Protoscar builds the Porsche 911 Estate Car

Swiss design company Protoscar has designed some very high profile concept cars, having been an integral part of the design of Rinspeed's radical show cars of the last five years such as the Splash, Senso, Bedouin, and Presto. This year, in addition to the Rinspeed Senso, the company will show a design concept of its own with some wonderful automotive heritage - a "Shooting brake" based on the Porsche 911 will be unveiled at the Geneva Motorshow, next week. The Shooting Brake concept evolved a century ago from European gentlemen wishing to have enough room for their guns when they were going hunting or to shooting contests yet at the same time drive their sports cars. A "shooting brake" is a modified two door coupe with an estate-wagon back crafted, rather than grafted on.

Quite distinct from the working class "station wagon", which derived its name from working around railway stations to carry people and their luggage from the railway station to their final destination, the "shooting break" is an altogether different class of vehicle.

The "shooting break" is a modified luxury coupe with an estate car-like back fitted. Historically they have rarely been made by the factory and are generally aftermarket conversions of the highest craftsmanship that convey a strong statement about lifestyle.

Protoscar's inspiration for the 911 Shooting Break came from these Aston martins, Rolls Royce and Ferraris, elegantly converted with "a sleek car body configuration which provides extra luggage space."

Protoscar's site shows a number of beautiful examples of Shooting Brakes though there are many other wonderful examples to be found on the internet.

Protoscar's special coachbuilder-version was developed with particular attention to the street-legal requirements and the company states that the bodystyle can be adapted on any Porsche 911 coupe. Protoscar foresees a small production run of the 911 Shooting Brake with personalisation available "according to customers wishes."

The first "911 Shooting brake" was created for the Swiss company Derendinger for its 75th anniversary. Derendinger is the Swiss market-leader in garage equipment and auto spares distribution for car dealers.

Because one of the first components to be distributed by Derendinger in 1930 were brakes, this anniversary-vehicle is equipped with special MOVIT brakes. The 911 Shooting Brake was tested by Formula 1 driver Marc Surer, stopping from 120 kmh to stand still in just 2.9 seconds.

Protoscar studios are located near Lugano, Switzerland, and in Turin, Italy.