Our Two Cents: How Do You Kill an Iconic Car Name?
Perhaps this was a question on par with the lowest of low-hanging fruit. Names have been recycled for decades in loads of industries, not just in the automobile-centric world of everyone here at Hagerty Media. There are only so many ways you can stretch the Star Wars franchise, or use classic architecture to kit out homes on the cheap.
Put another way, what iconic names have companies used for a car that didn’t earn it? I asked my co-workers what came to mind.
Town & Country
“I have never emotionally recovered from Chrysler’s liberal use of the vaunted ’Town & Country’ nameplate. How dare they use it on a minivan?” – Cameron Neveu
Dale Earnhardt + Monte Carlo
“This is pretty bad in retrospect: Two birds with one stone, I guess.” – Chris Stark
Gran Tourismo?
“I get irrationally angry at carmakers’ abuse of the ‘GT’ label. I like the original distinction that set Gran Turismos, or Grand Tourers, apart from other, lesser cars: fast, luxurious 2+2s with a long nose and a short deck designed for crossing continents at high speeds in great comfort.
Your Ram 1500 pickup truck is not a GT, Dodge. And neither, for that matter, is your Grand Caravan. Nor is your Cayenne Turbo SUV, Porsche. The list of offenders is much longer than this, but I’m just getting irrationally angry now…” – Stefan Lombard
The Less Super SS
“One could argue that Chevrolet’s trend in the mid-2000s of slapping ‘SS’ on everything killed that moniker. Malibu Maxx SS? HHR SS? The same could be said for the Ford ‘ST’ badging. Once it went on Explorer and Edge, it really jumped the shark.” – Todd Kraemer
“The HHR SS panel van is kinda cool though.” – Chris Stark
That Mexican Road Race…
“Porsche has used the ‘Carrera’ name so often, from its most sophisticated engines and models all the way down to the base 911, that the word has basically lost all meaning. We get it, you won a road race in Mexico 70 years ago, but you have plenty of other heritage to draw on. Pick a new word. But that’s not as bad as using ‘Turbo’ on your luxury EV that, you know, doesn’t have a turbocharger.” – Andrew Newton
Stop Blazing This Trail!
“I still get emotionally triggered at Chevrolet’s use of the Blazer name on their CUVs. As a massive full-size Blazer fan, I feel personally attacked at the fact that they would so mindlessly slap that name on a vehicle that doesn’t live up to the heritage that name represents.” – Greg Ingold
GTO
“Pontiac did a lot of things right when it revived the GTO model with a fifth generation in 2004: Rear wheel drive, manual transmission, and powerful V-8 up front. Sadly the styling just missed the mark, likely due to how many cars were going retro during that era, and those others did a better job calling back to the good old days.
The modern GTO is as GTO as ever when looked at for what it actually is, but when the Mustang and Camaro were the old name and at least some of the old looks, bringing back the legendary name with little of the legendary style doomed it from the start. Even before the death of Pontiac in 2009, the GTO was likely never to return.” – Kyle Smith
Road Runner
“Plymouth/Chrysler had a wonderful vehicle in the 1968 Road Runner; they even paid Warner Brothers $50,000 to use the name, and certainly the ‘beep, beep’ horn must have been extra. (And well worth it—I used it a lot on my 1973 model.) The car was golden in the first generation, good in the second generation, which included my ’73, but beyond that, a disaster.
For the third generation, starting in 1975, they stuck the name on a lame model of the full-sized Fury, but adding insult to injury, they used it on a Volare-based F-body model in 1976, which at least had an optional 360-cubic-inch V-8. That lasted until 1980, when the name quietly, and mercifully, died.
Hagerty values my favorite, a base 1969 Plymouth Road Runner, at $38,300 in #3 (Good) condition, which is down 8.1 percent but still too rich for my blood, assuming you can still find a ‘base’ car with the 383-cubic-inch V-8—many of them have been swapped out for a Hemi engine. Since even the base car is too rich for my blood, I’ll just admire them from afar.” – Steven Cole Smith
All of Pontiac?
