Photo of the day: the original Porsche shooting brake

Shooting brakes have a strange magnetic allure for practically-minded petrosexuals. So last week, when Porsche decided to get in on the act by pulling the silky sheets off the Panamera Sport Turismo – a five-door Panamera estate inspired by the opinion-shifting SportTurismo concept from 2012 which they’re calling a shooting brake – we were all ears. And smiles. And want.

The Panamera Sport Turismo is the first production ‘shooting brake’ (the marketing department is obviously working with a loose defininition) from Porsche, but it’s not the first to come out of Zuffenhausen. Ideas and prototypes have been rolling around for over 30 years, with an extended 911S popping up in 1970 and two special 928 models. One, the four-door 928 H50 concept from 1987, while the other is the 928-4: a four-seater prototype with a proper shooting brake – coupe’d estate – body from 1984. That’s it, sat in the gallery above.

Finished inside and out in what can only be described as Hero in a Half Shell Green, this roomy 928 was a present to Ferry Porsche to celebrate his 75th birthday. Sure as hell beats an iTunes gift card, that’s for sure.

Aesthetic modifications are relatively subtle, with projector headlights replacing the well-known pop-up jobs and slightly higher front wings. But there are effective chassis changes to allow adults in the back. The whole wheelbase of the 928 S was stretched by 25 centimetres and the pillars were raked up to allow for a flat roof giving passengers in the rear an extra 20 centimetres of legroom and easier access into the back.

So, which would you have in your garage? The new, 550bhp big-booted Panamera following a loose definition of a shooting brake? Or, a one-off 928 (complete with retro phone charger) that is a proper, bona fide shooting brake? Let us know below.