Our Two Cents: Memorable Vehicle Names
There are so many things that go into what makes a given car memorable. Sure, performance and looks are front and center, but there’s more to it than that. Sometimes I wonder if all these alphanumeric car names currently pervading the market will be lost to time. How many people will remember a 2009 Lincoln MKS at a car show 30 years from now, relative to the name recognition of the Lincoln Town Car?
Some brands have made alphanumerics their mantra, witness everything from the wildly popular Lexus RX to the appeal and collectability of the BMW M3. But I reckon there will always be a majority of people who prefer cars with real names. So I asked the staff here at Hagerty Media the following question: what is the wildest, cheesiest, coolest, or just the most memorable name for a trim/option package on a car?
Let’s see what they came up with:
So Many JDM Vans
“I just love the word salad that is JDM van specifications. It’s like ‘let’s throw a bunch of random English words together’ and I think it’s awesome and hilarious.
Some don’t work great, for instance, you say Toyota MasterAce a little too fast and it’s gonna raise an eyebrow with English speakers. But my favorite, hands down is the Mitsubishi Delica trimmed out as the Space Gear Super Exceed. Don’t know what they were going for, but it sounds capable as hell!” – Greg Ingold
“I agree with Greg. There are a lot of Japanese market cars and trucks that, for whatever reason, sound goofy in English. Nissan Sunny, Cedric and even Skyline are just kind of weird names for a car, but I think Suzuki has some of the best. These include the Mighty Boy, Fun, Cappuccino, Spresso, Dzire, Esteem, Splash, and VanVan (which is a motorcycle). When it comes to trim packages, though, the Every Joypop Turbo (which actually is a van) is my favorite.” – Andrew Newton
“I actually owned an Every Joy Pop Turbo!” – Aaron Robinson
Mercury Montego MX Brougham with Custom Trim
“I am picking the awesome (in my mind) 1974-76 Mercury Montego MX Brougham with Custom Trim option. My bias comes from the fact that I own one, but you can’t avoid the appeal of having a car with a name as long as its wheelbase. The Malaise Era arranged strings of words in a decadent fashion, as one must do when higher performance packages are no longer part of the equation.
I have always wanted this car because of my childhood connection to the cheaper Mercury Montego MX, but it’s still a great name from an era of automotive marketing that gave us a lot of winners.” – Sajeev Mehta
Ford F-150 King Ranch
“For me its the King Ranch trim level for Ford pickups, and SUVs. I love the interior materials, but mostly I love how the expensive trim package just owns the fact that it is basically an urban cowboy/cosplay rancher costume.” – Larry Webster
Designer Series Lincolns
“Pick any of the designer series Lincolns from the mid to late 1970s, and you have a winner. I mean, come on: The Lincoln Continental Mark V Bill Blass? How much money did FoMoCo pay these designers to cast their names in chrome?” – Joe DeMatio
Dodge Dart Swinger
“I was always a fan of the Dodge Dart Swinger model. Though I really don’t know if you can get anybody to swing if you are driving a Dodge Dart.” – Steven Cole Smith
Ford Falcon XW GT Super Roo
“There are a couple of winners from our friends Down Under: the Ford Falcon XW GT Super Roo, a local take on the Road Runner featuring a kangaroo on the front fender with drag wheels for legs. I love the little joey peeking out from the pouch.
Then there is the infamous Chrysler by Chrysler, a jazzed up Valiant that was so nice they named it twice.” – Aaron Robinson
1970s Truck Names
“That Super Roo graphic is hard to beat, but ’70s trucks deserve a segment unto themselves here. Dodge went nuts with brawny names for their pickups and SUVs, from Dude, to Macho, to Warlock. GMC got in on it, too, with a few mostly graphics packages, but their Sarge name is my favorite. Even Chevy’s Luv mini truck got the Mighty Mike edition, not to be confused with Magic Mike. We don’t see too many memorable names now, except for the Dodge Last Call editions. Those only memorable in that they are too long to remember.
The most recent goofy name I can think of is another Dodge, the Nitro Detonator, for which only the name left an impression.” – Eddy Eckart
Names are expensive to do. The marketing, The legal search. the paying for the rights and more and it all adds up. This is why number and letter become popular.
Pontiac for years wanted to Banshee but GM would not let them use a wailing ghost.
Then some names really make you wonder. Is it a good thing to call a car Impact like GM did on their little electric car?
Then at Chrysler you Ram and Dodge. The comedian Gallagher often said with names like that you know they were out to get you.
Often names come down to the folder of names a MFG will register every few years to retain the right to. These names are clean, approved and available.
But the bottom line is this. Names can help sell a good car but they can’t save a bad car. Heritage names from the past can be ruined if used on the wrong car like a Lemans from Korea.
The public often put a lot into a name but at the end of the day price, options, performance, comfort and looks rule over any name.
I don’t think Larry is old enough to remember the Sky King TV show, but that’s the thing that keeps coming into my head when I pull up behind one of those trucks at a stoplight. “From out of the blue of the western sky comes – SKY KING!” That was must-see TV for sure.
I remember when they introduced the Camaro. At a time when most of the cars that interested me carried the names of animals (Impala, Mustang, Bronco, Marlin, Cobra, RoadRunner, et al), or at least had name references I could relate to something (LeMans, Monaco, GTO, Satellite, Torino, etc.), I remember asking, “What the heck IS a Camaro, anyway? It is an animal, place, historical person? What’s it mean?” So I guess to me, the Camaro name is memorable because it just sounded weird at the moment.