Only name a car that has a personality. My 1971 carolina blue VW Super Beetle was named Blue. (original). My friends Tim and Julie bought an old Gremlin from Fred - it was all beat up and different colors where pieces had been replaced. It’s name was ‘Fred’s car’. They never claimed it.
My buick is finally getting old enough to have a personality so she may be named soon. Too bad we can’t wait until our kids have personalities to name them!
I’ve been a car owner for 35 years now & this is the first car I’ve named. I’ve tried naming other cars but nothing seemed to fit. My new '08 metallic tangerine Honda Element’s name is BOB (big orange box). Now THAT fits! (besides, it looks like a Bob)
Of course I name my cars - I have had Ruby Red, Diamond Lil and now I am driving Raphael. My daughter names her cars, too. Her first one was Babycakes and now she has Black Beauty. Glad to hear other people do that, too. Now, you guys might like to start naming your cars, too.
You didn’t mention last names of cars. My friend Micki named her car “Althea”. It’s last name was “Later”. This was over 30 years ago, so this is not a new phenonemon.
You’re quite right, sorry about that. The name bestowed upon my little sister at birth was Jacqueline Kathleen Slanders. --Dan
It all depends on how much you care about the car or how significant its been in your life.
The only car I’ve ever named is “Horsy”, my restored 67 Mustang convertible. That’s because I’ve put so much love and sweat into it. In return, it has showed its appreciation for being saved from becoming rust dust. Its so proud someone snatched it from death’s door and restored it to re-emerge as an automotive icon.
Should the car be male or female? It all depends on how you view it. In my case, a muscle car is too assertive to be a female, even if mine can go topless.
Do cars with names get better care? Yes, if the name is lovingly applied because it becomes a member of the family, like a pet. Definitely not if its name is “You f**&> Pi*&^ of S@@*.”
I have never named my car, but a good reason for doing so is for efficiency when discussing your car or travel plans with others. For example, instead of say “You take the Ford Explorer this morning and I’ll take the Honda Civic” you could simply say “You take Casper and I’ll take Julia.” Much shorter. I use Casper in this example because my sister and her husband have a white Ford Explorer named that.
I am a 30 year old male. And I have a sister who has named all the family vehicles. When I bought my first vehicle (2000 4Runner) I asked her to name it for me. As I like to go off roading and usually have mud on the truck, she named it Dirty Doris.
Doris gets every service on time, every part replaced when needed, undercoating every year, has never let me down. She is at 150,000 Km and I look forward to another 500,000 Km.
An object doesn’t have to have a “soul” to have a name. After all, cavemen named their kids “Og” and “Ug” just to tell them apart, didn’t they? So we do with our cars (and I DO treat it better when I name it.) Ok, then. My first car was Henry, the '74 Pinto. He actually named himself: “HENRY” was stamped under the carpet in the hatchback area. Alas, Henry was a dog, so George, my 77 Accord, was born. I still have George. Next was Gus, the 71 Scout. Gus is still with us. Then we got Gracie, another 77 Accord. We sold Gracie and bought Gilbert, the 94 Toyota pickup. What would we do without Gilbert? Somewhere in there came Fred the 57 BMW Isetta. Love my Fred. And of course don’t forget Gomer, the 77 Dodge pickup. Our latest is Kermit, the 02 Outback wagon. He’s green. Yep, ya gotta name your cars. They’re family, after all.
I’ve owned 40-odd cars over the last 40-odd years, and I haven’t felt the need to name any of them. I did, however, come close once with a ten-year-old semi-gloss dark grey 1980 Toronado. My wife commented that it looked like a shark, and for the two years we owned it the Olds was called The Shark.
But to apply a proper noun type of name to an inanimate object strikes me as being way too touchy-feely.
I drove a 6-cylinder '68 Nova for 26 years, which earned the nickname “Old Faithful.” I also custom painted the car a unique two-tone “maroon” & “gold” - the school colors of my kid’s Oakton High School. My kids were conspicuous no matter where they drove around town and their friends called the car “The Oaktron.” A few years ago I bought a small sailboat named “Top Dog” and was told that it was necessary to run the boat aground before I could change the boat’s name. She remains “Top Dog.” Does this “running aground” practice perhaps apply to the changing of car names?
