19 reasons we love classic estate cars

A shooting brake from the norm

Estates are always boring, right? Practical, sensible, boxy, spacious and dull.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. And you only need look at the shooting brake for proof.

The term was first used to describe pre-war Rolls-Royce or Delahaye chassis bodied by specialist coachbuilders in a discreet yet practical ‘woodie’ estate style.

The modern usage, however, as pioneered by Aston Martin’s Sir David Brown, means a high-performance sports car or GT, carefully remodelled as a rakish two-box wagon.

They’re not necessarily sleek, stylish and sexy – but they often are. And they’re certainly a lot more attractive than the average estate. Here, we count down a mixture of exotic rarities and production models.

1. Ferrari 365GTB/4 Panther

Maranello is no stranger to shooting brakes, and has even built its own factory superwagon, the FF.

The trend began with a wacky design by NART’s Luigi Chinetti Jnr, based on a 330GT (left). Robert Jankel’s Panther Westwinds later completed the Michelotti-styled ‘Croisette’ on a 365GTC/4, and in 1975 it was also responsible for ‘Coco’ Chinetti’s bizarre Daytona (right).

This featured pop-up headlamp covers, a glazed rear and Perspex ‘gullwing’ doors to the luggage bay.

2. Lamborghini Flying Star II

Was there ever a more desirable shooting brake than this fabulous Touring-bodied prototype? Or a less practical one?

Despite its slightly frivolous nature, it has real historical significance as the last car produced by Touring, which closed shortly after its presentation at the 1966 Turin Salon.

Based on a shortened 400GT frame – albeit wearing ‘4000 GT’ badges – the Flying Star II design by Carlo Anderloni’s team was far more modern than Touring’s work for the production 350/400GT.

3. Lynx Eventer

Yes, it looks just like an XJ-S from the front, but this fantastic reinterpretation of Jaguar’s much-derided coupé is beautiful, rare, and getting more valuable by the day.

The XJ-S never looked so good – nor did the Citroën Ami’s tailgate – than on the 67 three-door conversions built by Lynx from 1982-2002.

4. BMW M Coupé

The flying trainer BMW M Coupé was a private project for the Munich engineers, who bolted on a ‘breadvan’ rear to the Z3 roadster and squeezed in the M3’s 321bhp straight-six.

In the process, they turned the disappointing Z3 into a performance-car icon; it was popular enough that 6291 were built from 1998-2002.

5. Fiat 130 Maremma

A natural consequence of Pininfarina’s early-’70s preoccupation with the idea of the luxury station wagon, the Maremma is perhaps the most elegant two-door estate ever.

It was based on the Fiat 130 and, rather amazingly, was designed largely by one Lorenzo Ramaciotti – a 26-year-old who had only joined Pininfarina two years earlier. 

Once completed – in a rather fetching gold – it was owned for several years by Fiat’s playboy boss Gianni Agnelli, and it remains the only example produced.

6. Volvo 1800ES

The car that The Saint would have moved on to when he had a family, the ES spawned a dynasty of sporty(ish) Volvo wagons, with the ‘wedge’ 480 and recent C30.

But, as ever, the original was the best – albeit not hugely popular, with just 8078 built from 1971-’73.

7. Reliant Scimitar GTE

The Brit sports car that shed its low-volume tag, the Scimitar succeeded because of brilliant design.

Tom Karen’s glassfibre sports-estate shell wrapped a roomy cabin, and under the bonnet was a potent Ford V6, initially in 2-litre ‘Essex’ form but later replaced by the 2.8-litre ‘Cologne’ unit.

It handled nicely, too, and some 5127 were ultimately built from 1968 to 1975.

8. Lotus Hexagon ‘Elanbulance’

At least two one-offs have been built on the family-friendly Elan +2, but the ‘baby’ Elan seems an unlikely contender for a wagon, simply because it’s so tiny.

Yet few conversions have looked more ‘right’ than this sweetly proportioned machine, dreamed up by Lotus dealer Hexagon of Highgate as a limited-production model.

Sadly, just two examples of the ‘Elanbulance’ were built, each of which added £595 to the £1895 list price of the Sprint base car.

9. Lancia Beta HPE

A free-revving twin-cam, elegant styling and plenty of space make the ‘High Performance Estate’ Beta a fine bit of packaging.

Look out for the supercharged 135bhp Volumex… and rust. Some 71,258 were built from 1975-1984, but corrosion has claimed an awful lot of them.

