World’s best ever shooting brakes

A lot has been lost in the mists of time and marketing, but the latter has to have some sass to its styling. Practicality isn’t the overriding concern of most shooting brakes, but added load space is certainly handy. Here’s our run-down of the best conversions and factory-fitted fast-back wagons:

The first Aston Martin shooting brake was created for none other than company owner David Brown of ‘DB’ fame. This was created in-house, but when customers spotted it they wanted one too. So, Aston brought in coachbuilder Harold Radford to turn DB5s and 6s into estate cars. Everything from the windscreen rail back was new, so there was decent headroom and load space.

However, the conversion added 50% to the already hefty cost of a new Aston Martin, which explains why only 12 DB5s were made and half a dozen DB6s.

Even by Ferrari standards, this 330 GT Shooting Brake is sensationally styled. Conceived by Luigi Chinetti Jnr, son of the US Ferrari importer, and Alfredo Vignale, the pair took a standard 330 and stripped it.

The only original body parts left are the windscreen and some door parts. Everything else is handcrafted and was originally finished in dark metallic green. This was how Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay owned it, but it was subsequently painted a light gold colour.

Harking back to the 1960s DB conversions, the V8 Vantage Sportsman Estate used a whole new roof section to free up extra luggage space.

It took Swiss firm Roos 1,800 hours to craft this machine, which was hailed as the fastest estate in the world when completed. The German customer insisted the Aston was capable of carrying a set of skis inside, which makes you wonder how this car managed on snowy Alpine roads.

Ogle deserves credit for popularising the shooting brake style with its Glazing Test Special, which was commissioned by the Triplex Glass Company to showcase its Sundym glass.

With curved sections of glass for the front half of the roof and side windows that extend into rear part, the GTS wowed crowds at the 1965 London Motor Show. It was supposed to make further show appearances, but only made it to Turin that year as the Duke of Edinburgh requested it as his personal car and used it for two years.

Underneath the sleek lines of this one-off Aston Martin EG lies the mechanical components of a Vanquish. Designed by Francesco Boniolo, the name comes from the original owner’s initials.

It’s 600mm longer than the base car and has a rear hatch for quick access to the wood-lined boot. The roof has an Isolite glass panoramic panel that can be darkened at the flick of a switch to shade the cabin.

Volvo and estates: yeah, yeah, old news. Well, not with the 1800ES, which was one of the pioneers of the lifestyle wagons we know and love to buy today.

It was a bold move to turn the ageing 1800 coupé into a shooting brake to keep the model alive, but it worked brilliantly and 8077 were sold between 1971 and 1973. The single-piece glass rear hatch was innovative at the time and was revived for the 480ES in 1986.

Reliant cottoned on to the success of the Ogle GTS very quickly, which was based on a Scimitar coupé. The Tamworth firm came up with its own GTE in 1968 with design help from Tom Karen of Ogle.

With four individual seats and a large boot, the GTE was an instant hit, helped by lusty performance from its Ford-sourced 3.0-litre V6 motor. Princess Anne was an early and devoted customer, which also added extra glamour to the Reliant.

With such a mixed parentage, this Ferrari Daytona Shooting Brake could have ended up as a muddled design. However, with Italian mechanicals, a wealthy American owner and British coachbuilding it became one of the most jaw-dropping expressions of the form.

Owner Bob Gittleman commissioned the car and UK firm Panther Westwinds made it happen. Access to the load bay is through top-hinged gullwing glass panels, but don’t expect much space in the wood- and leather-lined compartment.

Jensen helped build the early Volvo P1800 coupé but not the ES estate, which may explain why it took until 1975 for the British firm to catch on to the popularity of sporty shooting brakes.

The resulting Jensen GT used the previous Jensen-Healey as its base, albeit with reliability and quality niggles sorted. It was a useful load carrier and the Lotus engine gave spirited performance, but sales never took off and only 473 were sold when the shutters came down in 1976.

The flying buttresses of the Jaguar XJ-S always divided opinion. To address that, British restoration firm Lynx came up with the Eventer that skilfully grafted on shooting brake rear to create an altogether more elegant car.

