Absolutely! All of my cars have been named … they’re family! My 63 VW (actually my family’s 2nd car, but I drove it most of the time so I considered him mine)was Huey (he was red with a large flower on the front). 71 Superbeetle was named Jeremiah (after 3 Dog Night’s Jeremiah); he was sapphire blue and most lovely. 69 Carmen Ghia VW named Ruth. She was my Mother’s car, so she named her. Ruth came to live with me when my Mother died. Lovely beige color. (VW needs to make ghias again … such a fun car! 79-80’s (forgot the year) blue Plymouth Arrow was Ralph. 89 white Daytona was Joey … AND my most favorite! Just a great hot rod! 2001 black Dodge Neon is Desi. He’s like the beetles … great on maintenace and just keeps going, going, going. All names happen to be male that I named. The name has to fit the car you know. It just can’t be any name. Ralph took me the longest to name. Thanks for asking and Cheers! PS: Love your show!!
I have always named my vehicles, beloved or otherwise. The first was Elspeth, a Ford 4 dr.sedan of a ‘certain age’. Since then we have had Ruby (Volvo), Beauregarde (Crown Vic), Hayseed (an old truck whose back fenders would shake when it was driven over 50), Blue, Betty Lou, Ruby Two, and now Lily. While my husband just rolls his eyes, our daughter is now naming her cars.
Of course. My brother-in-law had a 1987 BMW L7. One summer he forgot about a 40 lb bag of dog food that he’d left in the trunk. When he got around to cleaning it out in the fall, he found that in addition to the moisture that got in around the wheel well, there was a disgusting mosh pit of maggots in the bag of dog food. So, he named the car Maggie. I bought the car in 2001 for my teenage son who fondly ketp referring to the car as Maggie.
other then “my 1996 piece of junk” no. this is non-discimintory and wont offend the vehicle being male or female.
I have never had a desire to name my cars. In fact, I only had one with a name, and that was a 1976 Gremlin that I inherited along with the name…The COW (Cleveland On Wheels) when I was in the Army.
Now, I have a motorcycle, and I have found that most people name them…As someone on the motorcycle forum I frequent said, “cars are tools - they don’t get names”, but there is something about a bike, maybe its that it’s you, the bike and the wind against the world, no steel cage to protect you.
Dear Tommy & Ray,
I have a 1972 Dodge Travco motorhome. Bought it a year ago, inside it looks like a yacht, it has hardwood floors, ship lights and many other nautical items . I call it The Toad. There are two reasons.
Driving it home on the day I bought it the Gear Vendor broke. It had to be towed to a repair shop. That shop couldn’t fix it so it had to be towed to a second shop.
The second reason is, it has a toad as a hood ornament. The orginial gas motor was swapped out with a diesel. A nose cone, with a Mercedes grill, had to be made for the radiator to fit and the toad sits on top of it.
I get a lot of pictures taken with cell phone camera as they drive by and people want their picture taken with The Toad at reststops.
I also need to mention, it is green.
Love your show
Regards
CV Sun
Well, when they break down on you they end up with names that are not so nice. But like Tom Hanks with his friend Wilson, we spend so much time in our vehicles that we often need something to talk to. I have had a car called the red beast, and now have one named the grey growler. I enjoy the show whenever I manage to catch it.
Dr. P
My first car was a 1956 Austin sedan that I bought in 1964, my second year at Northeastern. We (I and my girlfriend at the time) thought it highly appropriate to name the car Lord Pumblechook Rathgate. Where that came from I have no idea. It did not, however, protect him m]from what I would call an early demise. I think the engine blew.
Those who name their cars probably feel compelled to name their washing machines and lawn mowers too.
I have a 93 plymouth sundance that runs great, but cosmetically, it’s bad. I usually have a lot of garbage in it, so my family refers to it as the Ratmobile ( I’m not sure if that is male or female ).
