Sure it’s superstitious, but since I started naming my cars after goddesses, I have never had an accident with injuries. That’s a good enough record for me to keep doing it, especially now that I have two small kids (and sometimes my husband) in the car with me. Iris was a pearly-gray Ford Escort wagon, and after she was totalled (that’s right, with no injuries), we got a Plymouth Voyager. She’s a big green mother of a vehicle, so naturally she’s named Gaia.
Eliz
Waltham, MA
Yes one should name their transportation “vessel”.We’ve had a Wega the Vega,Freddy Fairmont, a sweet Ford Ranger,V6, long bed,Gert.Now we have Ruby, the Stratus and Nina the Neon. My daughter needs to name her car before it’s too late, she"s already rearended a guy’s mid life crisis Lexus and a tree dropped it’s limb through her windshield. The only 2 vehicles we did not name were a Renault Alliance and a used Mercury Topaz. There is not enough time to tell you their tales of woe.
None of our cars were ever named, but our son gave us his 1989 Ford F-150 (250? whatever) when he got a new vehicle. Our neighbor dubbed it “the Red Baron”, and it seemed to fit. He ( 
) even has a front license plate with his name on it. Fourth gear doesn’t work, we need to charge the battery every 2 weeks, and kick the tailgate to close it, but boy, is this a workhorse. My husband is the king of mulch with this truck –
Loved the topic-
Lois Gillespie
Lewes, DE
Yes—Of all the cars I’ve had—I’ve named 2 of them…and now I’m wondering why just those two and not the others. My first car, a 4-dr Honda Civic LX,was affectionately known as “Rhonda the Honda” by me and my friends. I took great pride in her as I bought/paid for her myself. Fortunately, she is the only car I’ve had to buy. I’ve had company fleet cars ever since and only named 1: the Ford Explorer named “Dora”…“Dora the Explorer”. I guess because I get a new car every year and don’t have to personally invest in them, I don’t bond with them as much and have no need to name them. “Rhonda” will always be special b/c I personally invested in her and though reliable, she was quite tempermental.
Claire, Berkley, Michigan
To name or not to name …as I listened this morning, I found this particularly interesting. If you care about your car, then yes, you name. If you just see your car as a mode of transportation, no. I have owned several cars and all of them had names, I have owned “The Red Treasure”, “The Silver Bullet” and “The Mint Dream”.
By our very nature, we care about things with names. To put it this way, when I was younger my sister and I would pick out lobsters at the supermarket and my sister would have no problem boiling those suckers, and (once cooked) attacking them with the kind of instinctual savagery that would have made a caveman proud. I remember one day, on the way home from the store naming the lobsters (Todd and Maude) and for years, my sister was unable to look a lobster in the face,let alone eat or kill one.
I had never encountered the phenomenon of naming cars until my friend informed me that her Mazda Miata was named Maurice, after the character in the TV show Northern Exposure. Her next car was Vanna, the white Neon.
Reflecting on the question, however, I realized that we have sometimes had nicknames for the cars we were driving. The Ford LTD station wagon was the QEII because it was a land yacht. The next station wagon was the Princess Margaret because it was slightly smaller and had been previously owned by a Margaret. Most of the other cars were simply referred to by their make/model names: the Toyota, the Horizon, etc.
When I finally got my own vehicle (as opposed to another family car) I promptly christened it The Bluebird of Happiness because of it’s cheerful blue paint and because it was MINE! It has since evolved into The Pirate Vessel Bluebird which sails up and down the west coast raiding used book stores and pillaging fabric and bead shops. There is always a skeleton crew aboard. I guess because it’s a pirate vessel it’s automatically female. The crew, however, are all male (or used to be).
In 1968 I had a Ford 64 econoline van. I live in San Diego and my buddy and I were going on a surf safari that summer. Strapped our bourds on top, fin forward, we left for Santa Barbara at night. The shadows of our boards on top made it look like some kind of horned animal. We named the van “Goat”. Goat was kind to me for ten years until I bought something new.
Of course you should, unless it’s not a nice name and you tend to yell it in traffic! My beloved little '84 Fiero SE is named “Peggy.” The original working name of the car was “Pegasus,” so it seemed like a natural. 23 years old is almost 100 car-years, and it just keeps going. I’m not 100 years old yet myself, but 59 isn’t exactly young.
I have never named a car, but I have felt badly when I have sold a couple of them over the years. Some of them become part of the family!
