Alabama man bought brand new $430,000 Ford Mustang GTD but couldn't sell or drive it for two years

Mitchell Watts had just taken delivery of one of the most powerful Mustangs ever made, but owning a $430,000 Ford Mustang GTD came with some surprisingly strict rules.

The Alabama man spent around $435,000 on his Mustang GTD, a carbon-fiber-clad, 815-horsepower monster.

But while Watts was finally able to call the car his own, he was subject to some very strict rules.

And there was also a good reason why he needed to be careful about driving it immediately.

The $430,000 Mustang GTD can’t be sold for two years

Mitchell Watts, the founder of TCcustoms, an Alabama-based Ford customization business, was stoked when he became the proud new owner of a Ford Mustang GTD supercar.

But his GTD was about as far away from a regular Mustang as you can get.

The car starts at around $325,000, but Watts’ example cost considerably more after options.

In a YouTube video, he described it as ‘the coolest car [he’s] ever had the chance of owning’.

But ownership came with a fairly significant catch.

Ford required Mustang GTD buyers to agree to confidential terms that included maintaining ownership of the car for two years, a rule John Cena accidentally broke.

The policy was designed to stop buyers from taking delivery of one of the limited-production cars and immediately flipping them for a huge profit.

And that’s particularly relevant when you’re talking about a car as exclusive as the GTD.

More than 7,500 prospective buyers had reportedly expressed interest in the Mustang GTD, despite its six-figure price tag.

Ford expected to build only a limited number of examples, making the car an obvious target for collectors and speculators.

The two-year rule means Watts couldn’t sell his GTD if somebody offered him an enormous amount of money shortly after taking delivery.

But considering how much he enjoys the car, that might not be much of a problem because in the video, Watts was asked whether he would rather keep the GTD or his Ford GT.

“If someone put a gun to our head and said you either have to get rid of this Mustang GTD or the Ford GT that we also have, there’s no question about it,” he said.

“I would keep this and sell the Ford GT,” he said, which is a pretty strong endorsement.

He couldn’t drive the muscle car straight away

The two-year restriction applied to selling the GTD, but there was another reason Watts needed to be patient with his new car.

The GTD features extensive carbon-fiber bodywork, and protecting that expensive finish is a serious consideration when you’re driving a car that can cost more than $400,000.

According to him, road debris and small rocks picked up by the tires could damage the bodywork, making a protective wrap a sensible investment, but there was a catch.

The paint needed time to properly cure before the car could be wrapped, which meant Watts had to wait around 30 days before applying the protective film.

And he wasn’t exactly desperate to rack up miles in bad weather either.

“It’s starting to get colder outside and you really don’t want to be driving this thing when it gets too cold outside,” he said.

The reason was the GTD’s summer-only tires, which aren’t designed for cold conditions.

So while the internet-friendly version of the story is that Watts couldn’t sell or drive his $430,000 Mustang for two years, the reality was a little more complicated.

He couldn’t sell it for two years because of Ford’s ownership agreement, and he had a separate reason to keep it parked for roughly the first month while he waited for the paint to cure before protecting the carbon-fiber body.

Once all that was out of the way, though, Watts had one seriously wild Mustang to enjoy, and judging by his own words, he wasn’t complaining.

“This is without a question the coolest car that I have ever been associated with,” he said.

And for someone who also owned a Ford GT, that’s saying something.