My 47 is named The Toad, the interior was customized in 1968 and the amber shift knob has a Toad in it.
My '39 p/u is Rusty, for obvious reasons and my newly acquired Ranch Wagon is Lucille cause she's red like Lucille Ball's hair.
It’s not a permission issue. Exactly right. Kinda reminds me of the people who want to tear down statues and re write history.
Russco funny story. I now have (2) Bichon Frises, and have lost one a year back or so. For my money they are the best dogs of all dogdum. As far as a car earning its name then 'Black Widow" fits also. In the years I've had it, it has bitten me more than once, just lately with the trans having to be rebuilt. (But I aint complaining)
I named the '30 after Don Quixote's horse "Rocinante". he was awkward, past his prime, and engaged in a task beyond his capacities. Also, it is the name of the ship in a song by Rush about a black hole...which also seemed fitting....LOL "On my ship, the 'Rocinante' Wheeling through the galaxies, Headed for the heart of Cygnus Headlong into mystery" Chappy
I had a couple of OT Chevy wagons, the '82 I had was so bad, it was known as The Brown Piece of Shit. My '79 that I bought as a non-running junker with a supposedly bad engine was named The Silver Bullet. It ran amazingly well. My '59 Ford is affectionately known as The Sled since it is so long and a bit low.
When I first bought my 67 c30 flatbed dump it was mofugly and I did not want it sitting in my driveway until it got cleaned up a bit. So I offered it to family and friends for house/garage clean ups. I would park it at their house and allow them to load it with trash, furniture and whatnot. They could keep it as long as needed. When it was full, I would haul it to the dump for the dump fee plus a hundred bucks. Truck was always being used. We called it the garbage barge. It is now lovingly referred to as "Da barge"
This brought back an old memory! Nothing to do with this thread though. My Dad didn't have a name until he went to school. Grandma and Grandpa, Adam and Eva,(really, I swear), fought over naming my Dad. His birth certificate only reads "Boy" for the first name. So they called him Boy 'til he was 6 years old and they had to give him a name for school.
I have a bunch of machines, most do not have names and I don't really make any effort to name them, but sometimes, it just happens. When I first drove my '57 Chevy Sedan Delivery to Speedweek at Bonneville in 2010, people kept calling it a Nomad. We used the car as a support vehicle for our racing team, which meant everybody and their brother either drove it or piled into it at some point, so it was dubbed "The Bromad". The '57 Chevy 150 Business Coupe next to The Bromad in the picture is an old northern California Drag car that has been known as "Thumper" long before I took possession of it. 20161212_153338-jpg by Mike posted Aug 29, 2018 at 1:36 PM My '60s road race inspired '55 Thunderbird is known as "The Battlebird", after the two wild, factory built '57 T-Bird race cars. 20170520_083818-jpg by Mike posted Aug 29, 2018 at 1:18 PM My '29 Model A Woody is known as "The Silly Wooden Car" because it is just that, a silly, wooden car. 20170326_182224-jpg by Mike posted Aug 31, 2018 at 7:59 AM 20170326_182131-jpg by Mike posted Aug 31, 2018 at 7:58 AM
I was at the San Jose Autorama in 1955, Dean Jeffries was striping the Black Widow. He got around to the deck lid (turtledeck) and did a spider web near the key hole. Above the keyhole, he printed in tiny letters: HOME.
