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Updated: Car names are important to automobile manufacturers. They are keenly aware that public recognition and acceptance of a name can influence the commercial success of a new automobile in a highly competitive industry. Consider the Jeep Wrangler – a great earthy name for a car. But the Kia Kickit probably wouldn’t inspire much consumer confidence. Matching cars to drivers here
56 comments:
MechEng: the '62 Impala SS was a really sweet car. My first new car was a '63 Chevy II, two door sedan with the small 7 main bearing six cylinder, heavy duty suspension and alternator. Right at about $1,900. The wait for it to be manufactured was excruciating. I would have killed myself with a larger engine (something about drifting every corner). I did learn I really don't like car payments, too ;)
Never owned a Mustang. Almost bought a '57 Tbird ... but decided that a Mazda RX3 station wagon would be more practical. Hah... it wasn't but I got really good at rebuilding rotary engines. Now I just look for a comfortable seat ... i.e. something I don't have top throw myself or spoon myself into.
My favorite is the Daihatsu Naked, of course. Yes, it was a real car.
A 65 ss chevy red on bottom and vinal on top auto on the consel 396
'78 Ford Pinto Wagon. With fake wood trim. With a propensity to explode into a fireball if hit from the rear.
And my parents knew it...but still threw me the keys everytime I asked.
[Nick: a real thrill ride, huh?]
My first was a 62 Corvair, "sporty" two door model with a four speed of course. It was well used with a broken fuel gauge and an oil leak/burn problem, so if you pulled into a full service station it was "fill the oil and check the gas please". I had to pay a whopping $50 for it, including the $65 worth of two new snow tires. It would not start when the engine was warm, so you had to plan trips accordingly. This was all I could afford because a year earlier I had purchase a brand new Suzuki TS185 motorcycle to replace the Honda trail 90 that some idiot tried to keep running for too long because he thought it could be like his first, a Honda mini-trail 50. Luckily it wasn't long until I could afford the neighbors 64 Pontiac Bonneville, which was my faithful entertainment and friend until in college when a drunk high school girl shortened her a couple of feet on one side when she tried to drive her International Scout up the butt of the Bonne.
Nick: speaking of “fill the oil and check the gas please," some time when you’re feeling especially impish, try asking that at a gas station today - you get some interesting responses!]
I like the Bantans.
My father let me drive his 1965 baby blue Mustang.
I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have.
Probably because my bff's bf let her drive his 1969 convertible corvette! We cruised Green Lake.
1959 Metropolitan...the toughest little car I ever had, and she was 12 years old when I bought her...three on the tree and quite the powerhouse.
[Nick: I used to have a die cast scale model of a Metroplotian police car. Apparently some US police forces used them (real cars, not the models!) instead of motorcycles for city patrols such as enforcing illegal parking]
Re rainbowed comment above:
Yea, like a 1,000 yard stare and W$F are you talking about?? I ordered two 12 inch Subway sandwiches the other night and the girl behind the counter said, "Are those foot-long?" No, they are 12" inches long like you wish you had was my reply and she just stared at me like Minnie the Dunce....
[Nick: how naughty of you :)]
boned - too funny, unless you stop to think about who is "managing" the safety of your food supply.
Which reminds me, I think it's about time to find the new kid at the auto parts store and order some chrome muffler bearings for my 68 Goat, and a radiator cap for a 72 Bug. And please don't let me forget the blinker fluid...
It is like the 'dikfer' valve on my 2001 diesel VW Beetle... What is a dikfer valve??
77' Chevy Stepside pu that was my dad's. It ran sporadically but that also kept me from going many place for fear of it not starting! My first car that I bought was a 81' GMC 3/4 t. Boy could I run stuff over w/ that!!
[Nick: Ah-ha! So that's the origin of the term "road kill" :) ]
BTW, Ford is bringing back the FIESTA!!! Everyone I know who drove one of those LOVED them. About the same capacity as a chevette right?
[Nick: the 2011 Fiestas look a tad smaller, not sure. They're certainly cute if you like small cars and get 40 mph on hwy]
Fiesta would be a great car for a teenage boy or girl. You can't cram a bunch of friends in it and messing around in it would be a challenge for any Yoga loving person even;)
My first car was a British Austin, although I imagine I was more suited to a Typists Flyer or maybe a Secretarial Lap Racer... who knows. Seriously though, it's interesting to know how vehicles acquired their names.
Very entertaining blog.
I always loved the names they made up by adding "ado" or "ry" to them. And just what was a Monza anyway? Probably means "eat" in Portuguese or Esperanto.
I also liked the names they gave cars which many "cool" people undoubtedly tried to pronounce but failed miserably...like the Lamborghini Countach and Porsche.
And would the head of Viagra drive a Ferrari Testarosa?
Just in case anyone was wondering - my first car was a semi-automatic VW Beetle. Yes, there's such a thing.
