I had never even considered naming a car until the 1970’s when I met a couple who had a series of VWs during their lifetime, beginning with the first named Gomer PILE. From then on, all their VWs were named xxx PILE. There was Goober PYLE , etc.
-T
My first car back in the late 70s was a Plymouth Duster named Jackson because it was brown and often running on empty. Then came Greyson, because he was gray. Then there was Tro because he was a GEO Metro and finally my Accent is named T’necca (my first girl) because that’s Accent spelled backwards. And that’s all. 
My daughters named our cars and it helps because we all share them. We have teenagers and four cars varying from old to older, and one or two is usually always suffering from a condition requiring attention (the cars, that is) so not safe for a teenager to drive. Some of the cars are similar in color and several are old Cadillacs. So it is easier to quickly say “You take Zelda,” than elaborate and describe which car in particular is to be used.
As long as I can remember my family has named the cars. It does not really matter if it is male or female, just something that matches the car itself. We had an old pickup named Elmer, a Chevy named The Great Green Stallion, an orange VW Rabbit named Bernie, and a Honda is Kryptonite. I think the caller should be ok and not worry so much about the truck, after all “Mark” could refer to the mouse that lives under the seat…
We makeit a family event to name our cars. We often have friendly debate about the right name, but Mom & Dad always get veto power. Our newest purchase, a Mazda Miata, came from a dealer in Bensenville, IL so we call it Bensen. With five drivers and four cars in the driveway using a name is a fun and quck way to tell someone which car you’re going to drive.
Growing up, I remember how my dad always named his cars the same thing, “Shasta”. The cars were invariably older models, past their prime and in need of repair, hense the name–shasta needs this, shasta needs that…
When I purchased my 2007 Silverado I discovered that no only did it have OnStar and it own Cell Phone but it also came with its own website. Will signing all the paperwork to complete the sale the sales woman asked me what I was going to call my new Silverado. I looked at her and exclaimed “Its a Truck!” Later I discovered that when my Silverado e-mailed me its first monthly status report that the e-mail came from Itsa Truck. So now my Silverado has the name Itsa. Itsa and I have had a wonderful time together. I recently discovered my wife calls her Dodge Caravan - Cara
some cars and truck need names my 1946 chevy ton and half miltary 4wheel drive is called tusker.it’s beat up but purr’s like akitten.has a mazzyen pound whinch on the back.it will climb a tree in low range.the only paint thats not faded is the tow hooks on top bumper which i painted chrome.the tusks.the rest is O.D green.red primer,bare metal,no rust in wyoming.I beg, borrow or steal the parts to keep it running. I spent 4 dollers on a valvecover gasket. but everthing else i found around.but all my friend know tusker and call it that.it has it own personality and story to tell .the kids i got it from had it two and half months and could not make run .i had two and half hours and had it running.and ben working on it ever since.but it go’s just dosnt whoa so well. and i love my truck. and i am keeping forever.
My father had a 1997 Dodge Ram that faithfully endured rush hour traffic in Washington DC for over ten years and nearly 300,000 miles. When we were young, my sister began calling the truck Bullwinkle, no doubt in reference to the small stuffed moose my dad had rigged up to rappel from the rear view mirror on a shoelace. The name stuck, and Bullwinkle served us well, safely bringing our father to and from work each day and patiently allowing both me and my sister to learn to drive on him. However, after turning over a quarter million miles, Bullwinkle began to show his age, requiring a new transmission and catalytic converter among other things. We decided to do the charitable thing and donated him to the Scout Camp where I had worked for several years. Many of the existing camp trucks had strong women’s names like Judith, Lola, and Eleanor, so some of the staff decided that Bullwinkle should be renamed Gretta. I warned them that Bullwinkle already had a name and that it was bad luck to change it, but my warnings went unheeded. Within the first year, “Gretta” went through two tail lights, three passenger side mirrors, another transmission, a water pump, a tailgate, a radiator, a bed, a front bumper, three tires and (worst of all) a cupholder.
