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?
The Jeep 327 Vigilante. I have this in my 1968 Jeep Gladiator
Dodge 413 max wedge, Buick nailhead,
Though not the most impressive engine, I like the engine name of Blue Flame Six.
BearCat V8 1955 Studebaker
Hemi…plain and simple
I love the engine names, but what about transmissions? Chevy’s PowerGlide, ford’s Ford-O-Matic, the Hydramatic, the Turbomatic, the TorqueFlight, (not to mention the illusive rock crusher and toploader 4 speeds)?