For the English double gun enthusiasts; an informative article on the history and evolution of the English Shooting Brake vehicles.
I really like the 1930 Rolls Royce Phantom II shooting brake, but since oil wells have not sprouted in my back yard, I'll have to stick with a mule made by Kawasaki
http://www.acontinuouslean.com/2015/08/04/acl-autos-short-history-shooting-brake/

How is that different from a station wagon?
It looks very similar to thousands of American station wagons.
Pete

I've got a raggedy-ass looking 1997 960 Volvo Station Wagon that's been on the road since Oct. '96. It's the family emergency back-up car, not a shooting brake, but it ain't "broke", either. It defies death, surviving two teen-aged drivers after being handed down and still goes from point A to B and back reliably.
A Porsche Cayenne would make a nice, fast Brake, but even with its all wheel drive, turbo diesel, I don't know how good it would do in a turkey woods over bottomless rutted clay roads or climbing over fallen pine trees blocking the road. I'd hate to scratch it.

i am sure our UK members will join in

over there the term for a station wagon was an "estate"

the difference i can see between the two is the price tag

Aston Martin made a great looking shooting brake in the 60's and one of the British sporting magazines ( may have been the FIELD) had a couple really great looking 1930's Rolls Royce brakes in an article

2 doors 2 seats
HTH

Just remember, most British shooting is tended. So, really, a shooting brake is more just a comfortable sporty car that can carry you to the estate that you are shooting at.

If you view your shooting as an entire experience, rather than a task, you can really broaden how much you stylize it.

Ah, the toys of the Gentry. Very classy. Certainly much more so the the International Travelall that served me well for so many years. Just the thing to take picked cornfields with ease. None of my BMWs ever went past the farmyard. Now I have the "Dog Van", so I'm walking much more..

Regards
Ken

I have played with that sort of stuff for a long time.
I had a twin cam FIAT 131 Sport wagon I used as a support vehicle. No reason the crew can't have a good time too.
A GT6 was too small, the MGB GT too low (but they did have some room) , so the 131 it was.

Now, I enjoy my "pneumonia wagon" when I drive to the cottage.
I have my eye on an OTAS 820 if time permits.

Interesting little story. If I showed up in the DB6, I'd probably get shooed around back so the other guests don't worry about what the hearse is for.

Here is a classic, just needs a few "minor" repairs :-)

http://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=2250

I think that they changed the name from shooting brake to estate car when they stopped the wood on the exterior. I had an uncle who had a Lea Francis shooting brake in the early 50's, we all drooled over it.

I actually think a Dodge Magnum Hemi Wagon is about as close to concept as can be had new in the USA. Could easily have the rear doors eliminated, and the rear customized for shooting.
My neighbor has a RR Silver Cloud, and while it is magnificent to ride around in, it's just a little uncomfortable being stared at when you go for a drive. We Americans are so caught up in transportation, we forget the fun and freedom of driving.

Ian, that's a fascinating website you mention. I'm sure lots of guys who appreciate old doubles also appreciate vintage cars.

Aston Martin did a one-off shooting brake in the late 80's, early 90's. Tried to get Purdey to put a couple of their guns in it as featured accessories. P. said "No thanks". I think that Asprey finally threw in a pair of guns

Years before they imported Mercedes SW into the U.S. one of my hunting buddies had one and used it for all his rough hunting. His "rough" outings started out with nice leather seats, AC or heat and Opera music. It was an acquired taste. Most of us were happy with a truck with heat, working windows and a good four wheel drive. Real happy if you did not have to get out and lock the hubs.

Now I drive a truck with much more comforts than my first house. True it cost twice as much also. Roughing it is more theoretic than real these days.

My grandparents had a Lanchester shooting break from the pre war period

Now, that take real money. Not only enough money to be to buy a $100k+ field vehicle, but enough money not to care what happens to it in the field - carrying muddy dogs, wet hunters and bloody birds around.

For the way I hunt I'd rather have my old '87 Wrangler. With a transplanted Chevy 350 small block and a TH350 tranny, and 4.56 gears I can go anywhere I need to ......... and get back. Since the pictures were taken I put 12.50 x 35 x 15 rubber on her. The camo wrap didn't last ........... got to redo it.







Yeah. I'm a redneck duck hunter. How could you tell?

SRH

Stan, you ought to refinish the jeep in that heart pine that's on the shed in the second photo. Gil

This is a proper Texas shooting brake:



Ford Expedition is about perfect for my hunting. It is four wheel drive and will go anywhere the rancher/bird lease landlord allows driving.

And those were available in AWD,but scarce. My brother has one.

