Tag Archives: shooting brake

Aston Virage Wagon

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1993 Aston Martin Virage Shooting Brake

Offered by Bonhams | Paris, France | February 3, 2022

Photo – Bonhams

Aston Martin was not at a particularly strong point in their history when they introduced the Virage at the tail end of the 1980s. This was just as their former models, which dated back to the 60s, were being phased out. The Virage would spawn the Vantage and eventually be sold as the “V8” alongside early DB7s.

The factory body style was a four-seat coupe. But this “Shooting Brake” (c’mon, it’s got four doors. You can call it a wagon) is one of seven such cars built by the factory for customers who demanded a little more versatility out of their sports cars. There were a few three-door versions as well, but only seven apparently got the four-door treatment. This was the first, and it’s shorter in length than the later ones.

Another thing Aston did was offer the upcoming Vantage’s 6.3-liter V8 as an option. And this car has it. It was rated at 456 horsepower when new. The whole build is a pretty much custom deal, with a 12″ stretch and a manual gearbox conversion. Certainly not something you see everyday, this Virage wagon is expected to bring between $170,000-$290,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $169,742.

Rolls-Royce Silver Spectre

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2016 Rolls-Royce Silver Spectre Shooting Brake

Offered by Bonhams | Monaco | April 23, 2021

Photo – Bonhams

The current generation of the Rolls-Royce Wraith went on sale for the 2014 model year. It is offered as a two-door hardtop only. No wagon from the factory. So what’s a rich guy to do when he wants a wagon, err, shooting brake, version of his $300,000 Roller coupe?

Well, in this case, you hire Carat Duchatelet, a Belgian coachbuilder and vehicle armorer. This one-off wagon was first owned by Rolls-Royce and used a demonstrator back in its coupe days. The current owner bought it later and paid for this custom conversion, which was carried out between 2018 and 2020. The name “Silver Spectre” was made up for this car. And it sounds kind of dark and mysterious.

The mechanicals remain stock, with the standard twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V12 pumping out 623 horsepower. I actually quite like it. When was the last time you saw a 600+ horsepower hatchback/wagon with suicide doors? The pre-sale estimate is $530,000-$770,000, which is probably a lot less than the cost of a new Wraith plus a custom wagon build. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Oh, and here’s what it looks like from the front.

Photo – Bonhams

612 Scaglietti Shooting Brake

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2005 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti Shooting Brake

Offered by Bonhams | Knokke-Heist, Belgium | October 11, 2020

Photo – Bonhams

There has been a long history of Ferrari owners turning their racy Italian thoroughbreds into something a little more… functional, and the converted shooting brake has always been a popular choice. Of course, when Ferrari introduced their own factory version (the FF), people were like “meh.”

The 612 Scaglietti was styled originally by Ken Okuyama at Pininfarina, and I think it has aged very well. This example was sent to Vandenbrink Design in the Netherlands in 2017 where it was converted into a shooting brake with a cool pair of windows over the heads of the rear-seat passengers. I like it.

Power is from a 533 horsepower, 5.7-liter V12, which makes this quite the grocery getter. It should sell for between $180,000-$300,000. That’s quite the range. So in other words, Bonhams has no idea what this will bring. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $243,038.

DB5 Shooting Brake

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1965 Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake by Radford

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 15, 2019

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

There have been a few Aston Martin wagons – err, “shooting brakes” – over the years. They officially started with the DB5. The story is that company owner David Brown was annoyed that his hunting dog was destroying the front seats in his normal DB5, and he had nowhere to put his polo gear. I should’ve warned you that it was a very pretentious story.

The Shooting Brake versions of the DB5 share the same 282 horsepower, 4.0-liter inline-six as the coupes. But it has that extra bodywork and glass at the rear, courtesy of Radford, a British coachbuilder hired by Brown to build the bodies, as the Aston factory didn’t have the capacity to fill the special orders for these cars.

Only 12 examples of the DB5 Shooting Brake were built by the “factory” (i.e. by Radford). One for Brown, and 11 others for customers who saw Brown’s car and wanted their own. They are very hard to find today, and this example has been with three Swiss owners since new. It should bring between $1,000,000-$1,400,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $1,765,000.

Miller Shooting Brake

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1954 Miller Shooting Brake

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | April 7, 2019

Photo – Bonhams

Geoffrey Miller of Cornwall, England was a craftsman who had earlier built his own motorcycle when he decided to build himself a station wagon. This is the result, and it is the only such example. Most homebuilt cars look, well, home-built. However, this has all of the look of a series production car from 1950s England.

Somewhat Allard-like in its appearance, the four-door woodie wagon is powered by a 2.9-liter Austin-Healey straight-six. He used some production parts that were readily available but is said to have actually done the body and woodwork by hand.

With only three owners since new – including its creator – this is the time to get it if you want a car that is an original design. It’s quite interesting and should bring between $59,000-$72,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Not sold, Bonhams Paris 2020.

Invicta Black Prince Wagon

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1951 Invicta Black Prince Shooting Brake by Associated Coach Builders

Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 2, 2017

Photo – Bonhams

I remember reading about the Invicta Black Prince when I was a little kid and I’ve always remembered that it is a rare, special car. In fact, most Invictas are pretty rare today. They company was founded in 1925 and sort of died in 1938. Those pre-war cars are pretty cool and sporty, competing with the likes of Lagonda.

