Shooting Brakes: Masterstroke or Monstrosity?

The borderline absurd rise of classic car values has brought some interesting obscurities to the fore, and auction house Bonhams recently decided to promote its 2017 Aston Martin sale by highlighting a one-of-three V8 Sportsman, a mid-’90s V8 Coupé with what looks like the roof from a randomly chosen estate car, squeezed heavy-handedly within the standard car’s proportions to create what’s known as a ‘shooting brake’.

But, clumsy though it is, the enlarged Aston got us thinking about the shooting brake. What exactly is one, and why do they exist?

The term originated at the turn of the previous century as a ‘brake’ (a carriage used to break-in horses for pulling duties) that could accommodate hunting gear for an afternoon’s shooting. The Europeans had started using ‘brake’ (or ‘break’) to describe any long-roof car regardless of door count, before the term eventually evolved to mean a two-door coupé with an extended roofline and hatchback tailgate.

It’s an acquired taste, as evidenced by the fact they have never sold well – even successful shooting brake variants like the Volvo 1800ES and Lancia Beta HPE only accounted for around 17 percent of overall sales in those model ranges – and yet the half-practical sporting wagons have kept coming as low-volume creations since at least the 1960s; mostly from independent coachbuilders to satisfy those who appreciate this peculiar niche, on a made-to-order basis (provided they can afford such treatment), but occasionally from OEMs too (for a rather radical and recent example, see our Concept Car of the Week piece on the entertaining Renault Avantime).

But what makes this popular-yet-unpopular body style so compelling that people keep trying to build them? We asked somebody who should know thanks to his involvement with the recent Concept Estate (sketched below, with its P1800ES ancestor), Volvo’s vice president of exterior design, Maximilian Missoni.

Car Design News: Volvo’s connection to the shooting brake started with the 1800ES. From what data I can find online, it appears that the ES ‘fiskbilen’ only accounted for around 17% of 1800-series sales, yet it has stayed in enthusiasts’ minds. Why do you think this shooting brake has become an icon in Volvo’s history?

Maximilian Missoni: The low numbers might be a result of the fact that the P1800 ES was an idea to revitalize the car’s sales at the very end of its cycle. The ES was built in 1972 and 1973, and sold only 8077 times. When I talked to Pelle Petterson, the designer of the original P1800, I was amused and surprised that he himself never approved of the ES version, since he felt it altered his original concept too much and compromised its beauty. It is in the very nature of combining a sporty car with a practical load space, which creates an object that doesn’t really serve either of the original purposes and hence becomes weirdly intriguing.

CDN: The Concept Estate shows that the 1800ES is noteworthy enough to reference in a new design showcase, but was there ever any consideration of putting this body style into production again?

MM: We are well aware of the commercially difficult position of such a car. However, for Volvo it could still have a great value as a brand builder.

CDN: Volvo also has past form with the 480ES from the mid-’80s to mid-’90s… but is there still a case for this unusual type of car, and why?

MM: The 480ES is a great example of a production car in later years that was heavily inspired by the P1800ES. At its première in 1986 it was also the first Volvo with a front-wheel-drive configuration. At the time, several sketches had been prepared by designers like Carrozzeria Bertone and Volvo Cars Chief Designer Jan Wilsgaard, but the proposal that got the green light was created by John De Vries of Volvo’s subsidiary in the Netherlands. The 480ES also picked up the bold full glass tailgate from the P1800ES.
We feel that the decision to incline the rear end of the V90 – unlike the V70 before – was also an homage to the P1800ES, and the right thing to do for an estate in that class.

CDN: What unique design challenges does a shooting brake provide?

MM: For designers the shooting brake is a rather rewarding body style to work with since it is more accepted to take deviations from ergonomic demands. However, the challenge remains to keep a visual impression of sufficient width in the rear.

CDN: Do you personally enjoy this body style, and why? Would you own one?

MM: I love shooting brakes. Absolutely! My personal favourite estate in Volvo’s historic line-up is the 850. Sometimes I wonder how a modern, similarly dogmatic and similarly boxy shooting brake could look today.

CDN: Shooting brakes never sell in high numbers, but OEMs and especially coachbuilders keep trying them. Why do you think that is?