“I’ll pile onto Pontiac. The brand was one of the biggest in the United States through the 60s and 70s AND had a distinct identity—very difficult to achieve. When GM management weakened the division structure in the 1980s, effectively making its brands marketing arms as opposed to semi-independent companies, Pontiac was probably the biggest victim.
Pretty much every car that wore the arrow head from the early 80s through the early 2000s was disappointing in some way, a watering down of the brand identity. By the time they got around to building rear-drive cars again in the Bob Lutz era, it was really too late.” – David Zenlea
“Sajeev asked about killing a model, and I think we successfully made a case for how to kill an entire brand with Pontiac.” – Greg Ingold
NUMMI Nova?
“I kinda thought someone would do the low-hanging fruit, but I’ll throw it out there. The great Nova name was killed with a vengeance when they put it on that 1980s Chevy-Toyota abomination.” – Todd Kraemer
Quad 4-4-2?
“I was gonna bring up Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais Quad 442, but then I remembered just how much effort they put into the last of these muscular coupes. Yes, it was a blocky little body driving the wrong wheels with too few pistons and too many camshafts. But at least those camshafts were unique, tunes for more power and a lumpier idle in the proud tradition of hot-rodding American cars.
I’m not even going to bring up the rarer W-40 and W-41 option packages. I regret bringing these little rocket ships with rocket emblems up because they were a valiant effort. Or at least, they were better than what I am now thinking about.
Ah heck, I guess the Mustang Mach-E is the one for me. It’s certainly not a Mustang, it’s more like a genetic mashup of a Taurus SHO and every yawn-inducing CUV on the planet. Of course, the regular Mustang Pony Car isn’t dead, but the sooner the Mach-E goes away, the better in my book.” – Sajeev Mehta
1988 FWD Oldsmobile Cutlass
Killed the best-selling car in America and in the end Oldsmobile itself.
Gotta take umbrage with the Quad442 (all one word, no spacing or hyphens)- having owned two, I can vouch for its performance that will match or beat any previous 442 (or 4-4-2). No, it won’t beat a properly tuned W30, but it will be REALLY close. Oh, and 35 mpg on the highway.
By the way, W40 is simply the RPO for the Quad442 package. They’re all W40s, except for the 200 higher-performance IMSA-special W41s from late-1991.
The overuse of M Division and AMG on German cars has gotten WAY out of hand. Everything is getting an M or AMG badge simply because they chose a brake or aero package. It has really diminished the brand. Having owned a few real M’s (M3 and M5) I can say that seeing the M440i back in 2020 was the last straw for me. I loosely accepted the SUVs and CUVs but adding an M badge to a base model is just nonsense.
Being a former modern Pontiac guy I couldn’t believe how bland the styling was on the 04 GTO. Especially when you consider how aggressive the late 4th gen Firebird looked. I owned a 97 Grand Prix gtp at the time. It had full SLP kit on it, ram air hood, whale tail spoiler, quad tips. Even my lowly Grand Prix looked more aggressive than the GTO. The GTO looked like a bigger version of a 2dr Chevy Cavalier. Not a bad car to drive but certainly didn’t have the look. I saw the 04 first at the autoshow. The 04 had true dual exhaust but it looked like an import car (although it basically was) didn’t have the tips on each side until the 05 year when they moved the gas tank.
Regarding the Mustang Mach-E: Ford invented the Mustang. Ford builds the Mustang. Ford owns the legal right to the trademark Mustang. Therefore Ford can bloody will decide what is and isn’t a Mustang, not some Boomer or GenXer still living out the lies of what his high school days were all about, and the cool rides he had back then.
Yes, I’m a fan of the Mustang Mach-E. Good chance it’ll be my next car.
I think Ford missed the boat by not using the Maverick name on the Mach E and the performance version could have been the Grabber E. My grandpa bought brand new 74 Grabber 302 4spd as a mid life crisis fix. Everyone in the family that was crazy, except 10 year old me
I’m already anxious for anything names Tesla to die.