For me, it would be a '56 Chevy Nomad with air suspension and selectable locker on the rear, because the '57s have too much bling and would flare birds.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/dodge-magnum-r-t-awd-short-take-road-test

And I used to have a 1970 Jeep Wagoneer kinda like this one that I thought was pretty handy.



http://www.theonecar.com/bet-classic-jeep-wagoneer/

1990 Grand Wagoneer Jeep (pronounced "heap"). One of the happiest days in my life was when the guys who sold it to me took it back in trade on a Toyota T100 4x4 in 1997.

He he he
We must visit the same circles !!

I still have a 1986 T100 Extended Cab and it has 224,000 miles on the odo
I do not use it much any more, but she always starts and is reliable. Mostly my dove hunting truck now.

Mike

Mike, the T100 took son Sam through college, when he finished college, it returned home. The plan was to drive it forever. In August of 2009, during the cash for clunker program, I used it to buy the little girl in the photo a new Subaru Outback. She ain't so little any more and I miss that truck.

Well, both my son and daughter got old 1985 or 86 K5 Blazers with the build in roll bars and we called them the Urban Assault Vehicles.
They made it through their teenage years and now are in their 40s. WHEW!!

The daughter's Blazer had a 454 with double pumper Holly spreadbore, RV cam and headers. Got pretty good gas mileage as she rarely used the secondaries

Mike

Shooting brake, American style:





LT-1 powered 1996 Buick Roadmaster wagon. I've owned 2 of these, one with the old throttle body 350, that I converted to a small block 400 with the 350 heads and injection, and this one. It can tow 7000 pounds with 750 lbs of tongue weight, and gets 25mpg all the time on the freeway without the trailer. I still have it, just over 100,000 miles, but, it saw a lot of winters before I had it, and it is getting tacky-it needed a new muffler on this trip, but, if you are going to look like white trash, you might as well sound like it, too.

The local chapter of the Impala club has a few nutcases who build up the LT-1, put gears in them, and run silly low times on the strip. My back gets sore thinking about working on this pig.

Cute Colombian chick with French shotgun not included. Unless you import your own copy.

Best,
Ted

A great hunting rig. The trailer holds four dogs The van has Posi-traction and goes just about anywhere complete with bunk, table, cabinets and most of the comforts of home. The cook shack is for when we arrive in numbers. I live in it up to 6 months of the year hunting and fishing.



The boat fits under the bunk.

I've never seen an outboard gas engine like that before.
Is it a converted weed-whacker?

Ted, did the Griswolds ever borrow your wagon? Gil

I think he was a Ford guy. A friend assures me Jesus was a Ford guy, too-he went everywhere barefoot because his shoes wore out from walking, because the Ford would never run!

Worth noting, the wagons work best at boat launches when they have the limited slip rear differential. Mine all did, but a friend had one with an open rear end, and it spent more time stuck at various places then mine did.

I think the little motor, above, is called a "Mud Bug" specifically for duck boats and what-not. They will run in really shallow water.

Best,
Ted

Clark Griswold drove a "Family Truckster" which was a modified Dodge or Chrysler.....(yikes)... Our family shooting brake is a 2010 AWD Ford Flex with 140K on the clock....I can get as much crap in it as I could with my Expeditions and Suburban's. Hope to find another low mileage twin turbo version.

Ken

John from U.K. ; a Lanchester! They cost more than a Rolls I believe. Bet you wish you still had it? Lagopus.....

The current Griswold vehicle is the Tartan Prancer, the "Honda of Albania" featuring the best in Albanian technology including a water fountain and double rear view mirrors.
https://youtu.be/uFHehn0UOLU

Not to mention the Swastika App on the remote!!!!!!!! URL=http://s26.photobucket.com/user/ken1okie/media/Remote.jpg.html][/URL]

I think that may be true of Lanchester's early (independent) days. However, they became (with Daimler) part of the BSA group (as in gunmaking BSA) and whilst the Daimler brand remained 'upmarket', the Lanchester brand was used on a range of cheaper cars. The model my grandparents had was a 10 H.P. model, and as such had a basic 4 cylinder engine of about 1.5 litres, but coupled with the Daimler/Lanchester 'fluid' transmission (which was bacically an epicyclic gearbox with a fluid coupling replacing the clutch). It would have been a low to medium priced car.

BSA's chairman was a man called Sir Bernard Docker. His wife, Lady Nora Docker has specially made gold trimmed Daimlers with fancy Zebra skin upholstery. Many of Daimler's traditional customers (including the Royal family who had always been Daimler customers) thought this very vulgar and moved to other makes, notably Rolls Royce and Bentley and the Daimler brand struggled (though the actual cars were quite good) and was eventually bought by Sir William Lyons of Jaguar fame.
The late Queen Mother remained loyal to Daimler, but H.M the Queen has used Rolls Royce and later Bentley for her formal State cars, and nowadays seems to use Range Rover for less formal use.

