What's in a "car" name

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Lounge' started by tbirdsps, Apr 22, 2010.

  1. tbirdsps

    tbirdsps New Member Charter Member

    Joined:
    May 26, 2006
    Messages:
    5,341
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Ridgecrest, Ca.
    The "what's in a name" thread made me think of this.

    For example:

    1. Comet. This was intended as a small Edsel but Edsel had shut down just a couple of months earlier so it went on sale as just Comet until 1962 then it was marketed as a Mercury Comet. Neither Mercury or Edsel was using celestial names in 1960 so where did Comet come from? Ford had Galaxie which is celestial but where the heck did Comet come from?

    2. How about Chevy trucks? The first named Chevy truck was Apache, then there was Cheyenne. Indian names. Then they had at the same time frame Scottsdale. What happened with that?

    3. In the early 50's Chevy came out with Bel Air, then there was Biscayne, Malibu so where in the heck did Impala and Caprice come from. All of a sudden they forgot they were naming cars after well-to-do towns and resorts.

    4. Ford has been confused for years. After Fairlane, Falcon, Futura they threw in Galaxie and LTD and XL. Boy they got off track. Then the little Goshen character was in charge and for a moment all Fords would have names beginning with F. Five Hundred, Fairlane (that's what the Flex was initially was named) and Mercury was to have all M names. Montego, Milan, Mountaineer. Mercury was the only one to make it to all M names at least for one model year then the Montego became Sable again.

    5. I don't want to leave out Chrysler. Their naming convention is not a naming convention. Fury, Belvedere then Satellite? I'm confused. So which is it? Wind or space. Cummon, figure it out.

    6. Pontiac at least stuck with a naming convention for a while. Starchief, Chieftan, Firechief etc. All good indian names then they got lost and thought up Gran Prix, Firebird, Catalina, Bonneville. So which is it? Race names, fast names or places. Finally they got real bad and assigned numbers. 6000, 2000, T100. OMG it's no wonder they were cancelled.

    It really can't be this difficult to name a car. Not to mention the fear of calling a car a station wagon. e.g. Taurux X, Magnum, PT Cruiser, HHR, Matrix and even Subaru refused to call any of their wagons, wagons. I give Ford some credit as they did call the Escort wagon a wagon as did the Focus wagon.

    BMW started with Isetta but then switched to numbers and they've stuck with that convention. Same for M-B. Letters and numbers then switched to numbers and letters. Somewhat consistant.

    Oh my head hurts.....:banghead3:
     
  2. Ford Nut

    Ford Nut Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2009
    Messages:
    400
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    50
    Location:
    Occidental CA
    TB
    How about GMs NOVA?
    I was told it meant NO GO:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:
     
  3. tbirdsps

    tbirdsps New Member Charter Member

    Joined:
    May 26, 2006
    Messages:
    5,341
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Ridgecrest, Ca.
    In Spanish it would be two words...No Va I think. But if Nova was the star of the Chevy line up then NOVA is bad enough. Exploding Star! NOVA means the same in pretty much all languages. A celestial thing again.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2010
  4. Krash Kadillak

    Krash Kadillak Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2008
    Messages:
    20,657
    Likes Received:
    1,845
    Trophy Points:
    798
    Wagon Garage:
    1
    Location:
    Springfield, Oregon
    Names for vehicles is a critical thing.The manufacturers keep long lists of 'available' names, often registering as trademarks names they might possibly use. Occasionally they use focus groups to find out if names are more pleasing (or less pleasing) to the general public.

    Oh...and then there's the vehicles in Japan. They seem to put 'Americanized' names on some of the vehicles that maybe make sense translated into Japanese, but make no sense in English. Wish I could give you an example right now.......
     
  5. tbirdsps

    tbirdsps New Member Charter Member

    Joined:
    May 26, 2006
    Messages:
    5,341
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Ridgecrest, Ca.
    Nissan comes to mind. Fairlady, Blue Bird etc. Back when Toyota was Toyopet, Carina, Corona, President, etc.
     