Folding rear seats were part of the conversion to maximise load space. It took 14 weeks to make each Eventer and 67 were built during a 16-year lifespan between 1986 and 2002.

Even under Fiat’s stewardship, Lancia always expressed its own character and that was demonstrated by the Beta HPE. Standing for High Performance Estate, this shooting brake was very much in the mould of the Reliant Scimitar.

It used the front bodywork of the Beta Coupe but sat on a saloon floorpan for a softer ride and longer wheelbase. It came together very well and sold 71,000 units over a 10-year life cycle. Only in the final year did Lancia offer the HPE with its 135bhp supercharged Volumex engine.

Like so many shooting brakes, the Z3M was the result of a small group of dedicated fans within BMW who saw the potential in a compact sporting estate.

Working in secret, they developed the car from the Z3 roadster and it’s been delighting fans ever since. With the E46 M3’s engine up front, performance is rapid. BMW also offered a non-M version of the Coupé but it was never offered with right-hand drive.

There was so much to take in at the launch of the Ferrari FF, its shooting brake style was almost glossed over. Here was a four-wheel drive Ferrari with 651bhp 6.2-litre V12 engine that covered 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds and hit 208mph flat out.

Yet the bodywork was just as wow-worthy as it can seat four in comfort and carry 450-litres of luggage. A practical family Ferrari? Yes, other than the £226,000 original list price.

Mercedes was quick to catch the crest of the current wave of interest in four-door coupés and shooting brakes, so its CLA wagon was right on cue when launched in 2015.

By calling this model a Shooting Brake, it cannily side-stepped issues about lack of cargo space in the boot. Instead, it’s viewed as a more practical alternative to its saloon sister. If budget allows, the Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 is the one to have.

It took Mercedes till the second generation of CLS for it to expand the line-up with the Shooting Brake estate. When it did, this fast-back wagon immediately grabbed attention thanks to its sweeping looks and air of menace, especially in AMG guise.

Yet despite those rakish lines, it was still a Mercedes estate at heart and offered more boot space than a contemporary Audi A6 Avant or BMW 5 Series Touring.

When creating this Bentley Continental-based shooting brake, coachbuilder Touring Superleggera started with a GTC convertible rather than the expected coupé. The reason was it’s simpler to make a one-off estate from a drop-top than having to replace an existing roof.

However they went about it, the Italian craftsmen came up with a handsome wagon that can carry up to 1200-litres of luggage with the rear seats folded.

Audi has used the Shooting Brake name on more than one concept. But the first was shown at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. It previewed much of the styling and design that would be seen in the second generation of TT.

But this concept had its own distinct looks thanks to the extended roofline and tailgate. There were some rumours it might go into production, but they were quashed in 2007.

The Qwest Tesla Model S Shooting Brake was inspired, like so many others, by the need for space to carry a dog. This goes right back to the type’s original huntin’, fishin’ and shootin’ roots, but the Qwest is a very modern twist thanks to being the first all-electric take on the theme.

Made by British coachbuilding firm Qwest, it uses carbon fibre for the extended roof and hatch so that it weighs only 12kg more than a standard Model S.

The latest addition to the shooting brake firmament is from Kia and broadens its Ceed range from hatch and estate. It’s also a clear indication there’s demand from the mainstream market for more stylish wagons as some begin to tire of crossovers and SUVs.

The emphasis will be very much on sporting enjoyment as the Shooting Brake takes the place of the three-door Proceed model.

Aston Martin is returning to the notion of coachbuilt cars to customer’s designs with the Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake. Only 99 will be crafted by the company’s Q Division and each has an extra 27bhp from the V12 engine over a standard Vanquish.

The wagon remains a two-seater, but Aston says the Zagato becomes an ‘exceptionally practical GT’ with powered tailgate and double-bubble roof with glass inlays to allow extra light into the cabin.

The Porsche 944 offered good practicality as standard thanks to four seats and a decent boot, but for DP Motorsport it wasn’t enough.

So, this German racing team that was behind the Porsche 935 K3 Group 5 race car, grafted the rear of a Volkswagen Passat onto the coupe. The result looked just right and eight cars were made for customers at the time, plus you can still order a kit to create your own that costs €18,000.