(lithe as it was, coming off the bike, the Flying Frog handled like a TRUCK. so it was natural that only a BARGE reflected the next step up in ponderousness.)
(lithe as it was, coming off the bike, the Flying Frog handled like a TRUCK. so it was natural that only a BARGE reflected the next step up in ponderousness.)
some years ago, my sister-in-law inherited an early '90s buick lesabre from her mom. it still had her personalized plate, ROWENA.
her kids dubbed it the MV Rowena. (it was more cruise ship-like than the old Blue Barge. but just as ponderous.)
My license plate ends with the letters THD, so I naturally named my car THUD.
âgentlemenâ,
I have owned 10 cars thus far in my life. Several of those vehicles had no âpersonalityâ and therefor did not merit a name. The others did based on gender and characteristics.
My 93 Miata, black with saddle tan, was definitely male and was named Max. When I traded Max in on a white 99 Miata, I had a difficult time relating to the car, until a friend drove it and noted that this Miata was clearly female and had been miffed at improper male references. Mia and I bonded after I acknowledged her true self.
I now have an 03 Mitsubishi Spyder Eclipse, which is named Mitzi. (she has been quite hormonal of late and I frequently refer to her as âbi&%$&%â )
Hope this helps. 
Hi Guys,
With great amusement I caught a bit of the Car Talk episode when you discussed the naming of cars. I grew up mainly on the East Coast, where generally speaking, no one I knew named his/her car. However, come to think of it, we had a wonderful '68 Dodge van (I think it had the split windshield) that we called The Green Bean. The Beanâs color was, well, Green.
When I came to California for college I was shocked to see that most of my classmates named their cars! At the time I thought that was quite silly. I finally saved up and bought my first car in 1982 as a sophomore: a '63 VW Bug. I was shocked that he simply begged to be called Max. Why he was a boy and not a girl, I canât say. But I felt a closeness to Max because he was Max. I cared deeply for him; unfortunately, he returned my favors by having a devastating engine fire, and that was the end of Max.
Maxâs successor was an '87 Honda CRX whose name was The Lilliputian Mobile (after Swiftâs Gulliverâs Travels) because of her diminutive stature. She met her fate by swerving off the road to avoid hitting a deer. The deer and I survived; she didnât.
Next there was The Cream Puff, aka. Puff: a white Mazda B-4000 pickup with a Big Cab. She was a girl because of those little jumpseats for kids in the back.
Finally, we come to the present day. I drive a white pointânâshoot old-ladyish automatic 2001 Honda Civic 4-door. Because I am an Adult. (BoringâŠ) Because of her color, bulbous, puffy shape and her intention to lead an uneventful life, I call her Marsha Mellow. The name seems to fit.
I obviously disagree with you that cars are âsoulless mechanical devicesâ. Why donât you try naming one your heaps and see if you donât feel better about him/her?!
Long-windedly yours,
Siobhan (thatâs pronounced Shi-von)
Well, my daughter named her 1990 Jeep Laredo. She named it âSteveâ for Steve Irwin because he had a similar car and he was one of my daughterâs favorite people. We even visited his zoo in Queensland.
The car actually died right around when Steve actually died. Pretty strange.
We finally disposed of the vehicle just last month as the investment to restore it to working order was just too much. You could actually Google Earth our address and see it parked in the driveway.
Cheers,
Cars are soulless mechanical devices, sure, but they can also mean a great deal to the owner (as you guys know quite well). So why not name them? I feel like you need a name to be able to say âYouâre looking very well today, [carâs name]â or in the case of getting pulled over for speeding, you can say âIt wasnât my fault, officer, it was [carâs] fault.â
My first car was a Bright Red 1989 Corvette. At the time, my nickname was Aeon Flux, so named by my friends at school because they claimed I had an uncanny resemblance to the MTV Liquid Television cartoon (except she was like 8 feet tall, skinny as a rail, mostly legs and boobs, and Iâm 5 feet tall and athletic, but whoâs counting?). So I named my car Trevor, who played Aeonâs lover and nemesis (I think thatâs a great combo!) on the show.
My current car is a 2007 Monterrey Red Corvette (yes, Iâm hooked). I racked my brain trying to come up with a fitting name for such a beautiful, sleek thing. Of course, since Iâm a girl, the car has to be a guy. Trying to think of something having to do with red, I finally came up with Prometheus. Okay, so it was kind of a stretch, but fire is sometimes red, and I think itâs a fitting name from such a powerful guy (I mean, letâs face it, he saved humanity!) for such a powerful car.
Hell yes, name it! It is between you and certain death out there most days so of course it deserves a name. My Ranger is Laughing Gravy.
I never had done this, but when I was driving my new Camry, the beeper went BERSERK when the passenger seat belt wasnt buckled. Ok, it wasnt a person there, it was a 20 pound gym bag (I weighed it) and a bunch of other cr*p.
