Car manufacturers are constantly seeking new niches to try and differentiate their models from the rivals. Gone are the days of the hatchback, Saloon, Coupe and Estate. We now have the MPV, SUV, 4 door coupe , even the SUV coupe (although the less said about BMW's monstrosity the better), along with the more traditional configurations.
One area so far passed over has been the shooting break, or the 2 door coupé cum estate. Going back through the history of the car, most Shooting Break's have been custom built conversions on existing coupés, a number of DB series Aston Martins in the sixties were converted and Aston itself offered a Shooting break conversion of the Virage in the nineties although only a handful were sold. Lower down the price range a number of shooting break style GT's appeared from speciality sports cars makers such as Jensen (the GT based on the Jensen Healey) the Reliant Scimitar GTE, and bizarrely the 1800 ES from Volvo. Of these the Jensen disappeared without trace but the Reliant had a long production run from 1968 through to 1986 (with a handful made by Middlebridge in 1990).
