POINT PLEASANT, West Virginia — During Prohibition, my home state of West Virginia was notorious for bootleggers running moonshine across state lines. To outrun the law, shiners like future NASCAR racer Curtis Turner famously ran hooch through the state, using the treacherous mountain passes to escape the feds in modified Ford Coupes, Studebakers and Dodges with big engines and hidden storage.

Boy, would they have loved the supercharged-Coyote-V8-powered, 810-horse, 2025 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 3.

I spent a week flogging it everywhere from West Virginia’s old moonshine routes to Michigan’s M1 Concourse Champion Motor Speedway.

BRAWWWWGH! I downshifted from 4th to 3rd and then nailed the throttle down WV-869, the Coyote’s howl bouncing off the nearby hills, before hanging a left on WV-817 running along the Kanawha River. Flat, traffic free, with nothing but roadside cornfields and abandoned Mail Pouch Tobacco barns, WV-817 is one of the most enjoyable two-lane roads in the eastern U.S.

I selected TRACK mode and the adaptive dampers stiffened, absorbing every bump of the rough country roads as I danced through the twisties at (number withheld to preserve my license) mph. Wide rubber, lowered chassis, brakes from the gods.

The days of running moonshine across state lines are long gone, but the urge to modify production cars remains.

Unlike Turner (and NASCAR peers like North Carolina’s Junior Johnson and Georgia’s Lloyd Seay), North Carolina-based RTR founder Vaughn Gittin Jr. doesn’t need to run moonshine to make a living. Instead, he takes Ford products like the Mustang and Bronco and fashions them into street-legal RTR hellions for enthusiasts. Complete with 3-year/36,000-mile Ford warranty.

Hellions like my RTR Spec 3 (RTR short for Ready to Rock), which pulls a $65,222, 6-speed manual, V8-powered Mustang GT optioned with Ford Co-Pilot 360 Assist safety tech plus Performance Package (upgraded Brembo brakes, differential, cooling, Recaro seats) off the Ford Flat Rock assembly line. Then RTR goes to work adding bronze wheels, vented hood, Whipple supercharger, body kit, lowered/stiffened suspension and Borla exhaust. Add signature RTR lit grille nostrils, block stripes and Gittin Jr. signature on the dash and that’ll be $107,215, thank you very much.

Oooooh, that cat-back exhaust will raise goosebumps down your back.

BRAWWWWGH! At full throttle down the Kanawha Valley on WV-60 one evening in TRACK mode (the exhaust gets louder as you click through NORMAL, SPORT, TRACK, DRAGSTER modes), I rolled down the windows just to hear the Coyote scream through the hollow. That’s “holler” in West Virginia-speak.

So appealing is this package that Ford Custom Garage virtually duplicates it with the FP800S Package Bronze Edition ... right down to the colored nostrils and block stripes.

Wrapped in Leadfoot Grey with a front jaw out to here, Spec 3 looks like a four-wheeled, hairless Lycan escaped from the Underworld. But where shiners tried to outrun the fuzz, the point of modern hellions is to live with them.

Ohio is notoriously thick with troopers, and they were everywhere on my drive across the state to visit a friend in a Charleston, West Virginia, hospital. On four-lane U.S. 35 south of Columbus, my werewolf attracted a cop car trolling for speeders in the left lane. He latched onto my tail and trailed me for a few miles, making sure my bite wasn’t worse than my bark. No problem.

The seventh-gen Mustang is a thoroughly modern sportscar.

Ford Copilot 360 Assist provides a suite of safety systems, including blind-spot assist, rear-traffic alert and adaptive cruise control. I cruised U.S. 35 with ACC set to 55 mph, toggling the left steering control to adjust speed. Next to the ACC buttons, I changed driving mode from howling TRACK to NORMAL.

In the BMW-like, hoodless screen powered by Epic Games’ 3D gaming software, Unreal Engine, a cool Mustang graphic, indicates the mode change.

CUSTOM mode came in handy as I cruised into Charleston Memorial to visit my friend. I set exhaust to QUIET, muzzling the Coyote.

Entering hospital grounds, the ‘Stang purred quietly into the visitors’ parking deck while I carefully negotiated multiple speed bumps with the lowered chassis. Other premium touches made Charleston city driving a breeze: automatic hold in first gear, auto emergency brake deployment, and wireless Auto Android voice commands for getting to Charleston’s finest food.

Hey, Google. Navigate to Fazio’s Pizza.

When it’s time to play, RTR Spec 3 is, well, ready to rock. South of Columbus I came upon a Porsche 911 Turbo 991.2 eager to play.

Seriously, Payne, you took on a 911 Turbo S, the King of Stuttgart?

You bet. Porsche engineering vs RTR’s lowered adaptive suspension. 580 horsepower vs. 810. 3,500 pounds vs. 4,000. Oh, it was on.

We danced for a couple of miles, the Mustang shadowing the 911’s every move until we came up on wall of traffic. Like Mustang’s halo GTD race car that has matched 911 Turbo times at the Nürburgring, Mustang RTR is eager to take on big game.

The biggest game, of course, is on track. And for those who really want to test Spec 3’s envelope, RTR gives them plenty to explore.

I thundered down M1 Concourse’s back straight on a chilly September morning, the speedometer cresting 100 mph before I stood on the Brembo brakes. BRAP! BRAP! Mustang’s auto rev match (more electronics genius) made the 4-3-2 downshifts a cinch.

The big V-8 boat anchor up front meant immediate understeer as I turned into Turn 6, a long, 180-degree right-hander. But the variable shocks helped me balance the 4,025-pound beast across the apex to get back to full throttle for uphill, blind Turn 7.

I was only nibbling at the envelope.

Owners will want to play with quarter turns on the adjustable shocks (RTR says they can shave seconds off a lap time). Or the drift brake for lurid slides. Or stickier Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tires for better grip. All while rowing that glorious manual box.

Want more? RTR offers a Mustang Spec 5 with 870 horsepower and wide body. But if you really want to take on West Virginia’s heaving, potholed two-lane moonshine roads, let me recommend the RTR Bronco ROVR.

Curtis Turner would have loved its all-terrain tires and tough ladder frame for carrying crates of White Lightning.

2025 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 3

Vehicle type: Rear-wheel-drive, two-door, two-passenger sportscar

Price: $107,450 as tested, including $1,995 destination charge

Powerplant: 5.0-liter V-8

Power: 810 horsepower, 615 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: 6-speed manual

Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.5 seconds (Motor Trend); top speed, 156 mph

Weight: 4,025 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA estimated N/A (19 mpg as tested over 900 miles)

Report card

Highs: Serious street cred; V-8 soundtrack

Lows: Vulnerable front splitter; must take your legs off to fit in backseat

Overall: 4 stars

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