“Mine’s called Fifi” Those were the exact words a former coworker of mine used to describe her car on one of those weird occasions in which coworkers decide to amuse you by letting you talk about your hobby, even if they are not particularly knowledgeable or interested in it. That was odd; even as a car fan, I never did actually name any of the cars in the family.
Oh, I do get attached to my cars–far too attached for my own good, I think. If they get scratched, I get colossally angry; when they run properly, it’s a source of joy. Getting into them after a long day of work feels exactly the same as meeting an old friend you see every day yet you’re always aware of how lucky you are to have such a reliable companion around you. When you complete a long trip in them, it feels as an accomplishment rather than something they were designed to do; when they break down, you hope it’s not expensive enough that it’ll prove fatal. But a name? Not really.
The Tercel already came with that name from the factory, a soulless one considering they made a couple million cars with the same moniker, but Tercel is still its name. If for some reason I don’t refer to a car by its name I’d just refer to it by something that’s obvious about it (red, brown, beater) or by a diminutive of its brand (Mitsu, ‘yota, Merc). Putting a name to your car can only increase your bond with it, but I’ve just never seen the point of it.
That’s not to say that it’s wrong to do it, my coworker had certainly created a bond with Fifi, her red Honda Fit (In hindsight, I should’ve really seen what car it was by the name). She wasn’t the least bit interested on driving dynamics, or how the CVT in her car was depriving her of even the audible enjoyment of driving and replacing it with an incessant drone. As far as she was concerned it was cute and it got her where she wanted to while using little fuel. Considering the way she talked about Fifi, it was nothing less than pure car love, just not the kind of car love we’re used to. What about you? Is your car a J30, a ‘brown box’ or a ‘Barry’? Do you know someone that names them?
My parents named their cars. The 1958 Volvo was Erik the Red; the 1967 Saab 95 wagon was Sonja the Saab; the 1972 Vega wagon was Vera; the 1977 Impala wagon was Irma. Mom like alliteration apparently.
My ’74 Cortina WAS nicknamed Teenie – then I had an elderly lady named Teenie in my first parish! Didn’t seem right after that.
My ’87 Ford Laser got named Lucy.
‘My ’84 Suzuki Swift was Suzy, though her current owner calls her Peanut (small, goldy brown).
My current ride, a blue ’05 Mazda 3, is nameless.
My beige 2000 Civic LX sedan is appropriately named Delores, a very modest sounding name for a modest senior citizen of the road.
My ’93 Infiniti G20 was named Isabella by someone else. I had not previously named any of my cars. After that, I decided to give names to my cars that were correct nationality-wise. My ’00 Jetta was Rolf, and my ’07 Saab is Elsie.
I have to admit I’ve never understood the car-naming thing! While growing up all the cars in the family (with one exception) were always known as “The…”, followed by make or model, and distinguished by colour if more than one had been owned over the years. For example: The Dodge, The Plymouth, The Blue Volvo, The Sweet Cream Cortina, The Laurel, The Skyline… The sole exception was the MkII Ford Consul that my parents owned when they got married, and which was named “Connie”.
Instead of naming cars, I do, however, name GPS and talking-dashboard voices. My GPS voice is named Esmerelda; the Japanese lady in my partner’s Toyota Caldina stereo who regularly yells at us in Japanese that the ETC (toll collector) card is missing is named Hirokoshima. Formerly she was known as “I KNOW!!!!!”, but naming her personalised her utterances somewhat.
I do, however, name GPS and talking-dashboard voices. My GPS voice is named Esmerelda;
I named the GPS in Fritz, “Gruppenführer Helga” due to her abrupt way of speaking and her inflexible “you vill go zis vey, und you vill like it!” attitude.
Ha! We call our regular GPS voice Julie, and the husky voice that occasionally cuts in Gina, pronounced with a long ‘i’ like the lesbian character in The 40 Year Old Virgin.