I currently drive a 1993 Geo Prism Lsi that I bought from my 30 year old son, thinking that he had taken pretty good care of it (at least that’s what HE told me).
It’s been a pretty good car, now that I replaced the clutch and engine. My mechanic tells me to keep it every time I tell him about a “good buy.” He keeps reminding me that the repairs are pretty cheap on the Prism and that I wouldn’t like the repair bills on other cars (this is how he keeps my business, I think).
My grandchildren get toted around in it, and one day my 5 year old grandson asked me if my car had a name. I asked him if he would like to name it. Thus, Rusty was born.
A few days later my 3 year old granddaughter was feeling kindly about the car and decided that Rusty was not a nice name for the “poor car.” I asked her if she would like to give it a name and thus, Shiny was born.
Rusty Shiny has been a good car, even though I have car band-aids stuck on the side and rear bumper. Apparently, others out there don’t seem to agree that she has value and keep bumping into her.
I am 64 and plan to keep her forever!
yes…i always have and always will.
spitfire27
Dear Tom and Ray,
My ?Check Engine? light is not on. I was listening to your show when you were discussing whether or not people name their cars, why they name them, etc. I thought I?d share a portion of my vast experience in this arena.
Personally, I don?t think it?s truly up to the owner whether or not a car should be named, if it should be female or male, or if naming a car causes the owner to take better care of it. Really, all of this is more decided by the nature of the car than the owner. I have found that most often, owners don?t exactly name their cars. Instead, if a car has seen you through a particularly harrowing or unusual experience, you?ve owned a car for a long time, and/or the it is dilapidated to the point where contrary to all scientific evidence and reason, the car has not exploded, imploded, disintegrated or otherwise caused major bodily harm to any and all who come near it, that car essentially names itself! This can also happen if the car has developed particularly distinctive physical or behavioral characteristics.
For example, I had a buddy in college (circa 1990-94) who had a 1972 Chevy Suburban, which he named ?Beulla.? She was a two-toned brown and white behemoth of rust, blue smoke and mechanical malfunction that sent all but the heartiest citizens of Morris, Minnesota gasping and scrambling for gas masks and earplugs. She had no functioning exhaust system, a hair-trigger transmission that could ?shuffle? like an iPod, and a top speed of roughly 47 miles per hour. However, even on cold Minnesota winter mornings, when the temperature was literally 40 degrees below zero, Beulla was practically the only vehicle on campus that would run. Granted, getting Beulla started required a sequence of procedures and events so intricate, it would rival the complexity of a space shuttle launch, but we considered that part of her ?charm.? She was called Beulla because although she was slow, stubborn, loud and could stop a clock, you couldn?t help but still appreciate and even love her, at least a little. Much like that great aunt one might have with the same name.
My own vehicle is another example. Eleven years ago, I bought a beautiful used 1993 Jeep Cherokee with 71,000 miles. She didn?t have a name right away, but over time her personality began to develop. About 6 or 7 years ago, she began to rust and develop quirks and noises all her own; a rattle here, a dent there, a left turn signal that liked to stay on, but she never let me down. In her time, she has heroically pulled numerous motorists out of snow banks and ditches, moved me to Colorado, safely and sure-footedly escorted me over mountain passes choked with blinding snow and treacherous ice, through floodwaters, all with nary a mishap or major repair of any sort. I started calling her ?Midge? after she reached 150,000 miles simply because in spite of the superficial blemishes and minor imperfections, she remained as reliable and solid as a faithful old workhorse or mule who might also bear the name Midge. She recently passed the 261,000-mile mark and is just now starting to show signs that the end is near. True to her nature, she has still not yet required a new transmission, head gasket or any major repair of that nature. I believe she even still has the original alternator.
So, you can see from my examples, that a naming a vehicle is an almost ceremonial rite; the outward expression of sacred inner bond; a sign of the deep admiration, respect, gratitude and dare I say it, love, the owner feels for his or her car.
That, or it?s a sure indication the owner is too damned cheap to go out and buy a decent vehicle.
