With the affordability crisis making it increasingly tougher for people to have two separate cars for work and fun, more buyers are turning towards vehicles that can “do it all,” in the sense that they can play the role of a daily driver and grocery getter as well as a weekend corner carver.
As a result, you see a lot more sporty SUV-coupes with AMG, M, and V badges around than you used to. But if you don’t have a family of four to lug around, I’d argue the best body style for a do-it-all car isn’t a crossover or even a sporty sedan: It’s a shooting brake.
Think about it. Shooting brakes are two-door coupes that happen to have a hatchback-style rear end, making them the perfect compromise between a truly fun, small car and something with a bit of practicality. The problem is, the shooting brake has always been a pretty niche body style, which means you don’t have many factory-built options.
Thankfully, the aftermarket exists. And in 2006, it gave us what is arguably the perfect car: A Pontiac Solstice converted into a shooting brake.
One Man’s Dream Comes To Life
Much has been written about the Pontiac Solstice on this website, but if you’ve never seen one before, let me enlighten you.
The Solstice was the result of a dream by the one and only Bob Lutz, the legendary long-time auto exec who worked at BMW, Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors. According to Hagerty, the original Solstice concept from 2002 was the first concept produced at Lutz’s request. He really, really wanted to get a small roadster to market:
The dream of bringing to market an affordable roadster was one Lutz had held for a long time. When he was at Ford, the idea he’d championed took shape in the form of the Ghia Barchetta concept, and later, after he went to Chrysler, it was manifest as the Dodge Copperhead roadster and then as the Plymouth Pronto Spyder. The Ghia Barchetta ended up morphing into the not-so-sporty, front-wheel-drive Mercury Capri convertible, while the Copperhead and the Pronto Spyder never got beyond the show-car stage. With the Solstice, Lutz was determined that his dream would be realized.
His dream would, of course, come true. GM didn’t have a small rear-drive platform for the Solstice to ride on, but that didn’t matter—he ordered engineers to develop something from scratch, and so the Kappa platform was born. Of course, the Kappa architecture wasn’t fully from scratch. Engineers borrowed parts from the Cadillac CTS, the Chevy Colorado, and even the Hummer H3, according to Hagerty. The Kappa platform’s biggest selling point was one of the few things it didn’t borrow from another car: Its own hydroformed frame rails, hydroformed driveshaft tunnel, and hydroformed body panels.
GM, being GM, put the availability of the new Kappa platform to good use. In addition to building a Solstice convertible, it also built a fixed-roof coupe version late into production. Additionally, the car was reskinned for Saturn as the Sky, with its own body panels. That car was further rebadged as the Opel GT for Europe and the Daewoo G2X in South Korea.
One Step Further
Not satisfied with the puny trunk space offered by the Solstice convertible, one German automotive supplier, EDAG, decided to create an aftermarket piece that would turn the car from a soft-top convertible to a fixed-roof, two-door hatchback.
Shown first as a concept at the Detroit Motor Show, it comes with its own glass-equipped hatchback piece, which swings up as if it were totally OEM. There’s even a lock for the hatch and a defroster element for the glass. It’s installed by removing the rear trunk decklid, using existing mounting points for the convertible top up front, and the hinge points at the rear.
According to CarBodyDesign.com, the entire setup weighs just 115 pounds. Subtract the 42 pounds of the factory decklid setup, and you’re left with 73 pounds of added weight. Not terrible considering all the extra space you get in return. Total cost for the conversion, without the price of installation, was $2,499 in December 2006 (around $4,000 in today’s money).
EDAG told the media the design was influenced by Pontiac’s safari wagons of the ’50s and ’60s, which were also two-door shooting brake wagons. While there isn’t really a direct resemblance design-wise, I can totally understand where it got the idea to bring back the two-door wagon body style, and I appreciate it.
These Pop Up For Sale From Time To Time
The reason I’m writing about EDAG’s long-dead shooting brake conversion is thanks to a late-night Facebook Marketplace find. The debut of the Solstice coupe in 2009 likely quelled demand for this kit, as it offered similar amounts of storage from a factory-designed and delivered setup. As a result, it’s rumored that fewer than 20 kits were produced, at least according to the Solstice forums.
As rare as these EDAG shooting brakes are purported to be, you do see them pop up for sale every so often. The one I found listed for sale on Facebook in Lavalette, West Virginia, feels pretty ideal for a few reasons. Aside from the hardtop conversion, it’s totally unmodified. Plus, it has a manual transmission. And with less than 20,000 miles on the clock, it’s barely been broken in.
The seller even includes a photo of the hatch open so we can get an idea of the space inside. We also get a look at the weather seals, the hinges, and the wiring for the defroster element. While I don’t think it’s quite at the level of what the factory would do, it’s not half-assed, either. EDAG did a pretty good job here.