My father had a green Bruick Skylark. When I turned 18 and started working, I was allowed to drive it--as long as I paid my half of the insurance. Those were the good ole days of accountability. But, I digress. My first car was a red Cougar. It was the best looking car ever (in my own mind). Now, I drive one Chrysler after another. I liked the fact that Lee Iacocca took over the company when it was slumping, worked for one dollar, and established credibility again. Most likely, I will drive a Chrysler forever unless a windfall comes in so I can purchase a Mini Cooper.
Great job!
Believe it or not, my first car was my dad's Model T. I think '28? I loved that car and it got a lot attention from the boys. Thanks, Dad.
As to names for cars: I loved the Nova when they tried to sell in Mexico. It "no va" there, for sure!
You should have bought a Le Car. I hear they were total chick magnets.
[Nick: I would have thought they were more like refrigerator magnets :)]
1948 Chevy 2Dr Torpedo Back
Oh god, it was awful. I should blog the whole story sometime because the embarrassment was unbelievable!
I had a Plymouth station wagon. I believe it was a Volare.
The thing was so decrepit by the time I drove it, it would honk spontaneously when the temperature dipped below 40 degrees.
I kid you not.
I seem to go with numbers myself. RX-7, then 914, 911, 944(see a Porsche theme here before "settling" down to the Electra T Type, Cherokee, Jetta.
Ford.
Only Ford.
You can't be buying gubment motors!
Renault's "Le Car" wins the award for Least Amount of Creativity in Naming a Car.
Fun blog!
The first car I ever drove was my mom's Volvo 740. One would think it's a funeral car.
I believe driving this around my town during my high school years and into my 1st year of college delayed the onset of puberty. Enter 2001: my first car that I ever owned outright was the 2002 Dodge Dakota Quad Cab.
The marriage lasted until the fuel tank injector gave out at 37,000 miles in the odometer, and the paint started peeling off the surface. Not to mention that the ball joints connecting to the front wheels were defective that required massive recalls across the country after government had to twist Chrysler's arms into doing so.
I thought that buying this truck alone would help me get girls but nope -- never happened.
I paid $50.00 for this car (1960 Chevrolet El Camino) in 1972. It was my first one and it was a WRECK because it had been used to haul diesel fuel on wheat harvest. It was white and I called it "Ellie".
This puppy is the first powered vehicles I ever drove. I was 15 years old and had never driven a car and a farmer put me in the driver's seat of this bad boy for $1.25 an hour. I made about $600.00that year - 1968. It's a John Deere combine and it had swamp cooler on top of the cab like like this one.
My first car was a Ford -- I don't remember the model. It was a second- (or third-) hand clunker that got me back and forth to college. After getting my first job I got a Camero -- I really liked that car.
Thanks for visiting my site.
now I have envy. Mine was a 1949 four-door, not the torpedo style. But it did have the sun visor. $100, which sounded like a bargain... then my dad decided I should rebuild the engine. Arg.
First one I had access to was a '62Chevy Pickup. The first one I bought was a '74 Cadillac Sedan DeVille named "Cassy".
Observer: I had a slew of those oldies. After the chevy a 49 Ford Coupe, 50 Pontiac coupe with a Flathead Straight 8, 53 ford coupe, 56 Merc 4dr HT, 57 Pontiac 2DR V8 a real runner, 58 Ford 2DR a real dog, 59 Olds 98 convert. another strong runner, my first new car a 62 Chevy Impala SS with 300HP 327 and 4 on the floor, a real hotrod. Cost $2600 and gas was about 23 cents a Gal. With the exception of the last two I never kept them more than a few months.
My first car which was mine alone was a Nissan Sentra, I traded it for a Nissan Altima, and traded the Altima for a Nissan Maxima. I've stuck with Nissans.
A blue 1967 Pontiac Firebird, cool looking car but I towed it almost as much as I drove it. You can tell I'm a woman since I specified the color. Very important when describing a vehicle. Many years later and I still love cars.
more reliable than a Yugo?
I'm still driving my 1999 Honda Civic coupe, which was the first car I purchased with my own money. I will probably keep driving it until it croaks or I have kids (coupes and kids are bad for the back). This reminds me I need to wash it...
Great post! My first car was a Ford Mustang.
Hilarious! The cars by professions bit is brilliant!
So yeah, I was all kinds of cool. I had a mustang. Brand spanking new. White leather seats. Raspberry colored paint.
Sorry to hear about your painful past, man.
My first car . . . 1972 Ford Galaxie 500 with a vinyl roof. Man, you could put a TON of stuff in the trunk of that car! It was also used to transport two fullsize mattresses that were tied down with rope to the hood of the car from San Bruno to inner city SF.
I bought the car from my great grandmother (seriously) when I was in high school for $1500. It was my first bank loan which my father co-signed for me, but I made the payments. I used that car to transfer all my belongings from Illinois after I graduated from college to the Bay Area, and still had it when we moved to Bakersfield in 1985.
