The Shooting Brake, or its modern idiom 'station wagon' had its origins in the early days of the carriage building industry.

Alongside the 'dos-a-dos' – literally where seats were back to back, 'vis-à-vis' – literally seating was face to face, 'dog cart', sporty Phaetons – which had high wheels and lightweight bodywork, Landaus, where the body converted to be completely open or closed, a 'Brake' was originally used for drafting horses.

Of course, with the arrival of the motor car, many of these styles were converted to horseless carriages, and self propelled vehicles were perfect for the hunting car, or 'Shooting Brake'.

Generally when seen on luxurious chassis of the teen era, particularly on Rolls-Royce, the style provided rows of seating facing each other, together with panniers inside or out of the body for storing guns and invariably there was a rack on the top of the vehicle.

Unquestionably, by the nature of their commodious as well as practical space, and the nature of their...