  6. VTWAGONLOVER

    VTWAGONLOVER Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2010
    Messages:
    726
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    85
    Wagon Garage:
    1
    Location:
    Essex Jct., Vermont
    Names like "Acura", "Altima", "Maxima", "Xterra", "Intregra" are all spins on english words which tend to have a positive meaning...
     
  7. tbirdsps

    tbirdsps New Member Charter Member

    Joined:
    May 26, 2006
    Messages:
    5,341
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Ridgecrest, Ca.
    I forgot the Nissan/Datsun Sunny model. I think it was F10 or something like that here.
     
  8. Steve-E-D

    Steve-E-D Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2009
    Messages:
    2,468
    Likes Received:
    201
    Trophy Points:
    148
    Wagon Garage:
    1
    Location:
    Vancouver, WA, USA
    How about when they resurrect an established name and put it on a plaform with no heritage to the original, like Pontiac did with that compact car they called a Le Mans or Dodge did with the Charger?

    Out of ideas or just trying to cash in on nostaligia?
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2010
  9. tbirdsps

    tbirdsps New Member Charter Member

    Joined:
    May 26, 2006
    Messages:
    5,341
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Ridgecrest, Ca.
    I remember a few year back when Ford decided in the F name convention they wanted to use Futura. Not so fast says Pep Boys, they sell tires with that name and demanded that Ford cannot reuse it as they abandoned the name and now it's theres. The car companies apparently don't copywrite the names.
     
  10. a1awind

    a1awind Tiki God

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2008
    Messages:
    3,329
    Likes Received:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    110
    Wagon Garage:
    2
    Location:
    Ellwood city Pa
    Xterra = CROSS (X) earth (terra)
     
  11. a1awind

    a1awind Tiki God

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2008
    Messages:
    3,329
    Likes Received:
    8
    Trophy Points:
    110
    Wagon Garage:
    2
    Location:
    Ellwood city Pa

    you mean charger (aka omni 2 +2)
     
  12. wixom61

    wixom61 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2009
    Messages:
    2,555
    Likes Received:
    18
    Trophy Points:
    111
    Location:
    Dallas
    One of the names considered for the Edsel was Utopian Turtletop! :49:
    I think that would have been a smash hit!

    David :rofl2:
     
  13. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2009
    Messages:
    16,018
    Likes Received:
    4,409
    Trophy Points:
    833
    Location:
    Yakima Washington
    Glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks about this stuff.

    Fords SUV line is all "E" Escape, Edge, Explorer, Expedition and of course Excursion (my Favorite. I'll take a 7.3 PSD)

    I have also never been a fan of the leter+number thing as a name only. I have always felt a car should have a name and then if you want to add letters and numbers go ahead. To me hearing "Shelby Mustang GT500 K.R." is much better than "SL500" I know the first one is a Mustang. I know it's fast and I want one. The second one is, well, just letters and numbers. It's almost like they are kinda snooty "if we have to explain it, you aren't sophisticated enough"
    Of course, I will contradict myself and say I have always loved the Ford "F" series. Calling an F-150 anything else would just be weird.

    And about the jap companies, Why would anyone name a compact truck after a mill town in western Washington?

    A couple years ago Ford's legal Dept. made Huge waves in the Mustang hobby by threatening litigation against folks using "Mustang" in their business name and what-not. Here's a link to an article about it:
    http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2006/06/EditorsCorner/index.php

    I think cooler heads have prevailed. But for a while there it looked like it was gonna get ugly.
     
  14. Steve-E-D

    Steve-E-D Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2009
    Messages:
    2,468
    Likes Received:
    201
    Trophy Points:
    148
    Wagon Garage:
    1
    Location:
    Vancouver, WA, USA
    Yes, I did mean Charger. :slap: [​IMG]

    They got it right with the Challenger. It is worthy of wearing that badge.
     
  15. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 30, 2007
    Messages:
    19,635
    Likes Received:
    32
    Trophy Points:
    813
    Wagon Garage:
    1
    Location:
    Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
    Its going to get tougher naming models. The Internet names are all over the map!

    Look at this! Don't even try to read it!:rofl2:

    http://www.e-wagon.co.jp/
     

Share This Page