My car is a Chevy Celebrity wagon. I call it Elvis because it is white and much fancier than my faithful 1982 AMC Eagle (which I called the Eagle). As a 1990, Elvis is one of the newest cars I have owned. When I bought it in 2004, I told people about my new 2000…pause…dollar car. Elvis has left the building many times taking us far and wide. Glued near the light that would indicate overheating (which Elvis seldom has done) is a little ceramic cat named Priscilla that I bought at one of those yard sales where one feels one has to buy something (she cost a nickel). I live with a mechanic, and this is a multicar household. Naming a vehicle–especially one as common as a Chevy–makes it easier to tell which car is being discussed. The same thing works for cats and kids. By the way, I once had a Chevy pick-up painted in stunning brown primer that I called “The goosed moose” because that’s how the dependable old thing ran. Oh yeah, we have a 1989 Celebrity parts car (blown engine) that we call the Elvis Impersonator.
My dad always called his car Betsy. My first car was a little Toyota station waggon I called Tinker Toy. When I met my husband, he had a '69 Buick Riveria he called Dutchess. She was killed by a logging truck and we bought another '69 Riv we called Princess. We eventually bought another ‘69 Riv that was green we called Green Bean. After he died, I sold them all. Now I drive a Dodge diesel pickup and his name must be Ol’ Guy because when I look for him in the parking lot and see him, I think, “There’s my 'Ol Guy”.
Yes, in the U.S. we have a relationship with our cars; they’re family! I’ve always named my car–from my first purchased car, which was a one-owner '54 Chevy in 1967, I called her (like ships, they’re female)“Sloopy” (from the '60’s era song “Hang on Sloopy, Hang On”). She never had a repair,except when something wore out.
My husband and I in our early marriage, had a Pinto, and rather than Ol’Paint, we called her “New Paint”, for us. Then came “Betty” for a Ford van, then another van, called “Cliburn”; then a sweet little Toyota Corolla painted yellow, which we named “Buttercup” often shortened to “B-cup”. I had a wonderful Toyota Supra, which we bought after Hurrican Kate (we live in North Florida), which we named after the hurricane: Hurrikate. Then an Acura called “Runaround Sue” after Dion’s classic song. I read later that Brad Pitt had a car he called Runaround Sue, too. Currently, I have “Red Sonja” a red Acura CT 2001 which (who?) I named after a bad B-movie, but the movie reviewer said the movie was filled with big, beautiful bodies–thus. . . Love, cj
I’ve never names a car (nor a motorcycle) in my life. It seems foolish. It’s akin to naming each one of your tools or household appliances. My mother named her cars (women’s names), but I never told my mother that she was foolish. I had a female student who gave her cars male names (Stan and Josh). I often wondered how she knew the car was male.
Oh my god how could you ask that question. I was screaming in my kitchen while thinking of our old sharky our vw coaching it along up the hill by name up the mountain in the Gilla. Or the Tiny Bernie Chevette my husband and I crunched over in the back of and had a picnic in and later saved his life as it zagged out of the way and sacrificed its self in front of a truck. Or Zippy Zoe the first car my husband and I bought together a Prius and had to share car pooling for two years until our recent purchase of a truck…unnamed and so,foreign, not yet part of our family. Cars become family members maybe not taken care of, not all take care of family members, but in moments, hated reviled, loved, and cherished for the freedom and companionship they can provide.
We bought our Dodge Ram truck in Oklahoma; his name is Okie. License plate holder reads, “Okie, Land Tug” as he pulls Annie, our Airstream Land Yacht, when we travel Stateside 6 months out of the year. The other six months we spend on our Yacht, TEKA III,having adventures at sea, while Annie stays as mother ship at Annie’s Harbor. Airplanes are named, boats are named, why not vehicles?
You can not change the car gender at this point, now that you know the car’s name is Mark. But your car does not have to be your lover either. Therefore, the name Mark could be referred to a brother or a son Robert never had. Love Mark, because it’s family!
Another idea is that perhaps the old couple actually said Mork (from Ork) - and who could not love this wacky character that Robin Williams played so long ago.
One more and final idea: if you want to have a female car, name her Ms. or Mrs. Marc or Mark, or make it French - Madam Marche. “Madam” gives it a whole new meaning doesn’t it?
Benjamin Kant
South Orange, NJ
President of
Optimax Environmental Solutions
www.optimax1.com
My car is named Go-go Jetta Extendo-trunk (similar to other Inspector Gadget devices) because I can fit anything in her. The record so far (at one time) is a dresser, the mirror that attached to it, an old sewing machine in a table, 3 large galvanized washtubs, 7 garbage bags full of fabric scraps for quilts, 2 duffel bags, a washboard, gardening shovel, and iron skillet. I drove with all this stuff for 11 hours from Bayou la Batre, AL to my home in KY. She is still my faithful stuff hauler.
