Brian Rushton Bombing along

Brian Rushton,

Just the thing for St James’s Street

THE perils of London’s roads do not usually extend beyond potholes and traffic jams. But a new car showroom due to open on July 30th in the city’s West End will offer the capital’s ultra-wealthy residents luxury vehicles that will protect them from deadlier threats: bombs, gunfire and kidnapping. The venture, jointly run by Ares, an Italian firm that fits out fancy cars to make them even more sumptuous, and Streit, a Canadian armoured-car company, hopes to tap a global trend for armouring the smartest motors. Its arrival also says something about London’s new residents.

Protecting the rides of presidents and other VIPs is nothing new. Franklin Roosevelt’s limousine was fitted with armour plating and bullet-proof tyres in 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. Nor is it novel to modify expensive vehicles fresh off the production line. The mega-rich have long sought to personalise new cars with a fresh paint job or interior. But with the exception of the Aston Martin driven by James Bond in “Goldfinger” in 1964, which sported a retractable bulletproof screen, marrying...Continue reading

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