September 11: The lucky 50

Fifty very lucky and very wealthy car buyers will be able to get their names on the ownership of this, the latest of Aston Martin's shooting brakes.........

Aston has been modifying their gorgeous coupes into gorgeous semi station wagons, or shooting brakes for many years. What the heck is a shooting brake anyway? You could google it, but basically it was a vehicle designed for the upper class Brits to use when hunting for their evening meals. Pull up in the Rolls, unload their picnic baskets and guns from the back and have at it. Very civilized and only the best rolling stock would do.

A shooting brake doesn't have to be based on a coupe, but many have been. It's surprising how well turning a coupe into a wagon works out and Aston has been the master at it.........

Always limited editions or one off customs. With the Americans nutty fascination with guns, it's a wonder why every domestic car manufacturer doesn't have one of these creations in their line these days. Oh, I forgot their also nutty fascination with suvs. You can see with this old Mustang conversion, that sometime in the past, this idea was given a chance to see the light of day.......

Here's one you all know.......

This Volvo was probably the only one that was mass produced (the Ferrari FF is hardly mass production, folks). Better looking than the original coupe in my not so humble opinion, but not all shooting brake transformations should have been done. Examples, you ask? Shield your eyes from these two hideous creations from Ferrari.........

Oops! Someone's pen must have slipped when putting these designs to paper, as no self respecting computer would ever own up to these missteps. On the other hand, this Bentley Continental and the Jaguar below it are things of beauty........

 Only fifty you say. Too bad, but hey, when we are talking about a car somewhat more costly than a well equipped Toyota, fifty might be plenty. Keep the desirability quotient high.

And thank Aston Martin for doing us the favour of conjuring up this wonderful piece of eye candy, so that us lesser mortals will keep buying those lottery tickets in order to one day hit it big, so we too can be one of the lucky fifty.

Until next time......