My In-laws had a car, I don’t know the make and model that they named True Love. They said that they did that beause, “True Love never runs smoothly.”
Dave Watts
Dear Tom and Ray,
I am a former professional ballet dancer and I have always named my cars after my favorite roles. My first, a Mazda, was named Mercedes, because she was squared off on the corners and looked like a Mercedes (Mercedes is a dancer in Don Quixote). My second car was a gold Tercel and she was named Titania. Then my husband surprised me with a black toyota Celica who was named Odile, the evil Black Swan of Swan Lake. Since then all of my cars, a Toyota Celica convertible, a BMW, a Volvo C70 (what a great car), an Imprezza and my current Odie, a Prius, which I adore have been named Odile 2,3,4,5 & 6. (My husband likes to buy cars.) I also name my husband’s cars.
I don’t think there is any question about whether or not you should name your car, she becomes part of your family and behaves as such. (My husbands cars were all male.)
Barbara
Identity Matters
I once bought a yellow Volkswagen with a jet black interior ? a really nice looking and very efficient vehicle. Before even making it home after finalizing the sale, I had named her, ?Daisy?. It just felt right. She was happy and perky and, I knew, would serve me well if I took good care of her.
A thorough cleaning and new floor mats gave her the freshness that I had hoped for and I set off for work just days after acquiring my new best friend. On a whim, and hoping to please her, I purchased a silk flower, a lovely yellow daisy with a black center, to mount on the dashboard. It was beautiful! Life was grand!
That afternoon when I greeted my new friend in the parking garage I knew something was wrong. I couldn?t put my finger on the problem, but she just sounded sluggish and worn. There was less pick up and even the horn sounded muffled. I was puzzled.
The situation did not improve over the next few days. I even took her to a friend who is a mechanic. He said there was nothing showing on the diagnostics, all the fluids were clean, clear and full, and even the tire pressure was correct. On the following Saturday, I happened to meet the person from whom Daisy had been purchased at a local fast food joint before a football game. He ask how the car was doing. I reported that she looked great, but sounded and responded sluggishly and that I was concerned. ?She?? he said, ?The car?s name has always been ?Victor?, had I failed to tell you that?? He suggested that it may be an identity crises, not anything mechanical, that was the problem.
After the game I consulted my fraternity brothers. To my surprise, they agreed that I had violated the vehicle and most likely caused great confusion to the vehicle by changing its name; and gender, without any consideration of its existing identity.
That night, I made a plan. The first stop was at the auto shop where went to get new chrome rims for the headlights. While there I discovered that the sealed beams could be replaced with newer inserts that would burn brighter and without so much glare. I also picked up really sporty VW logos to place on each rear view mirror and a new blade for the hack saw.
Next morning I went to the garage to talk with Daisy, er, Victor. ?Victor, I said, there are going to be some changes around here. First, you need to know that I know you have always been a little confused. That is probably why your previous owner really did not get along with you. I KNOW you have always wanted to be known as ?Daisy?. I can feel it and I want to make this work for both of us. Today I?m going to make a few changes and I assure you that everything will be fine. I will take great care of you and we can be together for a long, long time.? Then I set to work.
Working carefully so that I did not chip the paint, I removed the old lights and replaced them with the newer, brighter set and installed the new chrome rings. The enhanced headlights were GREAT! I could already see her smile! Then I placed the VW logos on the rear view mirrors; careful to keep them balanced like a pair of tasteful ear rings. Next, a lovely ?Daisy? name sticker inside a yellow flower was added to the rear window, and finally, I put her on a lift and removed two inches from each of the tail pipes.
She had never looked better. A little air freshener on the inside (in the form a lavender sachet in the glove box) and the transformation was complete. She has never misfired, used a drop of oil, or even lost air pressure since. Identity matters.
When I bought my 2006 Volvo XC-70 I used Volvo’s Overseas Delivery program and flew to Sweden to pick up my car at the Volvo factory. I put about 3500 miles on the car before having it shipped home from Paris to Philadelphia. I drove from Sweden to Denmark to Germany to France and finally to the Gugenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain. Great trip! Anyhooooooo…I named my car Olga, thinking that was a good Swedish name. I believe that giving your car a name creates a certain personal relationship between you and the car. If I love Olga and treat her right, then Olga will love me back and not break down. (I’m getting a little teary-eyed here…). So, that’s how Olga and I got together. So far, after 27,000 miles, we’re still in love with each other.