I said âFred you need to chillâ. And thus, my car was christened âFREDâ. I kinda kept that to myself for a while and then the kids started calling him Fred and then my Husbad said âwhose Fredâ< he musta thought I had a boyfriend or something. The kids said, Mommy Calls her Car FRED! And we a giggled for a while.
Then we suddenly named My Husbands car Bertha, which is short for Big Butt Bertha.
heehee
It just kinda happened.
I used to call my 88 oldmobile the âCruisemobileâ but thatâs not really a name, eh?
You should! I gave my first car ever a beloved 1988 rebuilt-from-scrap- parts Dodge Omni, the mostly female yet androgynous name: âLittle Carâ and that car lasted me 140K miles or so with only a few minor mechanical issues until I abandoned her and she rusted out. I miss Little so much. You rock Little Car! You were the best. We had the best times together, Little!
I have always named my cars, from my first car, a 1972 VW Beetle named âSunshineâ (it was bright yellow), my 1997 Ford 150 named âFab Fordâ (I like my truck and a Beatles fan), to my 1971 VW Super Beetle named âRustyâ (if you saw the car, the reason for the name would be obvious).
Lynn
New Market, AL
As one who has celebrated his third twentieth birthday, Iâve named nearly all of the fifty or so cars that Iâve owned, but strangely none of the eight motorcycles.
The majority of the vehicles have had feminine names, but a select few have had male names just because they seemed less hormonal (I know that will lead to some threats, eh?), or just less female in nature.
Most of these, even the British cars, have been relatively dependable and I attribute that to their happiness in being named.
BTW, I once had a long-time girlfriend who, on our breaking up, stated that someday I would try talking to my car and it wouldnât answer. To date that hasnât happened!
I was listening to the show when this topic was brought up and had to laugh. I was on my way back to Sacramento from Santa Cruz where I had just taken a friend home. On the way to Santa Cruz she had asked if my 2007 VW Passat station wagon had a name. It didnât because i have not had the heart to name a car since I let go of Claudia, a 1972 Opel GT. My first car. She broke down every 3rd week like clockwork, but I did love that car.
I donât think that having a name will make the car run any better, but I suppose naming a car gives us a sense of responsibility to the car and makes us more likely to FIX the car should anything go wrong!!
BTW: My station wagonâs name is now STARDUST, courtesy of my friend. itâs like my car is a Pegasus in her spare time. that or an âexotic dancerâ.
I have named two of the cars Iâve driven. Both were Dodges. The first was a 1996, dark green 5-speed Neon I called Leon. He was a great car until he succumbed to bent valves secondary to a broken timing belt. He was replaced by my parentsâ 1996 burgundy Caravan. My dad called her Minnie. I call her Mrs. Minivan, or Greer Garson (who played Mrs. Minniver, but I digress.)
This whole topic reminds me of a line from Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: "Never trust a woman who give funny names to a means of transportation.
Julia Ward
Ypsilanti, MI
I always name all my cars. I figure if Iâm going to be screaming and yelling at something, I better call it by name. Otherwise thatâd just be rude.
So far Iâve encountered the following: Bluebell, Lucy the Lemon, Shitaki (small, black, and expensive), Hernie the Hunted, Des-cart, the Blue Banana, and Proud Mary.
If you want the best performance, of course you should name your car. How else can you encourage him or her on icy hills, dark and scary back roads, or when your tank is reading f for fumes??? I have owned: Colonel Mustard, Sherwood, Mrs. Muir (a Spirit), Pretty Soon, and Anyway. I currently am driving Syd or Cyd, (a unisex name when spoken), a Ford Focus. I congratulate the car for good deeds and massage the dash when appropriate. Itâs an excellent car. Molly in Bethlehem, PA
Itâs silly to mane an inanimate object a personât name.
Having said that, I have an old VW Bus named Olga, a beater Lincoln Continental named Connie, and a Tacoma truck named Taco. (I didnât so much name the truckâŠthe envelope with the registration info said Toy. Taco. on it.)
Rob
When we acquired a second Ford Aerostar van, we just identified them by their colors. The 1992 model was blue and the 1995 model was white so we just referred to them as either âthe white vanâ or âthe blue vanâ. It wasnât until we replaced the blue one with a Subaru Forester that we started to refer to the white van as âMoby Dickâ. We felt this was an appropriate name since it was an extended version of the Aerostar and it was huge in comparison to the Forester.
Iâm not one to name cars. I had one once I called âthe zombieâ because I brought it back from the dead on an as needed basis. It was an old, blue, Chevy Nova with a V8 that ran on about 7 cylinders. That car would sit in the weeds and weather for months on end until one of my newer cars failed in some way, and then Iâd get some jumper cables and the zombie would crank up and get me to work.
Other than that one, I havenât named any of my cars. Generally, if Iâm calling them names they arenât the affectionate sort . . . 