It seems that the world?s squillionaires don?t know the meaning of the phrase ?track-only.? Or if they do, they seem willing to invest huge sums of money into making it go away.
That?s the rationale behind the decision by British engineering company RML to offer conversions for turning the Aston Martin Vulcan into a street-legal machine, at least in parts of the world with less-stringent approval regulations. This car was, of course, the closed-course special that Aston introduced last year with the explicit proviso that it wasn?t destined for the road. Most illogical, as another famous Vulcan might have put it.
Owners first expressed interest in such a conversion last summer, but Aston shot down the possibility at that time. Now the automaker has reversed its stance, with Autocar reporting that company boss Andy Palmer has apparently signed off on letting RML offer the conversion. When we visited Aston?s Q-division skunkworks earlier this year we saw the final two Vulcans finished in unliveried white, as, we were told, their owners had not yet chosen what colors to paint them. The Autocar story suggests there was another factor in the delay, quoting Palmer as saying, ?We have the sales of the last two cars currently under negotiation and it looks like the road conversion could be the closer on those deals.? Even if you?re sitting with a Vulcan in your garage, don?t get too excited. The roadification will only be for territories like the U.K. where it is possible to gain...