I named my first car. It was a 1971 chevelle malibu, four-door sedan that I inherited from my grandma. Only 62k miles on it. In cold weather it would be hard to start, so I would curse it when this happened. Should the engine turn over, I’d pat the dashboard and say “Niiice Frito.”, borrowing from the Frito-Lay commercials with the “Frito Rustlers”
The fact that the chevelle was beige colored didn’t help to discourage this habit, and many of my college friends thought the name “Frito” fit the car.
Can’t say I have named any of the other vehicles I have owned - they seem to lack any form of personality, while Frito was tempermental.
I have named almost every car I have ever had. The first few times it was descriptive. For example one of my first $100 cars was a a '75 Valiant with what looked like roofing tar painted on the sides with a brush. It’s name was Breakdown. Did I mention it wasn’t running when I got it. In the winter the heat wouldn’t turn on and in the summer it wouldn’t turn off. Then I had several cars that carried the name Lunatic because of the personalized plates I had(LUNA) and the way people said I drove them. I don’t think any of them have had a gender implied, but I think I agree like ships, vehicles are inherently female. They drive you crazy and take all your money.
Love the show,
Scott Goodsell
Auburn,NY
All my cars have had names since I owned my first one. Honey was my '73 AMC Gremlin one of the best cars I had, very dependable. Baby was a '65 Chevy pickup I restored. Rosebud was '80 Chevy Citation…don’t laugh she was a very good car, 4 door sedan that taught about everyone in the family how to drive a standard and got 40 mph. Runt is our '88 3/4 ton Dodge pickup. Critter our 2000 Explorer. Even the 150cc maxi scooter has a name…Daisy. But last but not least my baby of all my babies, my '98 Ford Lariet 1/2 ton 4x4 is Angel. Angel still looks like she came off the showroom floor and has the ride most luxary cars have.
Our cars…yes, we name and actually it’s not uncommon for use to get 300,000 miles on one with very little maintenace problems other then the normal upkeep. Runt at present has over 250,000 and is still pulling our stock trailer and doing farm work.
No…
The only car I’ve ever named (and my wife actually dubbed this) was a Corvette that we bought on Valentine’s Day…therefore appropriately named “Valentine”.
My family & I didn’t so much as assign names, but nicknames. My old dusty-green Buick 225 was dubbed, “The Green Machine”. Mom’s robin-egg hued '75 Granada was called, “Li’l Blue”. The couple of exceptions to that rule were the '70 Chrysler Newport. His name was, “Walter”, for obvious reasons; same as, “Big Ed”, for the '59 Edsel Ranger. At least, these assignations were derived from physical attributes and/or historical references & not plucked out of the ether!
People walk and drive past nameless homeless people and avert their eyes lest they see humanity. They want to think that they themselves have a member of their own family, an automobile, with a special name and a special place in their hearts. They even “adopt” highways!
People can make all the cute excuses they want. They are goofy and deparately need to find real lives. Get real!
Yes, I have heard of naming a vehicle but do not do it myself. Truckers have named their trucks for many years. Women truckers use male names while men use female names.
Most current cars don’t deserve a name since current cars are definately souless. Any car that is leased never deserves a name, no exceptions. Modern cars now are simply computers with wheels. Nothing can be done by the owner, other than to drive it and are BORING. One exception is the Mini Cooper. Corvettes, all new Ferraris, Vipers and Porsches are just testosterone mobiles and only can be referred to as ?Weiner Wagons.?
In the “good old days” auto shop was a required class in high school and expected by any self-respecting father. Cars then had to be babied. Fresh oil every 3,000 miles. Points and plugs needed regular adjustment. Waxing once a month. A real man did all of this himself, since sending your “baby” to the shop was equivalent to sharing your wife.
These cars you became part of the family, you knew them intimately, in a manly way. Hence a name was required as a point of love and respect.
I have a BMW 2002, 1971 bought new in high school. It has been rebuilt from the front to back. Painted 3 times and has 250,000 miles on it.
Her name is “Hildegard or Hildie.” A stout, German frau. Her name is spoken in hushed, reverential tones. “She” comes out of the garage on a bright sunny day, when there are no clouds within 1000 mile (she rusts looking at a cloud). She is gorgeous, typical German engineering and is about as much fun to drive as one can have with one’s pants on. Hildie, is cranky at times, but is a real racer if she is in a good mood. She hates ice (like the Huns don’t know about ice) and she hates 87-octane gas like I hate cooked carrots. She is original with the exception of a Weber carb free flow exhaust and performance springs.
The children know that I love Hildie more than them, and I am hopeful that they can work it out in therapy some day.
Conclusion: Name your car if it is something that you plan to keep as long as your wife, maybe longer.