The moral of the story: Don’t rename your car, and especially don’t change its gender!
Call your car whatever you like. I changed the name of my glider almost 20 years ago from Johnny Hustle to Bumblebee because I didn’t think aircraft should have a guy’s name. Although, a girl had named it Johnny Hustle and a guy gave me the idea to call it Bumblebee. My first car was the Wee Little Beastie. My 2nd car was the Mary Ellen Carter II (yes, it was that big).
I’ve always named my cars. Not so much out of a knowledge that I’ll take better care of them because of it, but because it’s fun and quirky. Cars are a big part of my life – I currently (sort of) live out of mine, with a huge commute every day to work
My 2007 Hyundai Accent was named Sylvia – plain, sleek, got the job done, and she was the first. And, like the poet, eventually killed herself.
My 2008 and 2010 Dodges (Caliber and Journey respectively) have been named Leonard and Leonard II. The Caliber got the name because it’s hard to pat on the dashboard and say “come on, car!” when you’re trying to get up a mountain in Herkimer, NY. If you’re gonna give it encouragement, it should have a name. The Journey only has the name because two in a series of the same type should be marked as being a part of the same name.
Tom & Ray,
I was surprised when I heard on your show that you did not know the convention for naming your favorite cars. I thought this was common knowledge.
Everyone knows that you don’t give names to your favorite cars until after you get married (for the first time). After that point you name your favorite cars after your favorite girl friends or maybe even an ex-wife. Most current wives don’t object to this naming idea because they equate your old girl friend to some kind of machine that’s usually broke down most of the time. They don’t really grasp the idea that a man can be in love with a car even though we know that’s the real reason for the name. The convention can apply to other machines as well.
When I got married I became a farmer. Hence the name of my first tractor is “Suzie” . As I plow my fields, I reminisce about the many good times I had in high school while riding around with Suzy. She was a stocky blond girl who looked good in green. Much like a John Deere tractor. She was a real sweetheart and one of the may loves of my young life. The name really fits.
Of course I would never share these stories with my current wife for fear of becoming a “bachelor farmer”.
My pickup truck is “Patty” who I probably would have married if my current wife hadn’t said yes when I proposed. Patty was my college sweetheart who was not afraid to be seen with me in my old Ford pickup. She was a real farm gal (if you know what I mean). Patty even turned out to be a pretty good mechanic because I was broke down most of the time. She managed to keep both me and the pickup running. Now when the pickup quits running, I fondly remember her and the times we spent together under the hood.
This naming convention is not new to my generation. My father even named his first tractor “Maybelle”. He never told us the story, but I’m sure there was a gal with that name he knew in his younger days.Maybelle was a D-9 Caterpillar that he spent many hours on plowing his fields. When I was lucky enough to ride with him in Maybelle, he would have that faraway look in his eyes like he was with someone else in a special place.
Yes, old cars do have souls, and with the right name can bring back a lot of good memories.
Now that I think about it…remember the planes in WW II. The “Enola Gay” was named after the pilot’s mother. The Memphis Belle was named after the pilot’s girlfriend. My old cars were not flying fortresses but I still like to think of them as such. Hence the girlfriends names.
We’re both 55 yrs old, and neither my wife nor I have ever felt the need to put a name to any one of our vehicles, whether they had “character” or not…kinda like reading glasses, a car is a tool that you use when you need it…and you use a different tool for a different job. I never named my bicycles or my hiking boots, eithah!
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I have always named my cars since my college roommate told me her sister named her car Mickey Manta. My first was Tom Civic ( I had a crush on Tom selleck at the time) , next was Henry Honda, Homer Odyssey, and Palmer (Palm) Pilot. Was it the name of my cars that made them last over 100000 miles, love and affection, or good old Japanese car building? I don’t know but just in case I’ll be naming all my cars in the future.
