8 Cars with Great Nicknames
The stronger your feelings for someone, the higher the probability that you call them something other than their real name. This is also true, especially so, for pets. The principle holds for objects as well, and certain vehicles, with their rich histories and distinct personas, are obvious candidates.
Our staff got talking around the digital watercooler and stumbled into a discussion of our favorite nicknames for various classics (and one oddball). If you only looked at the list of names, you’d think we just hit refresh on a random word generator, but for the most part, there’s a story behind the nickname given to each vehicle below.
Sometimes, the nickname is a reference to a valiant feat. Perhaps someone, once upon a time, came up with a memorable answer to “You know what that car reminds me of?” and the whole world picked up the word and ran with it. Whatever the case, we hope you enjoy our selections, and we encourage you to add your own candidates in the comments—preferably, with an explanation of how that vehicle got that name.
Pizza Butt
I’ll always have a soft spot for odd, obscure, and sometimes ugly cars. It doesn’t get much more odd or obscure or ugly or funny than the Corbin Sparrow EV and its “pizza butt” body style, designed for use by Domino’s. — Andrew Newton
Tin Lizzy
The greatest nicknames come from brave or interesting feats, which is why my nomination for interesting nicknames goes to “Tin Lizzie.” The moniker has been stuck to Model T Fords for over a century at this point and came after Noel Bullock entered a ragged, stripped down ‘T in the 1922 Pikes Peak Hill Climb. That car was called “Old Liz,” but the tin can appearance caused people to shift the name to Tin Lizzie. The rest is history. — Kyle Smith
Clown Shoe
As a Z3 dork, I’d be remiss if I neglected the Clown Shoe, aka M Coupe (and its lesser-known Z3 Coupe sibling). The Clown Shoe a goofy-looking car with a goofy name but a serious-business straight-six engine. BMW’s board approved the project on the condition that engineers retain as much of the existing Z3 roadster hardware as possible, which resulted in the car’s oddball roofline and cartoonish width. You either love it or hate it, but that’s part of the car’s appeal. For better or worse it looks like nothing else on the road. — Eric Weiner
Cobra Killer
My pick is the Bill Thomas Cheetah, Cobra Killer for short. But because I take pictures and can’t really put words together to save my life, I’ll let Aaron Robinson, who wrote about the car in 2023, spit it:
Cheetahs are certainly a weird and wild footnote of 1960s racing Americana. Anaheim, California, Corvette racer Bill Thomas created the tube-framed racing machine with backing from Chevrolet as a street and racing answer to the Ford-powered Shelby Cobra. However, in 1964 the FIA sports car homologation rules were changed from 100 cars to 1000 and General Motors, also facing congressional scrutiny over vehicle safety following the 1964 publishing of Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed, lost interest and yanked the cord on the program. The Cheetah was left high and dry.
Turbo Brick
If you’ve heard the phrase “Turbo Brick” used around Volvos, you’ll immediately get the reference. Purists will say this nickname only applies to the square-as-could-be 240s, but even the more aerodynamically-inclined 740, 960, 850, and early V/S70 are still pretty much slab-sided rectangles. This covers the turbo versions of most Volvos from the late ’70s till around 2000, and I’d say it fits about as well as any nickname could. — Eddy Eckart
Iron Pig
I’ve always liked the Toyota Land Cruiser FJ55’s “Iron Pig” moniker. Not counting the rare FJ45, which was based on the stubby FJ40, the 50-series was the first true Land Cruiser wagon Toyota made. They are handsome, go-anywhere trucks with a distinctive front end, which is where the nickname comes from: some people see a pig’s face in the round headlights and compact grille. I don’t, but as nicknames go, Iron Pig is a great one. — Stefan Lombard
Goat
I think Pontiac’s GTO deserves a spot on this list, since it had a couple. Goat is the one I remember, though—supposedly just an affectionate play on its letters, as G.O.A.T. wasn’t yet the acronym it is today. As a kid, I thought it sounded tough, but I never quite understood it, as the ones I saw at car shows were often adorned not with goats but stuffed tigers, a reference to the ad campaign for the car. — Eddy Eckart
Catfish
The refreshed fourth-gen Camaro was nicknamed “Catfish” because the new fascia, styled with a hint of 1970–73 Camaro, did sort of look like the bottom-feeding fish. — Brandan Gillogly
My Ford truck is named Bubba. My 1972 Chev Nova was Nellie as in Whoa Nellie!