I live in Japan and the two cars we’ve had had the ETC and navi readers talk to us. In our Impreza she was Shizuko because she spoke very softly, when she spoke at all, and in our Premacy (current car) she’s Matsuko because it’s a Mazda (Matsuda in katakana) and we really weren’t feeling all that creative about it. I hope that when we move back to the States our cars continue talking to us, though.
I’m still searching for a name for my 1965 Thunderbird Landau. Ideas for me? She’s Navajo Beige with Palomino interior and Brown vinyl top.
Thunderbirds of that era are feminine. With that level of glitz, and those colors, there is only one choice: Dale
Good suggestion. I see the connection. Dale will be considered.
“Buttercup” – Dale’s horse.
Happy trails to you!
name the ‘bird after this one:
After thirteen months car less and having to rely on my feet or pubic transport, the 2nd hand mercedes I purchased nearly seven years ago was instantly christened ‘Mercy’……as in mercy, mercy, save me from public transport.
A friend bought a Mitsubuishi 3000 GT which he renamed ‘Itchypussy’.
I haven’t named all of my cars, but my current ones have names. The 2004 Pontiac Aztek is known as the Silver Buffalo, because the shape reminds me of a buffalo. The 2009 Pontiac G6 is called Heather, named after a friend of mine who is just delightful.
“Silver Buffalo” is a great nickname for a silver Aztec!
The ‘Way Back Machine’……
I have never been much for naming cars myself, but my wife christened my 71 Alfa Spider “Lola” … “As in, “what Lola wants, Lola gets”. I think it’s a jealousy thing but I do have to admit that I have spent far more money on the car in the last year than on Mrs. Lokki.
I do admit to nicknaming her current car though. She has a 1998 328i that we bought new for her, and which currently has 66,000 miles on it and counting but counting slowly. Since it’s spent its life in covered parking and carrying only 110 pounds of neat Japanese girl, it’s in shockingly clean condition. I call it “ The Immaculata. I’m on my fifth car since my wife got her, but my wife refuses to give her up. Anyhow it seems kind of pointless to buy a new car for what is probably only two or three thousand miles a year nowadays.
Finally there was a buddy’s car in High School that we named: it was a beat-up primer-gray 66 Dodge Dart into which he had stuffed a 340/ 4-Speed. it was fast and ratty; very ratty. Missing some of the chrome letters on the trunk lid, it didn’t spell out D O D G E anymore… Just DOG. Thus was christened “The Super Dog”.
Too bad it wasn’t D O G E.
Well OK, I’ll bite… My current stable of old Mopars goes like this. The 89 Chrysler TC is named ‘old Red’, not very glamorous but to the point, she is red and has over 275 thousand miles on the clock, the most of any of them. Then there is the 85 Laser which is named ‘Traveler’ as it was my commuter car up until I retired, 313 miles each way to work. There is the 1985 Plymouth Voyager which has the Star Trek name of ‘V ger’, the former commuter car, both over 200 thousand miles on the clocks. A former car, the ’81 Dodge Aries was named ‘Killer’. As it turned out, Killer ended up on the chopping block and gave all it’s good engine parts, less the engine block, to build ‘Traveler’ who is an inter-cooled 2.5L Turbo. My wife’s current car and the absolute newest one in the garage, at 155 thousand miles, is ‘Annie’ so named because I gave that ’94 Dodge Shadow ES to her as an Anniversary present. Her previous car, an ’84 Omni was named ‘Chris’, for Christmas. All but Chris and Killer are regular drivers and fully up to any trip of any length, any time.
My other cars have never gotten nicknames, but the ’77 Electra 225 is, as its profile on this site indicates, “The Green Goddess”. Even though the insides are chewed up a bit, it’s by far the most popular of the 4 big old cars I’ve owned. Old and young, women and men. Some people call it just “The Goddess” or smile and say “how is she?”. Of course, other people call it the Deuce, but in this case I like the “Green Goddess” nickname.
I’ve never had a nickname for my other cars.
Never named any of my cars or the thirteen motorcycles I had owned. I just refer to them by their given names; the Z, the Honda, the Riv, the Sportster. Usually I just referred to them as “my bike”or “my car”. I didn’t have more than one car or bike until after I was married and I needed to differentiate my vehicle from my wife’s or kid’s.