Love the show and hope you find this insightful,
Dan from Glenwood Springs, Colorado
970-230-0745
I’m a single male. When I first started driving in the early seventies, I drove the family’s Oldsmobile station wagon, an aqua blue boat with those windows on the roof. I used to call it the “Kleenex Box” but other than that I’ve never named a car. My ex on the other hand had a '67 Plymouth Charger Super Bee, which she named “Babycakes.” I think her great regret in life was not losing me but selling that car years ago. Mark in Las Vegas
I have always named my cars, beginning with my first, much loved Karman Ghia, which I named Beanie-as a college freshman in 1969 we wore beanies to show our lowly status, but this way my “Beanie” was my status. All of my cars had male names until I bought my first car all by myself, after my divorce. She was a brand new beautiful 1985 Audi named “Ivoire”. Once I was my own person and not dependent on males to “get” me places I could have a female car. Now I name all my cars “female”. Names kind of reflect where the owner is and it’s just easier to refer to “Karla” rather than “my car”. See, it’s not only personal, it’s efficient.
OF COURSE!
I adopted Lars in June 2004 (see attached announcement)
and my sister adopted Inga (text of her announcement below)
The entire family inquires as to my car’s health and well being (Lars). Friends refer to him by name. And his mechanic always thanks him (invoice reads “Thank you Lars for coming in today”.
And my sister’s friends and co-worker’s also inquire about Inga.
So, yes it is ENTIRELY normal to name a car
Linda Larsmother (aka Linda Ingasaunt)
Inga Announcement:
No babies, just new wheels!!! Inga Larscousin is a sweet Saab 9-3 Convertible??we picked her up Friday, June 22nd and we love her!!
PS: We found out last night that eating ice cream in a convertible w/ the top down is not necessarily a good idea ? it melts faster J
PSS: No, I?m not having a mid-life crisis, although I?m sure it?s around the corner
I got my wife a 2002 Mustang for her 44th birthday last year. Sandy, my wife named her bright white baby, “Eleanor”.
The name Eleanor of course comes from Nicholas Cage?s movie, ?Gone In 60 Seconds?, where the car that was always ?elusive? was a Mustang (I think a ?67) that he called ?Eleanor?. My wife had wanted a Mustang for many years. She (my wife, not Eleanor) passed away this summer :(, so I have adopted Eleanor and drive her with pride!
Has everyone forgotten the ORIGINAL Elanor? A yellow and black 73 Mach 1 Mustang. I’m only 27 and even I know about that Elanor
I often name my cars. Not always – a few of my cars just didn’t seem to have a name. Sometimes the car is male, sometimes female. My current auto is a Chevrolet HHR named ‘Mrs. Humphrey’. Before ‘Mrs. H’ I had a Pontiac Vibe (Zippy), and before that a Ford F150 pickup (Wanda). Many years ago I had a Datsun B210 named ‘Maynard’. No, I don’t think there is any significance whatsoever to naming or not naming your car. I just think it’s harmless fun!
We’ve named most of our cars so that we could address them properly, especially when they misbehave. Sometmes it worked – a threat can be effective – but be wary of talking trade-in in the car’s hearing! The first was a '52 Ford “Cawr” back in 1959 into which we put a new transmission and a rebuilt engine within the first six months of ownership just as our first baby was due! Others we remember was a '63 Mercury Meteor, named of course, Meteor. (That was perhaps the best car we ever owned!) Then a Red '72 Tercel named Rose, followed by “Hastings”, an '88 4-Runner which had 1,066 miles on the odometer when we bought it-- and the salesman didn’t know what we were talking about… A '95 Toyota Deluxe pickup was named Gray Ghost in honor of John Singleton Mosby whose boyhood home is nearby. Now we own Ruby, an '04 Sonata whose color is Ruby Red.
Ruby has more miles than any others without any complaints – except for the timing belt!
hell yes ! and “they” might not have souls but, i do believe in the spirt world in which our material world is in a dementional paradox, and in theory when a energy force such as intense praying i.e. COME ON GERTRUDE ! DONT LET ME GO OFF THIS CLIFF…HOLD ON GERTY ! and your 64’ c/20 p/u w/327 is lifted through the air and back on to the road , was it the spirit of the truck gertrude or a paradox spirit? this can be greatly debated. paradox or ?
richard in boulder creek california
We have been in the habit of naming our cars by their color: Red, Black, Blue. When we had a brown van and a brown truck, one become Old Brown (still with us) and New Brown (long gone). My husband got a great deal on a green Ford Astrovan for my oldest daughter’s first car. She was underwhelmed; so, in an effort to make it more appealing, it became the Green Hornet. My matching blue Astrovan became Blue Thunder . . . until I was t-boned in an intersection kinda smashing the left rear quarter panel and at that point Blue Thunder became the Rolling Death Wagon. In any case, I think you can’t go wrong with a non-gender specific name as it is very difficult to figure out the sex of your vehicle.