MM: To me, shooting brakes are an intriguing display of decadence. Historically the purpose for hunting quickly got replaced by a body style that communicates “I want a sports car but I don’t need it to look like that. I need it to serve – and also communicate – my active lifestyle.” That message is still relevant, maybe more than ever.

So, to celebrate this most interesting of niches, we asked for your favourite examples of the breed and also came up with a few of our own. Here’s a by-no-means-exhaustive selection…

Reliant Scimitar GTE

Not the first example of the modern shooting brake, but the earliest OEM example that caught on (Princess Anne had one, you know), the GTE took the Scimitar GT (SE4) and straightened the roof, complementing the new shape with a gradually tapering DLO. It lasted through various iterations from 1968-1990, briefly outlasting Reliant itself as it was built elsewhere under licence for two years.

Volvo 1800ES

Volvo took their saintly P1800 coupé and added the profile of a van to make the ES variant. Nicknamed ‘Fiskbilen’ (fish van) in Sweden, its all-glass rear hatch inspired that of the later 480 and C30.

Lynx Eventer

One of the better-known custom jobs, Lynx took the controversial-when-new Jaguar XJS and pulled those buttresses all the way to the very back, turning them into the rear pillars. It was relatively successful, selling around 67 units.

Volvo Concept Estate

When launching its smart new design language, Volvo made three concepts, starting with the Concept Coupe and Concept XC Coupe (the latter basically being a new XC90 in a three-door disguise), and finished by reviving the philosophy of the 1800ES with the superbly proportioned Concept Estate.

Bentley Continental Flying Star by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera

Italian coachbuilder Touring Superleggera has past form here with the Lamborghini 400 Flying Star II, whose philosophy has been revisited through the bluff, bruising Bentley Continental GT. While some customisers would simply plonk a long roof on top, Touring changed everything behind the doors to make a more cohesive shape that could pass as being original.

Aston Martins by Radford, Aston Martin Works and FLM Panelcraft

(image from Pinterest)

For whatever reason, Aston Martins have been particularly popular candidates for conversion, with the DB5, DB6, ’90s V8 Coupé and most recently the Virage all getting hatchback versions… with varying levels of success.

Porsche 924/944 DP Cargo

The front-engined Porsche sports car already had a nice, large, glass hatchback to make it the everyday option, but for some it evidently wasn’t everyday enough. DP Performance sells a square-back version that allows you to carry more spare tyres to the track day, thanks to contributions from a ’90s VW Passat estate.

BMW M Coupé

Having built the Z3 roadster and a lairy M version thereof, BMW took an unexpected approach to the hardtop version that resulted in it being cruelly nicknamed “the clownshoe.” Reputation suggests that it was at times just as intimidating as a large German clown, too…

Pontiac Firebird Shooting Brake Concept

Shooting brakes often appear as concepts when OEMs aren’t brave enough to sell a low-demand idea (Toyota being the most recent example), and as our own contributor Karl Smith pointed out on Twitter, back in 1977 Pontiac was no different, showing a tunnel-tailed Firebird with gullwing glass akin to a De Tomaso Mangusta, or indeed a custom Ferrari 365 built earlier.

Ferrari FF & GTC/4 Lusso

Ferrari Ferrari Four above its successor

C30? Scirocco? Brera? All mere hatchbacks with some marketing glitter sprinkled on top. No, for a 21^st century OEM production shooting brake we must look, surprisingly, at Ferrari. Their four-seater V12 models for this decade have set themselves further apart from the racier two-seaters, with all-wheel-drive and estate-style practicality. The FF (Ferrari Four) sported a full 800 litres of luggage and/or dog space, but its similarly capacious replacement, the GTC/4 Lusso, has a much more cohesive exterior design. The closest to a Ferrari SUV we’ll ever see?

Citroën BX Dyana by Heuliez

Some will say a family estate with two doors missing isn’t quite the full “break de chasse,” others will say it simply approaches the formula from the opposite direction to reach roughly the same recipe. Either way, the pneumatically-suspended Citroën BX Dyana by Heuliez was too popular with the crowd on Twitter for us to leave it out.

More examples in the gallery below.