Over a decade ago, renowned Italian coachbuilder Carreozzeria Touring was commissioned to create 4 Maserati “shooting brakes”, or essentially fastback wagons with a large cargo area, based on the now-replaced Maserati Quattroporte chassis. Touring’s designers went on to create an audacious estate wagon, replete with an unswept rear side window and a sensational view out back. 

3 The Original Legend

These so-called “Bellagio Fastbacks” were snapped up immediately at auction, and this chapter of Modenese bespoke Trident craftsmanship was seemingly closed.

2 The Dream

Enter Adam Redding, a classic car and a veteran restorer of numerous E-Types, Elans, Dinos and other such historic icons. Adam was contracted by a British collector who had missed out on the Bellagio sweepstakes and intended to reprise the concept with a current generation Quattroporte. It reportedly took 1500 hours and untold amounts of ingenuity and patience to perform this surgical renaissance but the end product is a sensationally-proportioned and streamlined estate wagon that looks like it came off of Maserati’s own assembly line in Modena. The rakish rear reinforces the muscular stance of the the original QP, and the rear view is an exercise in understated beauty. A long-wheel base fastback with the requisite soft Italian leather and all of the luxury and space is just what’s needed for that long jaunt to your Lake Como villa on the autostrada.

1 The Operation

One look at the “Cinqueporte” is enough to light the fires of desire in most Italian car fans. Here’s hoping Maserati will take a hint and embark on its own version of a shooting brake, although manufacturing and design costs may preclude what may be a limited production car. All the same, we can’t imagine a factory-designed one looking any better than Mr. Redding’s luxurious and rapid Anglo-Italian sculpture.

Sources: motorauthority.com, classicdriver.com