The funniest experience I ever had with it: I'm not real good at taking care of cars. When I was a 20-something, it especially wasn't high on my list of things to do, so I never conditioned the vinyl roof. Eventually it started cracking and peeling. One day while tooling down the 101 in the Bay area, I hear this tremendous WHOOSH and POP! Next thing I saw was my vinyl roof flapping like a flag against my back window and trunk!!!
Rhonda The Honda (1974 Honda Civic). I was rich in 1974, making about $350.00 a month in the Air Force. This was my first brand new car. Drove it until 1982.
First one was '56 Ford, drove the wheels off it. 2nd was a '64 Toyota Publica, toured around Okinawa out of Kadena.
I reached for the stars! A bright orange Vega!
Great posting about cars... I will always think about them differently after this!!
Ann
My first car was a Corvair, handed down from my sister. I wrecked it. Not entirely my fault I found out many years later. My second car was an MGB. I loved that car but man was it high maintenance. My third car was a Lincoln Mercury Capri. I loved this one too, drove it for many years and was sad to see it finally hauled off for scrap. three collisions but I was only driving for one of them. the second one I learned to never loan my car to a drunk person (in my defense, I was drunk when I did it). We always got it repaired but the third time it got bashed in a parking lot and that was that. too much collateral damage. But the car I drove the longest was a 1984 Volvo sedan. I drove it for almost 25 years. to the moon and then some.
And thanks for visiting my blog.
'61 VW bug! No gas gauge - you flipped a lever when you ran out of gas, and you had 1 gallon. Really.
My brother taught me to drive a stick shift on his '55 Ford.
Here's a song in tribute to your first car:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNZlDEVoKg
1969 (?) Fastback Mustang,white.
1955 Ford custom, 2dr post, 272 cid engine, Fordomatic 3 spd automatic trans, robins egg blue with blue/black interior. She was a good tough old car, took a lot of abuse and kept on going. That was in 1963.
First motorcycle around the same time, just when Asian bikes were starting to come into the country. Yamaguchi SPB scrambler, with 50 cc enging and 4 spd trans, red/white and chrome. Good bike, it took a beating as well and kept on going.
My first car was a 1963 Ford Galaxy decades old after my great uncle decided not to drive anymore.
Four people in the front seat without seatbelts and my sister's pink plastic boombox for a car stereo... SIGH...
1955 Ford custom, 2dr post, 272 cid engine, Fordomatic 3 spd automatic trans, robins egg blue with blue/black interior. She was a good tough old car, took a lot of abuse and kept on going. That was in 1963.
First motorcycle around the same time, just when Asian bikes were starting to come into the country. Yamaguchi SPB scrambler, with 50 cc enging and 4 spd trans, red/white and chrome. Good bike, it took a beating as well and kept on going.
Mine was a '78 VW Rabbit, though it was neither fast nor adept at sex; a real scam.
Along these same lines, are the habit of car makers to include additional designation to the model name indicative of the engine displacement - but with possible other interpretations. A while back I noticed a Hyundai Genesis 4.6. i can only guess what their quality engineers and possibly some disgruntled customers might think when they reference their favorite translation of the Old Testament and find Genesis 4.6 to read something like:
"Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?"
My 1st of many cars was a 1949 Chevy I bought from a friend of my mothers in 1962 for $50 :-)
My first car was a baby blue VW bug and I luuuvvvved it! I was so sad when it was sold! I don't now that I have had a car that I loved as much even though I have had nicer cars since then with much better sound systems (lol!-- I'm not much of a car person)
Is that real John Deere, John Deere or Home Depot John Deere??? This opine reminds me of the book titled, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' for some reason. My fist car in the 1960's was a 1963 Pontiac Bonneville that had belonged to my grand-father with all the extra's and it was sure the ride in my small town. I managed to drive-up some wire behind my high school that was in the shade and it rolled and was totalled. Oh yea, and before that was my Honda step-through 90 with 10 different speeds that some dufus broke the starter off and was not worth fixing. Hey, I drove a Chevette back-and-forth from home to the police academy for months and thoroughly loved every minute of it - yea, right.
Mine was a Bug. :) @ the person with the Nova, did you know they had to change the name for sale in Spanish speaking countries? No va = won't go. I also had a Toyota Corolla, we called it a CoRollOver
The CRITTER Project and Naked Without A Pen
My first car was a 1972 Chevy NOva.
I feel your pain....
Hi Nick, You became follower 300 on my blog. Send me you email address please. Thanks again for following http://inkpotsandquills.blogspot.com
I don't know who comes up with the auto names, but Chevette was a big mistake. Definitely not sexy or muscley, or with anything else good going for it!
My first car was a Volkswagon bug. It didn't have much of a name, but it sure was cute. I loved it.
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