This is for you, Chris and Cornfed, with respect for your opinion, and of course that is all it is, opinion and same goes for me. Black Widow in no way resembles the Northern Star of yesterday. I completely rebuilt the frame, boxing it, C'ing it, making and installing a new rear cross member and transmission cross member, re-positioning the motor mounts, figuring where to "bob" the rear horns and fabbing/intstlling that and then giving it a base/clear coat in Ford Toreador Red. I was told by a professional west coast builder it was/is "one of the most beautiful frames he has ever seen come out of a back yard garage", a comment I am very humbled by. The body had never been off the frame since its days at the Ford factory in 33 or 34. Most holes were filled except those needed for reassembly. The frame had also been very modified by Russ Meeks of Portland, Oregon, a respected AMBR winner with his rear engined 32 Ford roadster, for one of the owners along its history travels. Point?? It has no resemblance at all to the NS. configuration at completion. I actually was in the middle of this when I discovered it was the N.S. , a car I idolized my self from the day I saw it in Rod & Custom while in the service some (37) years earlier in Wichita while serving in the USAF. (this story can be seen on the web site Kustomrma on the Jerry Bergs 34 Ford thread should you wish to see it.) By that time it I had sold the fenders and Jerry and his son had been to my home and garage after I had searched Jerry out to inform him where his former 34 now lived) . Jerry filled me in on the days of drag racing with it and informed me that the top insert is out of a '40 Ford Sedan at that time. The upholstery of the N.S. and all of the interior was a far, far cry from its days of glory, and had been replaced many times over also. The body had been at a friends house while he smoothed out some rough spots most of the years while I built the frame and got it ready for the frame. Let me cut this short. If you were at a run, and the BW were there before you, and you did not know of its past history, it wood be just another highboy 34. My version IMHO means no disrespect to the N.S. in fact I'm in complete surprise that it found its way to my garage and extremely happy that it did. It was in complete denial of what it had been, I saved it doing my thing, and with Jerry agreeing it is now the Black Widow. Is it sad that I found it like I did, yes it is. I have its complete history along with pictures of it from Jerry's son which they and I have only seen and respect greatly what it was and has been. When telling the story I reefer to it with the greatest of respect as, the "Former Norther Star." Again I do respect and yes even appreciate also that you want to keep the memory of the Northern Star alive, and so do I (and will). My Black widow and the Northern Star are two completely different cars with the N.S.'s history preserved by me in a large picture volumes and on line by Kustomrama My version deserves its own name and now it has it, of which some people agree with. Thank you, ............34Larry
I grew up in the 50's & 60's and a lot of mild customs rolled on the street of Louisville. Almost every one had a name. "Casper"-White 58 Chevy Impala, "Black Widow"-55 Chevy 210, "Cherry Picker"- Black 50 Ford coupe(cops made him remove the name from his trunk, and just leave the two cherries on it. They said it was too sexually suggestive.) He later had local Pinstriper Bob Taylor paint a martini glass with the 2 cherries in it, and called the same car "Cherry Chaser." (the cops left that one alone.) "Low & Slow"-White 62 Chevy Impala. "The Kid" was a blue 40 Chevy coupe that had a Corvette engine in it, and Dennis The Menace painted on the side. Car owner was a mechanic at V.V. Cooke Chevrolet. Me & a buddy bought a 33 Plymouth coupe for $50 that was an old drag car the owner use to race out at the old Cedar Creek Dragway. It was named "Rang Shod." All our cars we drive have names, but the have to earn them, or come by them over time. "Old Betsy"- was my wife's 79 Chevy Caprice that she had bought new off the Dealership floor, and it lasted her through a divorce & provided her daily transportation for 15 years, without any problems. We have other cars with names but you get the picture.
Whew! Well, my old '36 Five window was NO 'Northern Star'... but with its original radio (worked) and early 4" Mor-Drop axle, reversed eyes/flattened spring... Juice brakes, actual '48 Merc flattie, out of my '48 Merc ragtop. "The Look"? This one had it in spades. Working on the pretty thing in the back yard, frustrated with front ignition, really letting the Coupe know how I felt! My Mom was in the kitchen, informed me that if I kept using those words, especially 'That One', she was gonna paint it on the car! "Which one?" I asked, 'taunting her'... "That...obscenity!" I chuckled, continued fighting the points, finally removed the distributor DUH!!! and finished it on the bench. Took a ride to my striper bud Shannon's, had him print a name on the car... Stepping and standing in the rumble seat, he printed the name in cool slanted lettering: Obscenity. His Mom came out just as he was climbing down...gave him "the look". I got the same thing after the second time my Mom drove ol' 'Obscenity'...she didn't notice it 'til she got back. "Very amusing," she said. My friends and I did the famous 'Steve Allen Laugh'...
I understand why some think giving a car a name, may be silly. But a name makes them stand out as a one off, and not just another Ford T.- A. etc. What if these Rods weren't given a name??? And so many others too. Names are KOOL !
BNGR, for 2 reasons: former owner's wife named it Harrison (Ford), and the DMV wouldn't issue me the tag A-BNR.
They all get names eventually... some are chosen, some are given. April, Rosie, Rosemary, Alice, Henrietta...
I do need to add to my earlier post, that the names are strictly for my conveniance, are not painted on the car, are not used to refer to them at car shows, and can certainly be ignored by a later owner if he so pleases. Most of them are a matter of easy reference, it is much easier to say "Blaze" than Trailblazer, for instance.
For myself: “the 53”, “the 28”, or “the 30”. I don’t know what I’ll do if I get another of the same year...l’m not cool enough to drive a car with a name. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
yea they got names black flathead dragster ""BLACK WIDOW"" 34 5w w/boss nine eng and franklin gc/rear ""HOWLIN WOLF"" blue 27-T ""T-BONE BLUES""
Proper names are for people and pets. Phrases are fine for custom cars and hot rods. Otherwise, your car came with a name, from the factory.
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