The company was revived in 1946 and their goal was to build a Bentley/Rolls-Royce competitor. The Black Prince was an extraordinarily luxurious sedan offered until the company went bankrupt in 1950 (at which point they were acquired by Frazer Nash, who sold off the rest of the cars, including this one which the new owner had custom-bodied as an estate car). The cars were just too expensive, costing three times as much as a comparable Jaguar and almost as much as the Bentley. Side note, they tried to relaunch the marque as a sportscar maker in the 2000s, but they are now gone too.

The Black Prince is powered by a 127 horsepower, 3.0-liter straight-six. Because of slow sales, only 16 were made and only 12 of those still exist, including this one-off wagon. I don’t remember another Black Prince coming up for public sale in the last decade. The restoration on this car dates to the 1970s, which contributes to its seemingly low estimate of $28,000-$33,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $21,438.

Ferrari 330 GT Wagon

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1965 Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 Shooting Brake by Vignale

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 19, 2017

Photo – Gooding & Company

I’m beginning to think Gooding & Company has a secret stash of one-off Ferrari wagons. It’s a great concept. Think about it: take a high-revving Italian exotic, add a big greenhouse out back and boom! Now you’ve got a grocery-getter that hauls the mail.

The Ferrari 330 GT 2+2 was a grand tourer built between 1964 and 1967. It was far and away the most common of the Ferrari 330 series, with 1,099 produced. But this does not look like the rest of them. It was sold new as a normal 330 GT 2+2 but when it came back to Chinetti Motors in 1967, Chinetti Jr. co-designed this “Shooting Brake” and had it built by Vignale. This is believed to be the final Ferrari bodied by the Carrozzeria.

It’s powered by a 4.0-liter V-12 making 300 horsepower. Chinetti sold the car in the 1970s and it was restored in the 1990s. At one point it was owned by Jamiroquai front man Jay Kay. It’s one-of-one and should bring between $700,000-$900,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Update II: Sold, RM Sotheby’s Los Angeles 2018, $313,000.

Ferrari Daytona Wagon

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1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Shooting Brake by Panther Westwinds

Offered by Gooding & Company | Pebble Beach, California | August 20-21, 2016

Photo - Gooding & Company

Photo – Gooding & Company

We’ll start by urging you to go to Gooding & Company’s website to check out more pictures of this awesome car. Sure, it’s a Ferrari Daytona, but it has been turned into a shooting brake – a two-door wagon. The rear section features a lot of glass, including a huge rear window and gullwing-hinged side glass that fold up. It’s astonishing.

As a 365 GTB/4 this car is powered by a 4.4-liter V-12 making 352 horsepower. The design was actually done by Luigi Chinetti Jr. for a customer at his dealership. The body was built by Panther Westwinds, a manufacturer of sports cars in their own right.

The first owner was a Floridian who surely enjoyed driving this mobile, black, glass greenhouse. It would have a few other American owners (and one Belgian). The current owner acquired the car in 2013 and had it completely restored. It has only covered 4,500 miles in its life, which is incredible. This unique one-off is expected to bring between $700,000-$1,000,000. Click here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

1924 Delage Wagon

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1924 Delage DI Eight-Lite Shooting Brake

Offered by The Finest | Hershey, Pennsylvania | June 11, 2016

Photo - The Finest Automobile Auctions

Photo – The Finest Automobile Auctions

Here’s an interesting car from a new auction house. In the 1930s, Delage would produce some of France’s greatest luxury automobiles. But it had lots of practice, having been founded in 1905. The company won the 1914 Indianapolis 500.

The DI was introduced in 1923 and lasted through 1927. They are powered by a 2.1-liter straight-four rated in period at 14 horsepower. It was the smallest car in Delage’s lineup when introduced. There is a reason that station wagons are referred to as “Estates”  in Europe – they were often used as hunting cars on large estates, as was this custom “Shooting Brake” constructed by Carrosserie Castraise.

This car came to the U.S. in 1998 and was mechanically refreshed in 2014. It hasn’t really been shown in America and sports an older restoration. Only 938 Delage DI cars were built and there aren’t many left. It should bring between $45,000-$75,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Update: Sold, Mecum Phoenix 2019, $23,100.

Lagonda Wagon

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1986 Aston Martin Lagonda Series 3 Shooting Brake

Offered by Bonhams | Newport Pagnell, U.K. | May 21, 2016

Photo - Bonhams

Photo – Bonhams

Lagonda was (and is again) a marque of automobile that has long been associated with Aston Martin since it acquired the brand in 1947. But in the mid-1970s, Aston Martin introduced a sedan model named Lagonda. This famously-boxy body style was launched in 1976 as the Series 2 Lagonda.

The Series 2 was built between 1976 and 1985, the Series 3 was for 1986 and 1987 only, and the Series 4 lasted from 1987 through 1990. All three of the final series look essentially the same. The Series 3 different from the Series 2 mostly in that it had fuel injection. Only 75 Series 3 cars were built.

It is powered by a 280 horsepower 5.3-liter V-8. All Lagondas were produced as sedans, but there was an aftermarket “Shooting Brake” wagon built by Roos Engineering of Frauenkappelen, Switzerland. The conversion actually took place in the mid-1990s and was very expensive. This is a unique and highly identifiable car. It should bring between $290,000-$360,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.