The "English" language

[hairyapple]

Cn anyone tell me the meaning behind the term "shooting brake" when applied to what looks to be Rolls-Royce's answer to the estate wagon? Saw several of these at the Concourse d' Elegance last weekend in Greenwich, Ct. USA and had never heard the term before.

[Derek UK]

This is another generic/miss applied term along with estate wagon and station wagon. A shooting brake carries the "sportsmen" with their guns and dogs up to the moors to bag a few grouse. The estate wagon is a general purpose wagon for use around the "estate" and the station wagon does the duties of picking people, maybe the "sportsman" up from the "station" and back to the country house. A "brake" is a chassis or cart used for breaking in young horses for carriage/cart/buggy use.

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be................

[hairyapple]

So as I had guessed it had to do with shooting birds or some other creatures. I never would have guessed the "Brake" part though, so thanks for the clarification. When I was a kid my dad had a Plymouth wagon whose model name was "Suburban" and it was always referred to as "the suburban" never "the station wagon". New subject, I would like to put vanity plates on my cars but every thing I come up with is already being used and I've tried a lot of different things. In Connecticut the rules for vanity plates are very restrictive, so a lot of my best stuff has been shot down as well. My current choices, which fit the criteria and are available are "ESTATE" and "SALOON" Unfortunately these might seem pretentious on this side of the great waters and besides a saloon is a place to go to drink, spit, cuss-then occasionally out-shoot a bad guy, and I don't drink and drive that much anymore.