Ever wanted to be like James Bond? Well, now you can, as there’s an aftermarket armored Aston Martin Vantage package that will have you feeling like 007 himself. The armored Aston from U.S.-based AddArmor by Quality Coachworks offers B4 level of protection, which includes a composite-reinforced firewall and doors, bulletproof glass, a blast-resistant steel roof and fuel tank protector, and beefed-up suspension to handle it all.
It also features a tamper-proof exhaust and
run-flat tires, but probably our favorite addition is the incorporation of
electric shock door handles that can be activated at the push of a button. The
cost for this “Anti-Intrusion Protection Package”, which AddArmor offers for a
variety of vehicles, starts at US$ 32,500 (£ 24,812 / € 29,315) on top of the cost
of the donor vehicle.
However, don’t think that just because
this Vantage is armored it’ll be too heavy to get out of its own way. It’s
actually quite the contrary. Thanks to the use of lightweight Kevlar in the
armor, it only supposedly only adds 204 kg to the weight of the
vehicle. There is still the weight of the steel roof and underbody plate along
with the new suspension and exhaust, but AddArmor claims the modifications
don’t sacrifice vehicle performance “in the slightest” due to their armor’s
lighter weight compared to traditional ballistic steels.
And with an AMG-sourced 4.0-liter
twin-turbo V8 making 503 hp and 685 Nm of torque,
we’d imagine a few extra pounds wouldn’t affect this car’s ability to get up
and go much anyway. That being said, if AddArmor was able to do this with a V8
Vantage, we wonder if they could do the same to the newly introduced (but
already sold out) V12 Vantage, whose 5.2-liter twin-turbo V12 makes a
significantly higher 690 hp and 753 Nm of torque.
