What are your favorite engine names?
What’s in a name? Is it massive torque? Immense power? Something else?
No matter what you’re into, great engine names are out there. Ford has the Windsor and Coyote, with the Essex for oddball lovers like yours truly. Chrysler has the Hemi and Hellcat, but there’s something inherently impressive about the phrase Max Wedge. Chevrolet motors aren’t necessarily as catchy in the moniker department, but the big-block rat and small-block mouse motors are nicknames worthy of mention.
And let’s not forget the (Mercury) Super Marauder V-8, (Buick) Fireball V-6, and even the (Oldsmobile) Rocket. Marketers in Detroit were working overtime in the good ol’ days, and we admire Stellantis for dubbing its new inline-six “Hurricane,” which has a whiff of decades past.
That’s just what we see stateside and in English, too, which means there are perhaps plenty more noms de “boom“ around the globe. (Multi-lingual readers—enlighten us!)
So let’s get into it, what are your all-time favorite engine names?
Super Duty or SD.
Ram Air 1-2-3-4-5
Pratt and Whitney “Wasp” or “Cyclone” I know they are airplane engines but it did not say we could not list others.
Exactly hyperv6. My choice would be the Rolls-Royce V-12 Merlin Engine used in the Spitfire & the Lancaster & others.
I would choose the Rolls for performance but for name Wasp just sounds evil.
Both the Wasp and the Cyclone were made by Wright, not Pratt & Whitney.
Wasp was a Pratt & Whitney engine name.
My mistake. The Cyclone is the Wright product.
Dodge’s baby hemi – the “red ram”. Fantastic little engine at 241 cubes (basically 4 liter) but what a HEAVY SLUG. Just about pulled the chicken barn down pulling the engine and trans out of my ’53 Coronet!!
Also the “flat crank special” Dodge flatheads and the “job rated” Dodge truck engines and the “twin h power” Hudson six and the old “cast iron wonder” inline chevy (215 et al) from ’29 to about 53 – also called “stove bolts”
Super Duty. One name so cool, Ford had to steal it.
Colombo V12 By Ferrari
The “Blue Flame Six” baby!! and for the other team, the venerable Super Cobra Jet. you have to give Kudos to the guys that came up with some cool Ford names like “Voodoo”, “Predator” and “Godzilla”
Yeah, I always thought Blue Flame Six was a catchy name for an engine. Iron Duke also sticks in my mind as memorable. Not sure if Nailhead was actually a name that Buick coined, but it sure is descriptive enough if one knows what it means (most of the general public don’t, I think). Mouse and Rat are fun. Again, not OEM monikers that the Marketing Team were pushing, but in the enthusiast world, well known. To me, whether an engine maker attached a cool name or if one was just picked by the public, either way it’s fun. So frankly, I’m not sure I can isolate a favorite – but I think I know my LEAST favorite: EcoBoost!
Elephant
I still have a “Blue Flame Six” in my 1954 Corvette. It also has a 2-speed Power Glide.
“Vulcan” by Ford
The Shogun was great too.
Nailhead by Buick !
Even though I prefer to say it when ‘340’ is attached, I really like Magnum.
Using Viper for both the car name and the engine name is pretty cool too; it’s my (close) second favorite.
Would Elephant count?!
If Elephant counts, I’ll actually nix that for “The Leaning Tower of Power” because that sounds a bit cooler to me.
That let’s Shelby Snake in….but, why not?
When will EV makers start branding their motors?
https://www.hagerty.com/media/news/ev-makers-give-their-motors-clever-brand-names/
Is it customary to name something that doesn’t have a soul? I would bet a dozen donuts that there will not be a lot of specificity on make or model of the various electric motors that make their way into a particular make of EV
I submit “Ampster In A Cage” and “Watt, No Sound?” as possibilities (all rights reserved).
👍👍👍👍👍
My buddy had a big Oldsmobile, late 60s, I think. On the air cleaner it said “Oldsmobile 425 Ultra High Compression Super Rocket”. Wish I had that cover to hang in the garage!
Pontiac 400 engine
I have one of those engines I put it in my 66, 442. The original engine was a 400 but I bought a wrecked 66 Oldsmobile Starfire. It had the ultra high compression 425
Tornado by Willys
Sonoramic Comando Power
Mopar Magnum, Super Commando, Hemi for sure
343 Typhoon by American Motors
Chryslers Golden Lion 361 4brl
Go Devil Willys L134.
And Go-Devil had a real world antecedent. A “Go-Devil” was the kid who dropped the nitro ‘torpedo’ charge down an oil well shaft. My mother had a cousin who worked as a go-devil, close to a hundred years ago.
The Chrysler FIREPOWER and DeSoto FIREDOME hemis
Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about the Firedome (which is sad, because my mother had one – in a ’57 fin-mobile), but that is a very descriptive and catchy name. 🙂
Ford inline 6 best engine mule ford ever made!!
Mopar “SUPER COMMANDO” .
The Jeep 327 Vigilante. I have that in my 1968 Jeep Gladiator.