When we bought our Corolla, the dealer told us the color was “desert sand mica”, in other words, beige. I don’t know if the name we picked should be considered male or female (although we usually refer to it as a “he”). We named him Gobi, after the desert. The funny story about Gobi is that one time when my husbsand was backing out of the garage, he accidentally sheared off the passenger-side rear view mirror. Even since it happened (and been fixed), my brother-in-law persists in calling the car “Vincent Van Gobi”.
i’ve never understood people who name inanimate objects. i just can’t do it. yet for some, it’s so second nature.
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I am female, and My girlfriends name all my cars based on the car’s personality and, I suppose, mine. My current car is a Mercedes so they named her “Heidi” (german). Before that my tan Infiniti g20 was “Stella” (pronounced like Elaine did in the Seinfeld episode). Before that my blue BMW was “Gypsy”, reflecting my sense of freedom and wild abandon at the time. When I was a child our turquoise rambler was named “cutie bear” by my sister. I do think naming a car gives it a sense of personality and you take better care of it. I think the guy from Tennessee should rename his truck since he has now adopted it.
I have two cars with names. The first is a 1995 Dodge Caravan (nicknamed the Giant Grouper because it sort of looks like one) which reach 300,000 miles on 09/09/09. It is “Sainted” due to the performance of 3 miracles. The first was having the fuel pump die in the driveway after coming home from a Cub Scout camp out. The second was having the original transmission last 180,000 miles. The third was reaching 200,000 miles. A fourth miracle was having the side door not lock when a friend borrowed it and locked the doors with the motor running. A fifth miracle was reaching 300,000 miles.
Another SGG miracle on 2 May 2010. The SGG battery had been fading. Yesterday, it barely cranked when my son took it to the Prom. But, I had left the tailgate slightly open and the interior lights were on for a few hours. He got home safely. Today, we took it to breakfast with no problems and made several stops. It failed to start at Autozone where I pulled in to get the battery checked. The battery was over 7 years old. A new one was installed and off we went. Only the SGG would have the battery fail at the replacement store. Another miracle!!!
There is another Sainted Giant Grouper miracle verified by AutoTire on 31 Aug 2010. The front of the car had been squeaking- didn’t know if it was the serpentine belt, the tension pulley, the AC compressor or what. This had been going on for some months and mechanics could not pinpoint the problem. About 10 miles from home today, there was a thunking under the hood (like you ran over something) and then the squeaking stopped. I expected belt broke. But the AC was still cold and the water temp didn’t rise. I got home without incident. I looked under the hood and it seemed like part of the belt was gone and it looked a rib or two thinner. Instead of about 6 rubs on the belt, I now have maybe four.
Another miracle occurred withe the front brake lines finally corroded through while getting an alignment. The system started leaking right at the repair shop. My family was never in danger. The SGG has his own fan page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/270731247891/) where you can keep up with the latest news.
My other car is a 2001 Mazda Miata. It is British Racing Green with a tan convertible top. His nickname is “Plankton” and his “mascot” is the “Plankton” character from SpongeBob SquarePants. When he gets to 200,000 miles, maybe he’ll get a Facebook fan page too.
I don’t typically name cars, I am a girl, but I have l know many MEN who do name cars. I own a girl car, Honda Fit. My neighbor named it Sparky (I hate that name). My son calls it Urine Cake, because of the cleaner smell when I first got it. I call it the Fit.
My husband drives a Toyota Sequoia. We tried to think of a name because it is big and black and covered in bike racks. Big Black, Blacky, Duke, Squid, none of these stuck. My friend calls it The Living Room. We just call it The Sequoia.
Thanks to the car manufacutres who already name cars. We take very good care of our cars, nameless that they are, but they still have a sole.
BTW, our very first car, a 1966 Dodge slant 6 panel truck was hand painted green, so it was Old Green. Creative huh? That car totally had a sole! Though my parents weren’t too excited to see their 20 year old daughter (me) arrive in it to introduce the long haired guy I decided to drop out of school for. We have been together 35 years now so I guess it worked out.