Interesting history. I have seen a BSA made car; quite a small saloon and I expect quite rare. Of course they were more famous for their motor cycles. Ah, the good old days when cars had starting handles, an owners manual and toolkits provided. Lagopus.....

My "shooting brake" as a teenager into my early 20's was a 2 door 1961 Willy's Jeep station wagon 4WD with a heavy duty winch. The rear seat would fold forward, giving extra space for loading up gear and occasionally a deer or an elk or two.

The 2 door made it a bit more controlled, when hunting with a couple of hunting buddies and an elk or deer was spotted driving down an old N ID logging road.

It now sits in one of my dad's outbuildings and is taken out a few times a year around the property looking for dead/dying trees, for firewood.

I think the original article that Gary posted is fair enough as far as the post WW11 motor driven vehicles are concerned but it doesn't come anywhere near a history of the type before that, and back into the horse drawn age.

The term "brake" always applied to passenger carrying wagons although these could vary in seat numbers, weight carrying capacity and the number of horses used. As a boy in Ireland I used to help prepare a two horse shooting brake that carried twelve people. It hadn't been used for its original purpose since the Muckross Estate passed from private (and sporting) hands into State ownership.

When I knew it, it was used to carry hotel guests into and through Killarney town and up to the Gap of Dunloe. Other vehicles in the cart shed were termed the wagonette and the side car which latter would be referred to as a jaunting car by what John the coachman called "ingorant people". It was a real thrill to bull up the brake, the horses and their tack, a grand sight when they all moved off. So a shooting brake was a good sized version of a wagon, big enough to take six or eight Guns, a few ladies, guns, and possibly cartridges. My one had a canvas roof and detachable canvas sides that were more ornament than use; if you object to getting rained on in Ireland you've come to the wrong place.

A horse drawn "car" at least in Ireland was always a small vehicle drawn by a single horse or pony. I'd take a station wagon to be a bit smaller than a shooting brake, designed as they were to carry a few passengers and their luggage across town. Might be two horses but usually just one (depending on terrain).

In Scotland many years later I saw garrons being used to take deer off the hill, an equally delightful experience, that mixed the pleasures of being around horses with life in the shooting field.

Anyway, I think this points up that the mechanical men have taken these bits of nomenclature that once held precise meanings and scattered them all round the factory.

Ingorant people.

Thanks, Eugene. Speaking of nomenclature, how did the name "brake" come about?

SRH

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_%28carriage%29

Here's some pictures of that. Very cool. I don't know if all the horses are actually "Garrons" or not.

It sure beats the hell out of a picture of a Whitetail strapped to a four-wheeler.

http://chrishewittphotomedia.co.uk/Creativity.html

https://heavywhalley.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/wet-wet-wet/

Not to be confused with Donna Garron, who no sane man would ever confuse with a horse...

http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-1071142338/donnagarron/photos/ig-1037236199731007426_1071142338

Reminiscent of Vera De Milo...who was definitely familiar with horse steroids!!

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=vera...6EA4EAD005FF84D

OT,

That's the nice thing about Women's Figure or Fitness competitors. They're not as dependent on steroids like the regular Olympia competitors. Not to say that some don't resort to a little "Gear", but Donna is extremely "cut" to competition standards in that photo.

There's quite a bit in the article linked by OH-O that I don't buy into.

All draught horses must be introduced to shaft work at some point, but the idea that one particular type of vehicle, given a specific name, was employed doesn't make much sense to me. I think people would just have used what was to hand, be it brake, wagonette, landau, side car, dog cart, trap or whatever.

I nearly fell over laughing when I read that a shooting brake was just an ordinary wagon pressed into service; the ones I've seen and been involved with are all high examples of the carriage makers art, beautifully built and designed for the job.

Garrons are more a type than a specific breed; many are outcrosses of small but tough traditional hill breeds with draught horses; sagacious beasts they are.

The pic of Ms Garron is truly terrifying, but at the same time causes one to wonder if she could carry a twenty stone red stag off the hill unaided; I'd back her to do it. I bet The Donald wouldn't make any snide remarks about her womanly goings on, she'd render him limb from limb PMT notwithstanding.

Eug

Here's one that could easily carry your Stag. Or for that matter, pull your Brake.

http://cdn.trending.report/wp-content/uploads/images/beast-women/2.jpg

May be the fastest Shooting Brake ever...:

Ferrari 250 GT SWB called "Breadvan" or "Camionette" in french.

Seen on August 7, 2015 during the Oldtimer Grand Prix on the Nürburgring, Germany.

Cheers,
Gunwolf