My Subaru R2 is named “Artoo”….not a massive Star Wars fan, but how could I not?
Nothing too creative name wise with my vehicles
Our Kia we do call by its given name “Rondo” because Rondo is fun to say.
Both our Corolla ,and Taurus are usually called that,though sometimes we say “the Toyota”.
Both my 60 and 67 Imperials are unique and obviously quite different than our daily drivers ,
You would think I, or someone in my family would have come up with an endearing name for either Imperial.
But both are referred to has either “the 67” or “the 60”.
Though if I were to try and name one of the imperials,I think my 67 would do well with the name “Bert”
As in Reynolds or Bacharach.
I have never named my cars, but some of the junkers I owned at one time or another certainly heard me call them very unflattering terms every time something went wrong!
Wifey and I sometimes refer to my Impala as “Imp” for short, but that’s it.
An old friend many years ago had a Chevy window van in college – a 1964 I think – he called it “Arthur”. As far as I know that was the only vehicle he named. I wouldn’t be surprised if that van had a certain permanent “odor” from a certain type of cigarette, but I never got to see the vehicle in person – I was in the service.
I ordered a ’95 short bed Ranger new. When my wife saw it she said “that thing sure is stubby”. Therefore, it was known as Stubby. When it gave particularly good service it was known as Stubby the Wonder Truck. My ’03 Mustang was The Horse. Since I have 2 Mustangs now, the ’66 is known as Red due to it’s color and the ’09 is Blackie. My ’79 Malibu is Boo.
Contrary to what you might think, I usually don’t name my vehicles.
I’ve been the proud owner of Inga and Ella. Both Saab 9-3’s. Ella is a 2006 in the 2.8 V6T Aero spec and she is the apple of my eye. My girlfriend seems to respect this attachment as she got Ella a Valentine’s Day card with a car wash certificate in it. I think I found a keeper.
Even worse than giving your car a name is putting those retarded stickers on your car´s rear saying “Baby (Melissa, Kevin, Justin, Sue-Ellen) on board”
What’s even worse are the little stickers of one’s family – sometimes including mouse ears!
This is my personal favorite…
My parents 72 Pontiac Stationwagon was called “the Barge” for obvious reasons. My 66 Dart was called “the old whore” as it was fun to drive, had a comfortable feel, and I got a lot of bangs for the buck. My mom had a 61 Valient that she not only named but labeled the “Ugly”, again for obvious reasons.
Back in the early 90’s my wife and I bought, and tried to restore, a 1968 Olds Delmont 88 convertible. We named her Cinderella.
My cars have all had names. The 81 civic was Buster. When Buster died (it was hit and run into the bushes in front of my house), the replacement 88 civic was named Baby Jesus in the hopes that would bring no harm for the car–it lasted 350K miles (for my sister–the next owner). There was an 81 beige volvo 242 named Pork Chop. Next came a gray 91 civic wagon named Babar, followed 17 years later by a 2012 honda fit named Celeste.
This slow, non-turbo, sunbaked Saab 9000 was affectionately dubbed “The Brick”.
I don’t recall ever naming any of my cars. Not that I haven’t thought about it; I’ve just never come up with a name I thought was good enough to say out loud and let other people hear.
I’ve considered calling my current Camaro “Cynthia” or “Cindy”, after a dearly departed girlfriend who died of lung cancer a few years back. But if/when some new female in my life asks why I call my car “Cindy,” I’m not in a hurry to explain to her it was the name of some other woman. Might turn them against my car. So until I find some way out of this impasse, my ‘Maro* shall remain nameless.
Although the ’84 Toyota Cressida I once bought from a friend’s parents did arrive with their pre-exiting moniker “Betsy”, a tradition which I continued to honor… at least when talking to them 🙂
* Jes’ joshin’. I hate that stupid diminutive, it’s as bad as ‘Stang for Mustang. Or ‘Tallica for Metallica. Or ‘Zza for pizza. Anyone too lazy to pronounce only TWO syllables doesn’t deserve pizza.
