hatchback vs shooting brake?

can someone tell me the differences between a hatchback design and a shooting brake?

The best visual I can give is the Mazda 6 station wagon vs. hatchback. The station wagon is a shooting brake, the hatchback is a hatchback. Does this make sense?

I thought a shooting brake meant a 2-door wagon.

yeah, a shooting brake IS a 2 door wagon.

but what differentiates it from a hatchback? the way the door opens, the angle of the hatch, etc.?

A shooting brake is a station wagon; also known in the UK as an estate wagon. If you do a google image search you’ll see both two and four door examples.

Because horse-drawn vehicles are something of a hobby of mine, I’d like to clarify why a shooting brake, should be spelled BREAK. Either BREAK, or BRAKE is now accepted terminology, but the I still prefer the original meaning.

A ‘break’ is a lightweight, almost skeletal, two or four wheeled rig used to train (break) a horse to the harness. The term was also applied to any of a class of lightweight, two seat, “buggies”; ‘sports cars’ of the day so to speak.

Finally the term became associated with any utilitarian passenger vehicle, i.e. minimal upholstery, minimal paint work, usually not enclosed, or even covered.

On large estates in the UK, the ‘Shooting Break’ was used to ferry guests from one shooting site to another, and were equipped with enclosed boxes to keep weapons and ammunition out of the weather; arranged like you see side-mounted toolboxes on a pick-up truck.

The 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 based Break de Chasse (fabricated by Panther Westwind/UK) is the only recent rendition, that I’ve seen, that adheres to the classic concept … kind of a ‘retro’ of a horse-drawn vehicle.

See this link, there are too many other pics to post.

I’m going to my room now …