Weird car names

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nuuumannn

Major
10,203
9,549
Oct 12, 2011
Nelson
So, what is it with car manufacturers these days? Toyota Emina, Nissan Cedric, Pagani Huayra, VW Tuareg (Toerag - yes, I know its named after some indigenous tribe, but does it have to be a car name?) Bugatti Veyron (WTF is a 'Veyron' - apart from an insanely fast car?)??? Why aren't there more of the likes of Ford Mustang and Falcon, Corvette Stingray, Jensen Interceptor, Aston Martin Vanquish, Rolls Royce Phantom? Even designations are better than the current crop of monickers emerging; BMW M Series, Mercedes S Class, Nissan GTR, Jaguar XF, etc. Thoughts? Feel free to add silly car names to the list.
 
I like your list Grant but one thing that always got me thinking is why do so many cars end with the letter "A": Supra, Tundra, Vega, Nova, Jetta, Impala, Impreza, Chevrolet, etc
 
My Sweetheart has a car made by Hyundai that has, perhaps, the simplest vehicle name I have heard in a long while: Coupe

It's a Hyundai Coupe.

Not sure if that was a marketing ploy or they have simply run out of names...
 
One of the worst names was the Ford Probe. Uhhh, Ford, you aren't probing anything on me. Besides the stupid name for a terrible car, that was supposed to be the new Mustang body! Yuck!
 
Don't forget the Saturn car company, and they had a vehicle model named Sky.

And the Comet was made by Mercury.

Also, I recall that Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades - that's why their logo has the constellation of six stars in their badge.
 
Capt. Vick said:
There was an old American car called the Satellite. No doubt named to cash in on Space Race Fever, but I always thought it was a silly name for a car.
Click to expand...

Particularly odd since none of their (Plymouth) other cars, at that time or since, have taken a space based theme. But that was not the only Plymouth with an odd name, how about the Sundance, or the Neon. Since the Sundance was not available as a convertible until three years into its run, that name is hard to resolve. And how, in any way, does Neon relate to a car or a cars function?

Car names that denote speed, or grace, or comfort, or economy, or animals, those are easy to see the geneses of, but some names are just out there.

T!
 
Token said:
Particularly odd since none of their (Plymouth) other cars, at that time or since, have taken a space based theme.
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The name was most likely due to the space age - look at how post WWII influenced Chryslers (and most other automaker designs), making the transition from the Art Deco of the 30's, to the streamlined aero look of the late 40's/early 50's and then into the space age with vents, gun ports and futuristic lines of the late 50's (and early 60's in Chrysler's case).

As far as other space-ish themed Chrysler products, they had the Cirrus and Stratus, too.

The "named" trend for automobiles is relatively new, though...the vast majority of automobile models were numbered and some still are today (like Mercedes, BMW, etc.)
 
new names for a new age ( group ) I guess. maybe the brainiacs at the think tanks figured these names would stir this young generation like those names did ours.....that said...I now worry even more for the future of the world...lol
 
GrauGeist said:
As far as other space-ish themed Chrysler products, they had the Cirrus and Stratus, too.
Click to expand...


Those are clouds, I never really thought of those names as being space related.


GrauGeist said:
The "named" trend for automobiles is relatively new, though...the vast majority of automobile models were numbered and some still are today (like Mercedes, BMW, etc.)
Click to expand...


Hmmm…could naming be more of an American driven thing?


The early Fords and Chevies were lettered, the Ford T, A, and B for example, as where the early Chevies, "Series" C, D, F, H, etc. But starting in the mid-late 30's you see more American vehicles with names, vs numbers. To be sure, letters and numbers were still to be found, "K-5" for example, but now often partnered with a name, in the case of the K-5 it was also called the Blazer. In the early 30's Ford shifted from letter to a number based model system, maybe to differentiate themselves from Chevy of the day?


Post WW II you find fewer American vehicles with numbers or number/letter combos, outside of trucks. In fact names seem to have been the way it went, with a few numbers thrown in just to keep you guessing.