Got to mention the outrageous-looking, well-engineered Virgil Exner-styled early ’60 to ’61 Plymouth Valiants, the road toads. Even in its softened ’62 iteration, it was a polarizing design, much like the Edsels, which likewise received a less severe styling treatment in later years (and also earned itself a few colorful nicknames). Crazy how the exact same Valiant became, under Elwood Engel, the most elegant of the American compacts of the era; look at the ’64 Valiant, hard to believe it’s the same car underneath!
What about the judge?
I don’t know if this was a regional thing, but I had a ’65 Chevelle SS 327 and they were referred to as a mousebox.
I once owned one of those Volvo 240DL “bricks.” It was truly a brick inside and out. It looked like a brick. It was engineered like a brick. It drove like a brick. It was tough as a brick. The engine had all the nuance of a brick. I swear that working on it sometimes felt like brick masonry. Perhaps out of all of these car nicknames, no single nickname captures the essence of a vehicle like the Volvo “Brick.”
And don’t forget the Bugeye / Frogeye Sprite!
Has to be Clown Shoe!
If you allow me, I’d like to start a nickname for the Tesla Cybertruck and that would be “TERMINATOR.” It’s no compliment as I don’t mean it is a badass, robotic looking vehicle, I mean that it “TERMINATES” all sense of aesthetic design. I didn’t think it possible, but it makes me long for the return of the Pontiac Aztek.
The Terminator has already been taken by the awesomeness that is the 2003-2004 Ford Mustang Cobra.
T-Bird “Thunder Chicken”
Thanks, Bing!
The Citroën 2CV, affectionately known as the “Deux Chevaux” (French for “two horses”), has garnered several charming nicknames over the years. Here are a few:
Ugly Duckling: The Dutch were the first to dub it the “Ugly Duckling,” highlighting its unconventional appearance
Tin Snail: In English, it’s often playfully referred to as the “Tin Snail” due to its distinctive shape and modest performance
An Umbrella on Wheels: Another endearing moniker for the 2CV, emphasizing its practicality and unique design
“Shoebox on a roller skate” — the original Mini; somewhat–actually definitely–derisively by East Germans, “Plastic Jaguar,” Trabant.
And…”Topolino” is what the Italians called Mickey Mouse back in the 30s, and applied it to the original Fiat 500 after its 1936 introduction.
I HAVE A 57 NOMAD INSURED BY HAGERTY THAT IS A COMPLETE CUSTOM THAT HAS MOST MAJOR AWARDS IN THE USA WE CALL SHOMAD. JUST THOUGHT I WOULD THROW IN MY NICKNAME.
WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?
Hurst SC/Rambler= Scrambler
Was there ever a more accurate and descriptive nickname than the Studebaker “bulletnose?”
Corn Binder is a pretty superb nickname for the international harvester fans.
My uncle had one. My cousin and I nicknamed it the Combine.
YEP! My dad bought a 1952 Cornbinder when I just started high school. When it burned a valve, he replaced the complete running gear with a Wildcat running gear. At 16, I got to drive a Cornbinder that would hit 140mph, as seen on SW speedo that was set up at the shop to be accurate.
We had one of the first Scouts, then a ’66 ‘Binder 3/4 ton. Tough!
Trucks: Peterbilt = Petercar, Kenworth = K-whomper, White (one COE model) Japanese Freightliner, GMC = Jimmy, or one model ‘Crackerbox’, Mack = ‘Bulldog”, & etc. Drove most of those, myself, plus Fords and Chevys.
My Great Grandpa bought a 1942 International 1/2 ton pickup new. We still use it for various tasks at the family ranch. It was rebuilt in the 70’s. Has been called the “binder” much longer than I’ve been around!
Yes Sir, my buddy came home from school one day circa 1980 to find his dad had brought home a ’65 Cornbinder for him. His dad was a jack of all trades and loved them old Binders thus we already knew them as Cornbinders. My friend wasn’t initially all that enthused until we swapped the mag wheels off of my Comet GT on to the truck (classic big and little deep dish wheels) . Suddenly the truck was 4 inches closer to the ground and looked pretty cool. His dad told us we were tampering with the hauling capacity of the truck by removing those 10-ply tires. We told him it was fine because now it looked like it could haul ass.