We have a Scion xB at work that I call the xBox. My coworkers usually think I’m referring to an actual xBox.
Been naming my cars and motorcycles for 34 years now. Very sad. My 65 Corvair Monza was Monty (past owners kids gave her that one and mine liked it), My dear departed 71 Chevelle SS, – Missouri. My 74 Norton Commando is Victoria (after the Queen) and the 67 Aermacchi Sprint is Sophia.
I named my first car Layla. She was a 1972 Olds Ninety Eight LS. Came with a glove compartment full of 8 track tapes that I ended up keeping longer than the car! The only reason I sold her, was because I found a 1976 Custom Cruiser that had the extra space of a wagon that was very useful both on long trips, and for hauling things. . . that car’s whale like proportions persuaded me to refer to her as Lolita, after an orca whale in the resident L-Pod of Puget Sound.
(. . .Correction: Lolita the whale was captured from the Sound in 1970 and has since lived at the Miami aquarium.) Here is a pic of Lolita the Oldsmobile:
The Titan is “The Truck”. The Jetta is “The Jetta”. When the VW is being repaired and a wrench slips, something gets dropped and hides in a crevice, or a part refuses to come off or go on, the car then gets many colorful names. When using them in my driveway the louder and more explicit names tend to make my neighbors close their windows or in the case of one rapid succession of new names, an offer to take me to their church.
We used to call my moms old 83 camaro the beast.
It was old, brown with and older 350 in it.
It was pretty quick but nothing special.
Just a beast to work on ( had to take the front tires off to get the back plugs out )
For ease of maintenance and fuel mileage. 63-1963 lemans conv.444, 263-1963 lemans conv. v8 3 spd., 64-1964 mercury Montclair, 75-1975 ventura, 275-1975 grand prix 455 LJ, 86-1986 grand prix 2+2, 286-1986 grand prix LJ, 90-1990 frx harly super glide, 92-1992 buick roadmaster, 95-1995 buick roadmaster, 95-1995 harly wide glide, 97-1997 f250hd dsl 4×4, 03-2003 harly low rider 100 year anniversary model and the list goes on.
I did refer to the navigation system’s voice as the Navigation Nanny in the SRX. Mostly for passengers who found it a bit disconcerting. Click on the picture for a larger view.
20-odd years ago a woman friend of mine had a Datsun B210, which she named Dorothea B. Datsun.
My first car a 94 Opel Vectra was called POS because either nothing worked or i had no idea how to make anything work.
My second car, a 94 Cadillac Seville STS had no name.
My current one a 97 Ford Expedition has 4 names.
1. “Der Schreibwagen” (mock) german for “the Writing car” since the cargo area is so big i can sit or lie anyway i like and write on my laptop in there. Sometimes for hours.
2. “The old War wagon”, when i have to fuel it. Since it carries a 114 liter tank and the fuel is 1.1 euros per liter. The name is from an episode of Married.. with Children where Al Bundy at one point talks about his Dodge with the words “..after i had gassed up the old War wagon..”
3. “The tank.” Mostly because its size and ground clearance compared to modern European luxury SUVs and also because while driving it i tend to ignore potholes, speedbumps and on non-paved roads even speed limits. Also small bumps and scratches to paint and bumpers.
4. “my normally proportioned car” since despite its size, the proportions are of a normal SUV. As if it was a 1st generation 4Runner at 140% of its original size. Also because at 6’4″ and 265lbs i can get into it without acrobatics and even drive it while wearing a hat!
We have named most of our farm trucks over the years. Smoky (Chev 1/2 ton needed valve seals), Pokey (underpowered Astro van), Junky (self explanatory GM 3/4 T), Noisy (Chev 1/2 T, bad muffler), Thirsty (GM 3/4 ton with 454), and Moby (3/4 ton GMC extended cab longbox, the Great White Whale.) There was another one named Wimpy which I think was the Ford 3/4 ton with the 460 that got repowered with a 302. This just sort of happens around here for some reason.