn’t allowed to participate in SEMA. He noted that the auto manufacturer “sent a formal complaint” to the SEMA board, adding that “the Mustang is banned” from the show. Honestly, it’s not a terribly surprising development given how similar his body kit is to the production Ford Mustang GTD bodywork, as we’ve seen this type of situation play out in the aftermarket before. Thus, whether or not Hunt’s body kit ever sees the light of day in any capacity, well, that remains to be seen.
Comment
Doesn’t look anything like the GTD. The rear spoiler alone defines it he kit as not a GTD