If any reader is about to commission a bespoke, classically styled tender, you might want to hold fire until you’ve spoken to the geniuses at Ares Design in Modena. The town is famous for exotic Italian car marques such as Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, De Tomaso and Pagani, so you’d be right to think that Ares is most closely associated with the automotive sector. Its speciality is converting old vehicles and creating entirely new ones for wealthy enthusiasts who want a car or motorcycle that is not only beautifully engineered but also utterly individual.
But during a recent visit to Ares Design’s state-of-the-art, 6,450,000 sq ft design and manufacturing facility, I discovered that plans for a hand-built, 42-knot Riva-style speedboat, fitted with a pair of 750hp engines and costing around €650,000,…