10. Lotus Elite

Oliver Winterbottom probably didn’t design his four-seater Lotus GT as a shooting brake, but its ultra-wedge styling certainly lends itself to the genre.

Its 2-litre twin-cam slant-four made it quick, the interior was surprisingly roomy, but it’s famously fragile. A mere 2398 were built from 1974-’80.

11. Peugeot 504 Break Riviera

Unveiled at the 1971 Paris Salon – shortly after the launch of the standard 504 estate – the Riviera was Pininfarina’s interpretation of how a practical Peugeot should look.

Based on an 1800 Coupé, the Riviera styling exercise sadly remained a one-off – despite reports of up to three having been built – and has disappeared into a private collection.

Delightful details included integral chromed rails in the rear of the roof, plus walnut-veneered Dexilan covering the luggage area and the folding rear seatback.

12. Lancia Gamma Olgiata

The Gamma wasn’t exactly a huge seller, but the theory behind the Olgiata was sound – after all, had not the firm’s own Beta HPE been a success?

In addition to adding the new rear end, Pininfarina further facelifted its original design to create the prettiest Gamma of all, and one of the great missed opportunities.

Launched at the 1984 Paris Salon, just as the production lines for the Coupé were coming to a halt, it never made it past a sole prototype.

13. Porsche 942

Porsche provides rich pickings in this rarefied world, with the 924 Kombi by Artz and the 944 Cargo by DP Motorsport both worth checking out.

But it’s the unique factory 928 estate that most appeals, a gift from the workforce to Ferry Porsche on his 75th birthday – 19 September 1984.

Not to be confused with the H50 concept of ’87, whose four doors opened like those of the Mazda RX-8, the two-door 942 revived the idea of a full four-seater 928 conceived in the original prototyping.

14. BMW ’02 Touring

Okay, so it’s a bit more of a fastback than an estate, but this three-door version of the ’02 series launched in 1971 introduced BMW’s ‘touring’ tag for its estate cars.

The left-hand-drive-only, 130bhp tii will give most of the other cars here a run for their money.

15. Aston Martin DB5 Radford

What could be more gentlemanly than turning your elegant, handbuilt GT into an equally elegant wagon to transport a pair of well-trained black Labs?

That was Aston supremo Sir David Brown’s view when he asked Harold Radford to build a DB5 wagon “for shooting and that sort of thing”.

A dozen customer cars followed Brown’s handsome original, then seven slightly less pretty – but more practical – DB6s. Panelcraft also tried with the DB6 and DBS, plus Aston’s own limited-run Virage.

16. Chevrolet Nomad

No, not the 1955-’57 ‘tri-year’ production car, but the concept that previewed its two-door wagon style.

Unveiled at New York’s Waldorf Hotel as one of the three Chevrolet dream cars for the 1954 GM Motorama, it was designed by the legendary Harley Earl and based on the original ‘Blue Flame’ C1 Corvette.

Tragically, the rakish, chrome-clad Nomad was destroyed despite a rapturous reception; no wonder its design was copied wholesale for an all-new concept car 50 years later, based on the Pontiac Solstice.

17. Audi quattro Artz Kombi

You might be forgiven for thinking that a stock quattro is practical enough, but it doesn’t have a hatchback.

German tuning legend Günter Artz made a limited (reputedly 14) run of estates using mostly VW/Audi Group parts to keep a family look, with a striking full-height curved-glass rear screen that also served as the tailgate.

Bizarrely, Audi later built its own estate based on the TT – the Shooting Brake Concept – for the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.

18. Jaguar XK150 WSM

Douglas Wilson-Spratt was better known for his Healey-based coupés, but in the mid-’60s he was tasked by Silverstone-based engineer Douglas Hull to create a special tow car for his VSCC racers.

Taking Hull’s XK150 drophead, Wilson-Spratt had Peel Coachworks graft on a gently tapering roofline that gave enough room in the back for plenty of tools and spares, while a tweaked E-type motor helped with towing.

It even had roofrack mounts for when Hull wanted to transport bulky items.

19. Vauxhall Sports Hatch

The ‘High Performance Firenza’ wasn’t the only Luton classic with a glassfibre ‘Droop Snoot’ up front – there was also this rather funky burgundy wagon with a detuned (110bhp) 2.3-litre slant-four and Avon Safety alloy wheels.

Just 197 were built in 1975, so today it’s a particularly rare beast.