Most attractive of all is the price. Despite the shooting brake conversion’s rarity, the seller is asking just $12,500 for this car. Even without the conversion piece, $12,500 for a basically-new Solstice isn’t a terrible deal; it’s rare to see these cars with so few miles on the clock.
If anything, this feels like an incredibly easy way to get into a truly weird, unique vehicle that’ll check all the boxes for your daily life, fun back road needs, AND get you all the attention you’d desire at your local Cars & Coffee. You’re unlikely to ever run into another one on the road, after all.
Top graphic image: EDAG, Facebook Marketplace
I’m just trying to figure out what’s going in with the trunk floor – the stock luggage moat was goofy, but covering it up and taking away some of the usable space doesn’t really help.
That’s the stock soft top folded down, they left it in for whatever reason.
Perfect car?
Give me a Brake.
🙂
Compared to its Sky twin, the Solstice has aged really poorly – this looney tunes looking conversion isn’t helping.
This really is true – the Sky looked better when they first launched the Solstice and Sky twins, but the Sky looks way better now. I think the Solstice just has too many swoops and curves, very much rooting it the 2000s GM design funk. The Sky largely escaped that fate, and with better overall proportions.
Kind of reminds me of a clown shoe
That looks goofy as hell, I love it. I just took a peak at Solstice prices, surprisingly cheap!
GXPs are a bargain. I sold mine on CnB with 75k miles for like $7600. What other compelling RWD, manual, turbo 2 seater exists in that pricepoint that isn’t beat to hell and back.
If Pontiac had offered this as an option it definitely would still be in business. /s
I bid tree fiddy for this eyesore…No thanks guys.
The roof adds additional all-weather capability turning it into the Winter Solstice.
Add a pair of Chevrolet Equinoxs and you have a four-season garage.
Maybe an Eclipse too?
I miss my Solstice every time it’s nice out. This would kind of defeat the purpose for me though.
Yeesh, it doesn’t even end up with much luggage space and it’s at perfect height that anything in there could go flying into the cockpit area. I like the idea, but the Solstice is cartoony enough without the goofy upper side window line adding to it.
I really wanted a Solstice coupe, but they were on the market for just a brief blip of time and went away. Didn’t believe I’ve ever seen these shooting brakes before, but like them even more. Someone should make a similar kit for the Miata
I love the Solstice and this conversion destroys all the reasons I do.
“perfect” except for the GM parts bin interior. The steering wheels, in particular, on the Solstice and Sky were way too big and awkward. I could barely fit my legs under them.
The Solstice/Sky were under appreciated. A shooting brake makes so much sense. Thanks for the glimpse back in time.
I find the EDAG hardtops hideous. I’ll keep my Sky Redline as a convertible.
One of the best looking vehicles I’ve ever seen personally was a saturn sky converted to look like a truck that race(s/d) at lemons. https://www.skyroadster.com/threads/sky-truck-pics-for-24-hours-of-lemons.97006/
This will join the list of cars I regret not buying. It’s about the price of a nice MGB GT with a V6 swap and vastly better in any logical way.
You can still buy one! 10k gets you a great GXP.
I like it in theory but in reality it looks very Dr. Seuss-esque.
Oh, the places you’ll go!
My girlfriend’s mom gave her a Saturn Sky Redline, 2008 I think, about 5 years ago with under 10K miles. She just never drove it. I was actually driving when it rolled over the 10k mark. Probably still has 15k or so right now.
I didn’t know anything about them at the time, but learned about the Solstice. I still think the Sky is better looking, especially front end. Not sure I like the shooting brake version.
i generally like this kind of thing, but on the solstice, it looks kind of not in a good way weird.
Losing the open roof makes this a very cozy place to be. We should call it the Winter Solstice. Just don’t brake too hard on your way to the bowling tourney.
“The one I found listed for sale on Facebook in Lavalette, West Virginia, feels pretty ideal for a few reasons. Aside from the hardtop conversion, it’s totally unmodified. Plus, it has a manual transmission. And with less than 20,000 miles on the clock, it’s barely been broken in.”
Too bad over half of the radio/CD player display no longer works.
This Solstice shooting brake looks a lot better than the convertible. I’m curious if it actually helps drag.
I’d love to do this to a Miata NB, except with a more tapered Kammback, rear wheel skirts, full underbody paneling, and a Miata Italia front end with the vents deleted and a partial grille block. A Cd value of around 0.20 should be possible.
More Pontiac for your Pthursday!
MGB GT is way prettier. I was thinking this was more like the Nissan Pulsar Sport back, or a take on the clown shoe BMW.
GM actually had a concept version of what looked like a mini Chevy 55 Nomad built on this same platform at the Detroit International Auto Show. I thought it was cooler than both the Solstice or Sky.
I was going to say I was surprised it wasn’t mentioned in the article. The 2004 Nomad concept was lovely.
https://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z7772/chevrolet-nomad-concept.aspx
This just lends credence to my usual mad rambling that the perfect car would be a MG-B GT style MX-5 hatchback.