Shooting brake

A horse-drawn shooting brake was a variation of the

• "A sleek wagon with two doors and sports-car panache, its image entangled with European aristocracy, fox hunts, and baying hounds".[8]
• "A cross between an estate and a coupé".^[13]
• "Essentially a two-door station wagon".^[14]
• An interchangeable term for estate car (station wagon).^{[5][4][6][15][3]} In France, a station wagon is marketed as a break, once having been called a break de chasse, which translates as "hunting break".^[16]
• A body style with "a very interesting profile. It makes use of the road space it covers a little better than a normal coupé, and also helps the rear person with headroom. ... The occasional use of the rear seat means you can do one of these cars, even if such a wagon lacks the everyday practicality of four doors."^[8]
• A vehicle conceived "to take gentlemen on the hunt with their firearms and dogs. ... Although [its] glory days came before World War II, and it has faded from the scene in recent decades, the body style is showing signs of a renaissance [as of 2006]. ... The most famous shooting brakes had custom two-door bodies fitted to the chassis of pedigreed cars."^[8]

1900s to 1950s

In the early 1900s, the Scottish Albion Motors began producing shooting brake models, described in the weekly magazine The Commercial Motor as having "seats for eight persons as well as the driver, whilst four guns and a large supply of cartridges, provisions baskets and a good 'bag' can be carried."^[17] The 1912 Hudson Model 33 was described in England as a shooting brake, on the basis that "it was also used to carry the beaters to and from the location of the shoot, and for bringing back the game shot".^[18]

Early^[when?] motorized safari vehicles were described as shooting brakes with no windows or doors. One such description read: "Instead roll-down canvas curtains were buttoned to the roof in the case of bad weather. These cars were heavy and comfortable in good weather and allowed quick and silent exit as no shooting was permitted from the vehicles."^[19] During the 1920s and 1930s, shooting brake vehicles were popular in England and were produced as shooting brakes from the factory or converted by coachbuilders. The term "estate car" began to be used instead of shooting brake, as the use of the vehicle expanded from just shooting parties to other domestic uses including ferrying guests and their luggage to and from railway stations.^[7]

1960s to 1990s

During the 1960s and early 1970s, several high-end European manufacturers produced two-door shooting brake versions of their sports cars, including the 1960 Sunbeam Alpine Shooting Brake and 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake.^[8][20][21] The 1966 Sunbeam Alpine was a limited-production three-door variant of its two-door open sports car with leather interior and walnut trim, selling at a price double its open counterpart and marketed as a shooting brake.^[22][23][24] The Aston Martin DB5, DB6, and DBS shooting brakes were custom manufactured by coachbuilder Harold Radford from 1965 until 1967.^[25]

A prototype DB5 shooting-brake was custom produced by the factory for David Brown, an avid hunter and dog owner, and a further 11-12 coupés were custom modified for Aston Martin by independent coachbuilder, Harold Radford.^[26][27] In August 2019 a DB5 sold for a record $1.765m (£1.456m),^[28] making it the most valuable Shooting Brake bodied-car of any marque sold at auction. In 1992, Aston Martin manufactured in-house a limited production shooting brake variant of its Virage/Vantage, including a four-door shooting brake.^[29]

Other cars combining elements of a wagon and coupé have been described but were never formally marketed as shooting brakes, including the Reliant Scimitar GTE (1968–1975),^[30][31][32] the Volvo P1800 ES (1972–1973),^[33][34][35] and the later 480 (1986–1995) – marketed as a coupé, and with a sporty, low nose featuring pop-up headlights, but with a distinctly estate-like rear body.^[36] The 1998 BMW Z3 Coupé (plus associated M Coupé model) is also typically referred to as a shooting brake.^{[37][38][39][40]}

• 
  Ferrari 250 GT SWB "Breadvan" (1961)
• 
  Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake (1965–1971)
• 
  Reliant Scimitar GTE (1968–1975)
• 
  Volvo 480 (1986–1995)
• 
  BMW Z3 Coupé (1998-2002)

2000s to present

Mostly dormant since the mid-1970s, the shooting brake term was used in 2004 to describe the

The 2018 Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo,^[57] along with the Volkswagen Arteon despite the Arteon having five doors,^[58] are both described by their manufacturer as shooting brakes. The trend is to associate the shooting brake body style with "performance" and also making the cars "more practical" than a coupé.^[59] The marketing descriptions have been further blurred between variations of the terms with names such as sports tourer, sportback, or "shooting break" as a way to differentiate from SUVs and reposition ordinary body styles with "sleeker lines" in the minds of consumers to "ooze sex appeal".^[60] BMW unveiled the Concept Touring Coupé based on the Z4 at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in 2023.^[61]

• 
  2005 Audi Shooting Brake Concept
• 
  Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG, five-door shooting brake
• 
  Ferrari GTC4Lusso
• 
  Aston Martin Rapide Bertone Jet 2+2

See also

• Coupé
• Hatchback
• Station wagon

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shooting brakes.

• "The Shooting Brakes Archive". coachbuild.com. Retrieved 5 December 2023.