A mechanically challenged owner can plead with or encourage their car by name when it doesn’t work properly, much like they would plead with a recalcitrant child or friend. Owners with sound mechanical knowledge have no need to name their vehicles - they just repair the vehicle (or have it repaired) when if breaks down.
I have an '83 Volvo 245 DL (aka 240 DL wagon) with several Grateful Dead stickers. I named her Bertha. Good name for a large cream-yellow Swede, and also the title of a Grateful Dead song. I’ve named most of my cars in my life. First car was a '64 Rambler that I named Pandora - open the box, the hood, and all the troubles of the world came out. (male, 56 y.o.)
My brother was conceived in Theodore, the rough rider. (1940 Ford)
My first car was Goldie, no one conceived there. 1952 Pontiac Grama car.
It took 10 years to name my 1957 Flxible Trailways 2 level bus. I kept insisting on a female name. He wasn’t having it. He is now Buster (keyton) Male and funny as can be on at least 2 levels.
Gender of the rolling stock depends on the personality. Pat was an odd pickup indeed.
Only losers name their vehicles:
'65 Volvo 122 wagon: Otto
’99 Subaru Forester: C.S.
'55 Willys Jeep: Angus
’75 BMW R75/6 MC: Goethe
2012 Porsche SUV: That cellphone using idiot’s car
I heard you were retiring. Considered retreading as an alternative?
I’m a woman and my mother always had names for her car and so that was passed down to me. All my car names are men, the first one was Clive and he was a Suzki Sidekick JXL. Second was Doogan a '99 Subrau Forester and the one that I have right now is Carl and he is a '12 Subrau Forester. Carl is my avatar.
I like to name my cars because they seem to became a part of the family. I always feel bad when they die like a pet.
Click and Clack, I was shocked when you guys said that you don’t name your cars! While I don’t have a name for all of my cars, I have a 1966 Ford Bronco named “Blue Moon.” My father tells me that the truck got its name unanimously, after all, “Blue Moon is blue, and we did a lot of fishing with it. It was just a fun saying. We’re all lucky to be out in the Blue Moon!” My 2002 Ford Explorer also got its nickname, The Exploder, as I heard of some of them had been on recall for faulty wiring and spontaneous combustion! If a car has a memorable attribute or played a significant role in your life, I believe that it deserves a name.
I had my Dad’s old 1985 Toyota Tercel which was silver-gray in color. We lived in Denver area so we named it “THE SILVER BULLET”. Of course there is no reference to Coors Beer (Colorado Koolaid).
I purchased a 2010 Toyata Prius. When I told my 93 year old Daddy Bruce about it, he got an impish grin on his face, put his hand to his ear and said, “You bought a what? A PISUR?” Even at 93 he was with it. Guess what the name stuck! I love my Prius but “she” is still called the PISUR. If you should choose to share this on your program, please let me know ahead of time so I can let family know. We miss Daddy Bruce. He passed away December 2011. Love the show! Listen every Saturday as I do my erands around town. Bradenton, Florida
My two tone silver/grey 1978 pontiac grand prix was named Jane. She was named after a singer I admire and of all the cars since Jane, none was treated as well. My cars since have been named something along the line of what they are. The little blue car, was the last one. Now I have a purple plymouth breeze, no name yet as the wife won’t let me name it yet.
Yes Name them! What we drive is an extension of who you are. No name tells me about yourself.
Past and present names for the cars and trucks in our yard. June Bug, Greenie, Rusty Wallace, old red, Hi O Silver, Mack Some cars earn their namesover time or incedent. June bug was hard car to control that my mother named. Rusty Wallace was an old chev farm truck you never had to clean out. I have seen mice run out the floor and hit the road
I am a 68 year old male and have been naming my cars for 60 years. I name my cars, not so that I will take better care of her, but that she will take better care of me. Cars have souls, and understand an owner that really cares for her.
We have a 1969 ford van named Henry, a 1986 Toyota Tercel named Pepito, a 1971 Ford Mustang named Fancy and a 1991 Subaru named Wendy. The rest of our cars don’t have names because their personality hasn’t come through yet! (LOL)
After all, an automobile is the second-biggest purchase you make in your life. And some of us probably spend nearly as much money on automobiles as we do on our children over the years. Let’s face it, there are lots of similarities between having a car and having a kid. You make the monthly payment when you bring that shiny new “baby” (car) home from the “hospital” (car dealership). You buy “food” (gas, oil) for it when it gets “hungry” (out of fuel). You take it to the doctor (mechanic) when it is “sick” (not running right) or it needs a “check-up” (tune-up). You buy it new shoes (tires) when they wear out. You give it a “bath” (car wash) when it gets dirty. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.