You could say that I take good care if it mechanically, but I don’t worry about how it looks.
yes we named all our vehicles, aor one truck is called crystal, our other truck is calld victoria and the car is called shelly.
The most appropriate name I’ve known was a friends International Harvester Travell-all. No brakes, no glass, lousy steering and used to haul fence post around the pasture. The vehicle’s name was MIRANDA after Miranda VS Arizonia wherein a known felon was set free on a technicality. The Travell-all was in fact another felon on the loose. “You have the right to remain silent.” Charlie McKansas
When I was young, my grandmother named the cars. The Rambler Classic was Lassi. (Drop the c’s.) The big family van was Buster. The blue sedan (which a barely recall) was Bonnie. Since my father was a Ford man, it was a concise way to mention a specific vehicle. (The Rambler was the one non-Ford in the driveway.)
Our cars effectively have names, but not cute names like Grandma used. We have ‘The Van,’ a Montana; 'The ‘Stang,’ a '95 Mustang, and the newest baby, ‘The Prius.’
I don’t name my cars, although I feel we have an understanding that I’ll take care of it, and it will take care of me!
Choice of name can be dangerous. For years my car was named Snidely, and it merely thumbed its nose at its oil leaks and rust and kept running. Then I renamed it Death Star and the engine blew a gasket and died the following week.
I’ve always thought it was dumb to name cars but my husband makes me name them! So it’s not just women that do it. It doesn’t make any difference to me whether they have a name, as far as how well I take care of them. I tend to take care of them well mechanically (always fix broken things and do regular maintenance) but don’t take good care of the interior (don’t keep it clean) and don’t wash and wax the exterior a lot. I guess I don’t really care how the car looks, I care how it runs. My current car is a 2002 Honda CR-V which is brown-ish colored so I call it “Brownie”. My husband objected to that less-than-imaginative name so I pointed out that it also means a little mythical helper that comes in and cleans your house at night when you’re asleep (which I learned when I was a Brownie in the Girl Scouts).
I listened to the show this past week and it brought me back to me college days 15 years ago. I am from Connecticut but went to school in Greenville, SC. My buddies decided to name Connecticut license plated 1982 tan Chevy Malibu the “General Grant” (in some odd form of homage to the Dukes of Hazard’s “General Lee”). I suppose after careening out of control a couple of times due to 2 master cylidner failures they were not too far off with the name I guess!
Not all my cars had names. But some were given monikers that indicated the character of the vehicle.
My VW Bug was Otto der Auto. My first Porsche was Ursula, and my Ferrari was Sophia. The Volvo 544 that got me through undergrad school was the Grey Ghost.
Now my wife’s Explorer is Amelia, our “finest car made in America” Camray–which was made in Japan–is called Tokoyo Rose, and my MINI CooperS is Sir Monty Carlo.
Listening to the show last week brought me back to my college days 15 years ago. I grew up in Connecticut but went to school in Greenville, SC. My buddies decided to name my Connecticut lisence plated 1982 tan Chevy Malibu the “General Grant” in some strange homage to the Dukes of Hazard’s “General Lee.” I guess after careening out of control twice after 2 master cylinder failures (in 4 years) I guess the name wasn’t so far off!
Some cars are not worthy of a name, but most are.
In the seventies, I had a 1971 Triumph GT6+ that was all white. We used it to travel to and from the ski slopes in New York, New England and even Canada because it had almost 50/50 traction and went well in snow. We named it “Snowflake” because it was white and it was our ski vehicle.
Later (still in the seventies), we bought a 1953 MGTD. It’s official color was Ivory w/ green interior but the Ivory was really a yellow. Being a cheery convertible, we name her Sunny, as in bright and sunny.
Then, in 1979 we bought our 1979 Mercedes 450SL, quite expensive, so we named her “Cher” as in French for "dear, meaning expensive.
When we looked in our garage, there sat Sunny and Cher!!!
PS Snowflake was sold to a friend who eventually moved to California but still has that car today!