I collect and restore Triumph cars, and that is a very mixed lot of names. The early car were numbered, mostly based on the horsepower of the motor, but by the 1930's names were most often applied, Gloria Southern Cross, Dolomite, etc. Post WW II the sports cars got numbers or number / letter combos (2000 Roadster, TR-3, TR-4, etc) and the other cars got names (Mayflower, Herald, Vitesse, Aclaim, etc). But in the later years of the company they started to name even the sports cars, Stag, Spitfire, Lynx. The Spitfire was an interesting case, it was developed during the time when Triumph was calling their sports cars "TR" based designations, TR-3, TR-4, etc. But it was smaller, and developed from a non-sports car platform, the Herald, so it got "named" while its larger brothers got numbered.


T!
 
Old Wizard said:
Chevy 150 and 210?
Click to expand...


Both of those were special cases. The models they replaced were named cars, not numbered cars, and the models that replaced them were also named cars, not numbered cars. It was like Chevy decided to number them for a few years only (1953 to 1957), found it did not work that great, and abandon the idea.


I think these numbers derived from the series number of the car, the 150 from the 1500 series and the 210 from the 2100 series. And if I am not mistaken these were mostly trim levels, you could buy the 150, the 210, or the Bel Air, all the same basic car at different price points and trim/accessory levels.


T!
 
I remember a buddy of mine was proudly showing his Hispanic friends the newly re-introduced (in the 1980's I believe) Chevy Nova with pride, only to be laughed at. Evidently he had forgotten "No va" means "no go" in Spanish.
 
Chevy used the 150 and 210 by removing a zero from the factory model number. The 1500 was a base model, the 210 and 210 Deluxe was the midrange and the Belaire was the fully loaded model 2100 (hence the 210).

As far as numbered vehicles go, there was Packard, which did have lettered models early on (1899 - 1906), however, they transitioned to numbers in 1907:
Model 18, Model 24, Model 30, Packard 110, Packard 115, Packard 120, Packard 160, Packard 200, Packard 300, Packard 400, Packard 905, Packard Six, Packard Twin Six, Packard Eight, Packard Twelve.
By the 1950's, they started using names like Carribean, Mayfair, Hawk, etc.

Auburn had the Model 654, 851, 8 Eighty Eight and so on.
Hudson used numbers, like Eight, 112, etc.
LaSalle: Series 50, Model 303, Model 340, etc.
Nash: Model 42, 400, Six Series 422, Special Six Series 430 and so on.

The list is incredibly long, but the point is, a great many American automobiles before WWII primarily had a numbering system (based on the model number or the engine displacement, Cyls, etc.) with occasional names or a name added to the model number like the Buick Series 26 Business Coupe or the Ford Custom 300 and so on.
 
Neat look at some old American car stuff, guys; very interesting. I heard a funny anecdote from an Australia car magazine regarding the Nissan Cedric, perhaps one of the least inspiring car names ever. The car mag reporter got an interview with the head of Nissan in Australia and spoke about the name 'Cedric', asking whether he thought it was a little 'gay', as he put it. The head of Nissan Australia replied with something along the lines of, "well, there are a lot of gays in Australia, so it should sell well!"
 
I had a '74 Javelin with a 304 & auto-trans...for it's size, it was a super nimble machine, quick and decent mileage. But not immune to big bucks at highway speeds...my Javelin (and the buck) did not survive that encounter.

One of the things alot of folks forget, is that AMC provided several beasts to the streets during the muscle-car wars in the late 60's, too...a good example: the AMX with the 401 & 4-speed was nearly impossible to beat at the strip.
 

Yeah, that is what I was getting at, in the US pre WW II, up until about the mid to late 30's, numbers and number/letter combinations were more prevalent. Post WW II names were more common, and by the 50's numbers were the rare exception. On the surface this appears to me to be a US trend, that spread to other nations.

T!
 
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