– Steven Cole Smith, The other travesty from Chrysler was to put a Challenger badge on a Mitsubishi. Even worse were the people that thought that thing was worthy. I dates a girl back in the 80s whose brother-in-law bought a little butter yellow Challenger and bragged all of the time that he had a Challenger. He even suggested the little Mitsu 4-banger was a worthy descendent of the Hemi.
I once had a pretty cool ’70 Ford Maverick in the late 80s with all of the 1/4 mile trimmings including Centerlines. Imagine my disappointment when the new one came out.
I have owned many iconic muscle cars including 67 Olds 442, 68 Corvette as well as BMWs and other sports cars. I now own my second Ford Mach e GT and I will unequivocally tell you it is the fastest (by far), most comfortable, most eye catching performance car I have ever owned. It prompts the most attention I have ever gotten from others and never ceases to amaze me when I drive it. What other criteria do you need to have the right to wear the pony name (rightly qualified as Mach “e”). If you believe this vehicle demeans the mustang name, then you haven’t driven it. Do you remember the Mustang II? Now that was not a vehicle worthy of the Mustang badge. At 3.8 sec 0 – 60, you can call me anything because I won’t hear you that far behind me!!
If the Mach E is the most eye catching performance car you’ve owned, you must’ve been driving around boring looking cars. Nothing screams “performance” like a boring run of the mill SUV. If it didn’t have a Mustang badge on it, nobody would even care. It’s because it has that horse that people have an opinion on it one way or another. I’m not saying it’s not fast but I guarantee if my 01 Lightning was parked next to the Mach E, not one person would give the Mach E a glance.
2001 Lightning, why would anyone look at that over the Mach e? Now, I also own a 1951 Chevy 3100 restomod lowered and 350, front disc, custom interior, etc. I guarantee nobody would look at the lightening next to that.
As I mentioned, I’ve owned many iconic cars that were beautiful in design (and I wish I still owned), but overall, the Mach e is the best performance and driving car I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned a bunch. So each to there own but the mustang name is synonymous with performance and style and Mach e has both. If my Mach e is just another SUV, then the Lightening is just another pickup. I don’t think that’s true in either case. If you ever get the chance to drive a Mach e GT, take it, it should change your mind. Peace
I literally get stopped by random people on a daily basis while driving the Lightning. It’s a crazy phenomenon. Yes, it’s just an old pickup but something about it, it’s almost like it has a cult following. Everybody remembers it from Fast & Furious. Between people offering straight cash to buy it or just random people honking and giving me thumbs it, people seem to love it. I didn’t/wouldn’t expect that at all honestly but it’s cool that random people who would probably NEVER approach me in any other situation feel the need to come up to me and talk to me about the truck. Hey, if you like the Mach-E, it’s all good but the Mrs. and I actually did drive one, I wasn’t all that impressed, sure it’s quick but it’s big (weighs about as much as the Lightning, which as a full frame) and not having any sound, feel, anything, just kills it for me. The wife wasn’t a fan of the bland interior with nothing but tablets pasted on the dash, no integration of those screen into the interior whatsoever. They shoulda named it the Ford Probe imo. If it didn’t have a Mustang badge on it, would you have even considered buying it? I’d bet most people wouldn’t have.
I agree about the quietness, but that’s what makes it the most comfortable road car I’ve ever had and why I own the 51 pickup with a 350. And I can work on it! The Mach e is a super all around car, decent carrying space and great performance, so it fits the bill for me. I do get more interest in the 51, but there are many people interested in the Mach e. I would have bought it even without the Mustang badge unless they named it something stupid like Escort or Maverick or Pinto😂. The GT version makes all the difference, it goes from pretty fast to whoa hang on, fun! The Lightening is fairly rare so people will want to see it. One really nice thing about the Mach e, no check engine light. Enjoy your truck and I will look around at my next car show to see if there are any. Have a great holiday.