Why, Tom and Ray, would you not be naming your cars?!?!? What have you two been thinking?!?! I am shocked that neither of you name your cars. I bought used cars for years and would drive them until they were on their death beds. They all had genders and got their names shortly after I got them. My last two cars have been new ones though, and to my amazement, they have been the most difficult to name. They don’t seem to have the character that the older cars did. Our current car is a Subaru Forester. We settled on Subee for its’ name. Since the two of you are retiring from the radio show, I challenge you to consider names for your cars. What else are you going to find to do in your spare time?!?!
We have loved listening to you guys for more years than I care to mention and will miss you dearly. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your laughter with us!
First you do have to determine the sex of the car. I have named all but one of my cars. I never bonded with the Saturn. I have ha Fred Falcon, Marvin Mustang II, Emily Ladybug Miata, Minnie Miata, and now I have Anita Focus (almost was Ivanna Focus). I do think in my case if I cared enough to name the car I did take better care of him/her.
Clang and Bang the Car Talk Brothers,
the reason men name a piece of machinery,
air craft or boat or car or pickup or wheelbarrow,
the reason the name is female,
like women,
you can never predict what a piece of machinery is going to do,
or not do
In 2000, my (now-ex) husband bought a 17 year old Land Cruiser without telling me first. It needed heaps of work. I called her The Mistress because he was always spending money on her.
I now have a truck named Lucille after the Fred Eaglesmith song of the same name. It wasn’t a truck in the song, but an older woman. I bought the truck with 220K miles on it. It seemed to fit.
I’m not generally in the habit of naming inanimate object - just calling them names when needed - but both our cars have ended up with names, at least partly because they have seen a lot in their years, and we have gone through alot with them. the things that pass for roads where we live require a lot of verbal coaxing to navigate successfully, and it nice to have a name to both scold and encourage with.
Our first car was a 95ish suzuki samurai hardtop, who was named Tiny Dancer when we got her. this was for her size and particular style of movement over harsh terrain ( ridiculously short wheel base + solid axles + HD leaf springs = lots of ‘dancing’ )
Our current car is a 95ish nissan patrol (7 seater safari truck), which still has solid axels, but with coil springs, a long wheel base, and a ponderous cornering motion, she’s more of a waltzer, and has ended up with the name Matilda, after the aussie bush song Waltzing Matilda
The names of my and my friends cars all had “the” in front and they usually described a physical aspect of the car. “the brown bomb”, the beast", the amphibian", the blue sky craft", etc. and they usually were old school american boats from the 60’s & 70’s. My small cars never got special names. “the audi”, the jetta", “the mg”, the beetle". not sure why that is.
When I was in elementary school we had a Ford station wagon called “Super Chicken”, it was huge but underpowered. My first car came with a label on the dash indicating that the '69 Malibu was already known as “The Boss”. My wife and I name our vehicles: she’s had “Crunch” a '56 Chevy, “Bippi” a Toyota Sprint and “Percy” a Datsun B210, I’ve had a '86 Datsun P/U called “George”- we currently drive “Trucklet” a '91 Nissan P/U and “Rosalie” a '96 Honda Accord. I drove fleet vehicles for 14 years and none of those 6 vehicles were named- because they weren’t mine.
I have had Cooper, a 72 Capri (my 1st car); Murphy, a brown (get it?) 73 Capri (project car); Snoie, an 87 Tercel (white); and Tigger, a 98 F-150. I currently have Truckie, a 94 F-150 (who was called “the truck” by his former owners) and Rexy, a 12 WRX (my first new car). Snoie was the only “female” vehicle I have owned.
I have cared about all my vehicles, and tend to keep them until I can’t afford to fix them anymore (6 in 30 years, with overlap, that is, more than one at a time for some of those years). My budget has the greatest influence over how a car is cared for… but I will do as much as I can, and it hurts when I have to hold off on repairing my vehicle(s) or have to settle for a patch job.
For the record, I’m a guy.