Aston Martin has not had a great year. Between COVID disruptions, barely skirting bankruptcy, its CEO leaving the company, Aston has struggled to get it together this year. That may be changing soon, though, as the Marque has released official photos of the prototype Aston Martin V12 Speedster, and it is really pretty. 

But, the V12 Speedster doesn’t have a windshield

Let’s deal with the elephant in the room first, shall we? Yes, the Aston Martin V12 Speedster doesn’t have a windshield. While it may seem silly to expect people to buy an $800,000 car that’s missing parts, consider Ferrari and Mclaren are both making limited run hypercars without roofs or windshields. In 2018 Ferrari made the Monza, and just last year, Mclaren offered up the Elva. 

Car and Driver points out, while most of us are thinking about the limitations of a car without major parts and the impracticalities therein. Still, these cars are meant to excite the folks who have nicer garages than many people’s homes. The idea is to make something exciting and “minimal” (800k ain’t all that minimal where I come from) to excite the enthusiasts and collectors with lots of cars with roofs and windshields. 

The Car and Driver article goes on to say that while some of the larger runs of these speedster-class cars like the Mclaren Elva, has struggled to sell through their reservations. Twice now, Mclaren has reduced the number from the initial run of 399 Elvas, cutting the limit to 249 cars in April and then slashing it to just 149 last month. 

Aston Martin has been much smarter with the number of extremely niche, monocle-class speedster allocations. Only 88 examples of the Aston Martin V12 Speedster will be made, and over three-quarters of that number have already been reserved. 

What are we (they) getting for $800,000?

Aston Claims it has been dropping hints about a true-to-form speedster since 2013 with CC100 Speedster that debuted for Aston’s 100th anniversary. Either way, they are putting up big numbers other than just being an early lover of the form. 

According to Car and Driver, The Aston Martin V12 Speedster will be built on the same platform as the DB11 and the DBS Superleggera, powered by a twin-turbocharged, 5.2-liter V12. This monster V12 will make around 700 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque. Although it seems that Aston went all-in on building a hardcore speedster, they still didn’t use a manual transmission in the V12 Speedster. The limited-run Speedster will have the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. Lame, Aston. Lame.

No matter how fast it is, it still doesn’t have a windshield

Car and Driver report that Aston Martin aims for a 3.5 0-62 mph and a top speed of 186 mph. 186 mph without a windshield sounds kind of terrible, honestly. Hopefully, the race track has fewer bugs than public roads, because that’s the only place the Aston Martin V12 Speedster can be Driven legally, at least in the US.

Listen, $800,000 is a lot of money. Frankly, it’s crazy money for any car, much less for a car that is missing half of its parts. But as silly as the Aston Martin V12 Speedster is, it is a very beautiful thing to look at, and I guess that counts for something.