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… Marketing speak. You ain’t driving a name! I would rather own a car called the “Turkey” if it weighed < 2500lbs, had 400HP, low center of gravity, braked well, corned flat and looked like a Miura. Sign me up as my "Turkey" makes me smile with each shift, brake and slide. If it came to be; many drivers would envy / desire the "Turkey" and kids would put that poster on their wall.
You forgot the Toyota HiLux Mojave edition from the mid ‘80’s. The only Toyota truck with a smooth tailgate (no stamped “TOYOTA” lettering) and a basecoat/clearcoat paint, in gold, obviously.
My ‘95 Tacoma has a smooth tailgate. The “TOYOTA” is simply stick-on letters.
Or did you mean to say the HiLux Mojave was the only model of that era without stamped letters?
I lived in Europe for a while and the weirdest name I remember was the Dutch manufactured Daf Variomatic. No idea what variomatic meant, but it locked itself up in my memory.
Variomatic was the name of their unique rubber belt automatic transmission. All Dafs were automatic when this was very unusual in small cars in Europe.
And nowadays, Peterbilt slaps their emblem on Daft trucks made in Mexico. I hate global economy.
Right, Jonathan D. I’ll add that the Variomatic was a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
Don’t forget the Pontiac 6000 LE, which everyone called the “Goolie”
If only they had a version of it that was the 6000 GLE, it would have been ahead of its time.
Nissan BladeGlider…
We always give names to our cars, my old Dodge Omni was a Bombni as it was such a pos. Dodge aspen was the blastin aspen, currently the matrix is trixie but my 66 ragtop Polara is Audrey or as I sometimes call her, “ the big girl “. My daughter named her Audrey because “ Audrey Hepburn was a classy gal and so is your car Dad “. I know I’m a little off-topic but, oh well
Had a 1966 VW Type 3 Notchback. Every body panel, including the roof, had dents (none by me). The red paint was heavily oxidized. It ran great though. We called it the Crimson Turd. I paid $125 for it in 1971 and sold the engine for $100 in about 1976.
We never named our cars in the beginning but after a few years with the kids doing who knows what in the back seat ,they all became known as Little Stinky!
In the late ‘70s, my father-in-law had a
‘76 Olds 88 Royale Brougham as a company car. They lived in the San Fran area and that huge soft-sprung car was terrible to drive on steep hills, winding mountain roads, etc. it also got horrible gas mileage during the ‘70’s oil crises. It was a baby blue color, and my mother-in-law christened it “The Blue Pig”.
Lamborghini model names have been great for their marketing. Murciélago translating to Bat in Spanish is so fitting with it’s rear air intakes. Pair that with pop culture influence (thanks Kanye) and you have a name everybody recognizes.
Lamborghini’s are all named after prize winning prize fighting bulls from across Europe.
I got to go with that no va. Lol
I always thought Eldorado had a special cache. And Grand Prix said it all for Pontiac’s top of the line, sport -luxury 2 door. And what’s not to love about Thunderbird.
All those names and no one thought about VWs Thing???
First one that came to my mind. What else would you call it though? (-:
For those talking about King Ranch edition Fords, note, it’s name and logo are an actual ranch (the largest in the US), not just a Ford trim
https://king-ranch.com/
When I see a King Ranch tooling around Manhattan Island I’m reminded of the Randy Newman lyric “All hat, no cattle”.
No Datsun Fairlady?
I have one word for all of you:
Le Car.
And I swear I saw one once with Massachusetts plates and the “R” removed from the “Le Car” door sticker.
Yugo and then you don’t go!
For some reason, the mention here of the Ford “King Ranch” editions brought to mind Cowboy Carl on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, played by Lawrence Fishburn (yes, Morpheus that Lawrence Fishburn).
Lawrence was also on Polkadot Door on his way up to be a star. My son watched it when he was small.
He was Pokeroo if I remember correctly.