> mundane functions of an estate (the vehicle), apparently a shooting
> brake's only purpose in life is to ferry the gentlemen hunters and
> their equipment from the estate (the house) to the hunting grounds
> and back. In pampered luxury of course.
Yes, that's about right as far as the definition is concerned.
The derivation is quite classical, as far as I recall the term
"brake" as a coachwork body style is of similar vintage to the
term "landau", and of equivalent level of misuse, as well. In other
words, it's a horse-and-buggy term that was later applied to automobiles.
I know what landau means, it's a term referring to a body style of buggy
where the passenger compartment is "convertable" but the driver's compartment
is fixed-head. Nowadays it means that the car has vinyl glued (usually badly)
to the roof over the rear seats.
Now what does a "brake" buggy look like?
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John R. Lupien
lupienj@wal.hp.com
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