Ever since I was a teen, I’ve named most vehicles I and my parents have had. It seems to me that trucks are boys and cars are girls. Here’s the list of our cars and their names:
1973-'80 something Chevy Pickup - Frank (short for Frankentruck)
1976 Chevy Blazer - Bubba
1981 Chevy Chevette - Bessie
1986 Dodge Ram Pickup - Bruno
1994 Dodge Dakota - Truckie
1998 Buick LeSabre - BABs (Big-Ass Buick)
2003 Toyota Corolla R - Zippy
2006 Hyundai Tucson - Baby
Now, knowing that I have a penchant for naming my vehicles, I have to say that it doesn’t make me any more likely to keep my car clean. I do take care to make sure they get their regular servicing and get their fluids changed regularly. I also take the time to make sure there isn’t trash laying everywhere. Unfortunately, I’m too cheap to pay to get them detailed often and I’m too lazy to do it myself most of the time. Really, the only time I do a thorough cleaning is when something has spilled on the seats or carpet or there’s bird poop on it.
Yes. I have named every car I’ve owned. My current vehicle, a Jeep Wrangler, is named Baby. I even have the guys at work referring to her as “Baby”. Sometimes my names are not affectionate. I once had a 1985 Grand Prix that I named “the Big Brown Rolling Turd”.
I’ve always named my cars (not sure why), some male & some female. The most original was for my 1976 Toyota Corolla which I purchased in Dallas in 1979. Inspired by the news at the time, my friend & I named it the “Ayatollah Corolla”. I kept that car until 1986. It moved with me to San Francisco, Ann Arbor (MI), and finally New York City. From coast to coast, there are people who remember the Ayatollah.
I don’t know if one should name their vehicle or not but I once had a white van that I named “Vanof White”.
It’s the only vehicle I ever named and the only vehicle that blew a head gasket.
MiKe
New Hope, TX
I have never really named my cars in the past. But I currently have two 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis. The first one, I didn’t name. But when I bought the second one, I started calling them The Twins, at which point I decided they needed names. So, the green one, the one with all the leather, digital dash, and air ride shocks, is the female, Ivy, and the red one, the more “basic” one that I use for everyday fire response, is the male, Rogue (a play on rouge, for red). Personally, I don’t know that I take better care because the car has a name, I think it has a name because I really care about the car . . . check the attached pictures to see them . . .
I have a 1968 Mustang named WOG. His license plate has WOG on it so that’s what his name has always been. I’ve had him since I was 18 and now I’m 45. I may not have named him at 45, but I was 18 at the time and it’s stuck. I don’t know why he’s male but he is.
I’ve had cars since and have never named them. I don’t think you have to name your car but some cars just have the right personality for a name. WOG is kind of like a family pet who hasn’t died. My kids love riding in him and they give him hugs sometimes. He’s just a great car.
-Anna in San Diego
Have always called my cars something. Now I have a 92 Metro Geo, stick shift and call it 'The blue bonnet' because it is blue. dah !!!!!! Once had a Beetle and called it "The Gutless Wonder" I don't know why, just did :~)
Love your Sat. radio shows.
thanks;
Jean H.
Have always called my cars something. Now I have a 92 Metro Geo, stick shift and call it 'The blue bonnet' because it is blue. dah !!!!!! Once had a Beetle and called it "The Gutless Wonder" I don't know why, just did :~)
Love your Sat. radio shows.
thanks;
Jean H.
I never thought too much about naming a car because up until I bought a Pontiac Vibe in 2002, I’d had unreliable heaps. When I bought the Vibe, I asked the salesman the “type” of vehicle it was (SUV - which didn’t seem likely, car - which didn’t make a whole lot of sense either, or something else). No one at the Pontiac dealership knew what to call it but through a public forum of sorts, my salesman decided to call it a hybrid. It ultimately didn’t matter to me - I was just curious.
When I pulled out of the dealership - my heart racing with excitement because I no longer owned a heap of junk, the song “Lola” from The Kinks came on the radio. As I sang the song, I began to think about my “questionable vehicle type” car which somehow seemed to coinside with the “questionable” female the guy in the song sang about.
I named my car Lola and have never regretted it. He/She worked beautifully for me for 5 years 