I name all my cars something. My 55 chevy sedan delivery was "Dreamy". My 50 pontiac was "Crystal Blue Persuasion" because if the color. My current project named itself. Since its a 58 chevy Delray and i am putting a few Impala pieces on it it became the Delpala. So i had these made and they will go on the car.
My wife calls my 53 Vicky "Victoria". That works for me. It already says it on the door trim so I don't have to have it painted behind the fenders or on the dash. Haha.
Street cars never had a name. A couple of the racecars have, but not all of them. Usually something else triggers it. My Monte Carlo street stock was named 'Sybil' I think we can guess why. Current car is Hayden because the guy I got it from had his kids names on the dash. We got part way through removing them and got called away. 'Hayden' was the only one of the three left and we never bothered to remove it. So, she's Hayden.
racer dave, had you been back in the 60s, you would know your statement "street cars never had a name" was untrue. I was a young sailor just out of submarine school when I eloped with my 18 year old bride. In honor of her, my '65 425 hp Corvette coupe had "soul and inspiration" on the front fenders. Of course that was a 60s fad and like all fads they come and go. Just posted a poll on the HAMB about where to put that name on my '40 coupe, in honor of our 50th wedding anniversary in 2016. Winning selection was on the glove box door. I always was a fan of the fad. But the 60s was a funny time. I attended in early 60s auto tech college in upstate NY before going in the Navy. Kid in our class had a nice looking '56 Ford hardtop and he had "horny toad" on the front fenders. The dean made him tape over the first word when car was on campus. Wouldn't raise an eyebrow in today's world, would it?
My kids named our car. When it showed up on the tow truck it was covered in Rust. As most young kids would they thought it was a POS and needed to be painted. When I replied "no she is just Louisiana red" they named her Ruby. Now everyone calls the car Ruby!
When my girls were little, they used to name all of our cars after "Thomas the tank engine" characters, based on their colors. The wife's daily was Henry (green), my daily was James (red), the '62 Triumph was Rusty (duh), the '37 Plymouth was Diesel (black). Luckily, those days are past. The '35 is just called "the 35", but it's real name is "Bad Influence".
I made some $ in the late 50s an early 60s painting names on cars,along with striping an airbrushing "T"s as "The Bat" out of hell,always named my own cars too. I'm a bit sad for those that don't,they missed out an will keep missing a part of owning and building cars there hard heads can't get.
I've never understood why and never was compelled to name a car or my private parts yet both have brought me joy. Some people just have to I quess.
I've called my cars a lot of names over the years,when they are preforming as they should the names are nice,but on those rare occasions when it seems every thing goes wrong they are rather salty and not very complimentary. Funny how these damn old cars can bring out the best and worse in us. There is no way I would paint any names on my cars. HRP
ha- No I know cars had names, I just meant that I never named any of mine. Unless you count 'You stupid f****** piece of c***'
I named my 59 Chevy Apache 'Charlina the wicked witch of Oak Cliff' It's flat black and when I my father and I started to restore the truck we were having all kinds of problems from the motor to the brakes giving out in the worse times and working when we would get home haha It's a girl bc my wife would get mad bc I spent a whole lot of time with the truck.. I named her Charlina after the scene on La Bamba when the goofy guy sings and calls out 'Charlina! Don't you know I need you! Don't you know I looooovee you!' And as everyone can relate, restoring a car can be a head ache and make you wanna beg the car to cooperate haha And 'of Oak Cliff' is the area that my family is from in Dallas haha it's a title haha
I wrote earlier I had never named a car- this got me thinking about it- I have a 1960 Pontiac Catalina I bought from the first owners- it was her daily- so last evening I decided to name the 60- MISS EVA- I will just have a Custom license plate made for the front- They are both 94 now and just celebrated their 72nd Wedding Anniversary-
My coupe is a near dead ringer for one my dad built in 1954 -- I sometimes refer to mine as "The Carbon Copy Coupe". Corny but nonetheless descriptive.
I confess,,,,, I name em, always have always will. I even give them WWII plane designation. The 61 Galaxie is the "Widder" P-61, it just all fits too well.
My grandma witnessed me working on my '36 Five window, night after night. The previous owner had installed a 59AB engine with a '35 tranny case...pressure plate interfered with shallow housing, cracked tranny case, so whilst tearing it down for repairs, found a literal 'trail' of errors. Wrong threaded bolts forced into cast iron holes, etc. Grandma wouldn't repeat the words I shouted, instead referred to the car as an 'Obscenity'! ...And that's what I had Shannon the Striper print in 2" high letters above the back window: "OBSCENITY" The 'Dean of Boys' left a note on my windshield regarding the name... I cleverly taped a paper cover over it, but some of my buds knew the score, and Don S. wrote "F%#KER" on the paper in black crayon. The Dean saw it, and tore it off...never said another word about it.
Every time I read one of these threads about 'naming cars' there is a bunch that reacts negatively. I've seen some GREAT humor in cars' names, mainly between '59 and '62. San Jose had a raft of '58 and '59 Impalas, named: 1. 'Broad Jumper' (wealthy Los Gatos kid, 'College type') 2. 'Orphan Annie' (Ann something, her Doctor Dad bought her the car and threw her out for partying) 3. 'Mr. Completely' (another Los Gatos 'wiseacre') 4. 'Cat Sass' (335 four speed, fast car: "nobody wipes the Cat's ass") My bud's black '33 Tudor sedan was dubbed "The Villain"...looked the part. I had a '34 Five window, named "Troubles" (it was always something!) My dropped '48 Cad was big and 'scary' to some chicks. Front fender read, "The Curse". There were more...we couldn't resist a laugh.
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