Car/bike Names what are the best? worst?

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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by CitroJim »

Michel wrote: 25 Jan 2018, 10:53 Rustin Maxi. How appropriate!


:lol: Indeed it was...
Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur wrote: 25 Jan 2018, 09:42 I think the best name for a car sometimes depends upon the particular vehicle, the Vauxhall Agila that my partner used to have was re-christened The Money Pit, a very appropriate title for a very bad car.
Was that the most recent one, a badge-engineered Suzuki Splash? Or was it the earlier one?

I ask as a good friend has a 12 plate Agila (Splash) and it's not a bad car by any means... A bit uninspiring to drive but it almost passes my '100 mile bum-ache' test and for her it's been faultless...

My Nissan Pixo is a badge-engineered Suzuki Alto and shares a lot with the Splash... Again, uninspiring to drive but for my daughter it was faultless and again it almost passes my bum-ache test and is great when my knee is bad...
white exec wrote: 25 Jan 2018, 09:00 Takes a bit to beat Nissan's 'Pajero' *, which, when brought to Spain, had to immediately change name (Montero). It appeared as Shogun for the UK.
Must have been a bit of a surprise when the first private imports were brought in, with original large and chromy badging! :roll:

*In Spanish, it translates as w*nker, t*sser, and the like.
:lol:

Legend has it that the Shogun was so named because it was intended to be called 'Shotgun' but the person dictating the name could not pronounce it and it came out exactly as you'd expect a Japanese person to pronounce the word..... That may be apocryphal...

Nearer home as it were, the Citroen Jumpy, I believe, had to have a name change for the UK market as 'Jumpy' was thought to be a not a good name for a reliable, trustworthy and solid van!

I believe that's not an isolated case...
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by Richard_C »

if I were boss of a big car manufacturer, I might outsource my naming strategy to Ikea just for a laugh. If they can sell sofas called Sandbacken and Ypperlig they can name anything. I reckon they do an infant version of countdown - 5 year olds get letters out of a box (mostly consonants) and another team of 3 year olds put them in order.

Back to cars.

Is it true that Rover owners simply levered the "R" off the badge when the company went bust?

I always thought that advertising the Colt brand must have been a proof-readers nightmare, up there with Carp Monthly. Meanwhile, I can imagine a marketing director in Japan yelling down the phone after the Colt Starion was launched - "NO - I said call it Starion, not Starion, Starion like the horse"

The Toyota MR2 was sold as the Toyota MR in France - saying MRdeux out loud sound a lot like merde ... And Rolls Royce wisely changed Silver Mist to Silver Shadow when they found what Mist means in German. Both available in brown only, I guess.

The Citroen Synergie was the Evasion in France - perhaps here Evasion made people think of tax cheating. I had a Renault 5 Gordini, sold as the Alpine in France but Sunbeam/Rootes/Chrysler owned the Alpine name in UK and elsewhere so they called it after Amedee Gordini. The Synergie cousins struck me as a naming nightmare. Peugeot stuck to numbers, as they do, but we had the Fiat Useless and the Lancia Dreadful.

I always think Mondeos should have a Mondeo badge on the inside (because its my deo) and Sondeo on the outside (because its his deo). Women owners could have a Sadeo badge as a no cost extra. Maybe I over think some of this stuff.
Last edited by Richard_C on 25 Jan 2018, 11:55, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by CitroJim »

Richard_C wrote: 25 Jan 2018, 11:43 Is it true that Rover owners simply levered the "R" off the badge when the company went bust?


:rofl2:
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by white exec »

Years ago, I found myself behind a Range Rover, where the letters had been re-arranged (with a bit of help) to read
G R A V E . E R R O R

On a humbler level, a tidy bright red Ford Escort simply proclaimed
S O R T E D
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by CitroJim »

white exec wrote: 25 Jan 2018, 13:27 Years ago, I found myself behind a Range Rover, where the letters had been re-arranged (with a bit of help) to read
G R A V E . E R R O R



Never a truer word spoken in jest :lol:
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by Paul-R »

MG Midgets from 1970 to 1979 had the word MIDGET spelt out on the sill on both sides. I was very tempted to rearrange them to spell DIMGET. Unfortunately the pin configuration on the backs of the letters made this a non-trivial job.
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

I recall reading a story (in "Confession", from the Simon May Radio 2 drive time show) when the confessor had bought a couple of badges that he fitted to the local Vicars' Land Rover. They read "Randy Lover"!
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by CitroJim »

Hell Razor5543 wrote: 25 Jan 2018, 17:47 I recall reading a story (in "Confession", from the Simon May Radio 2 drive time show) when the confessor had bought a couple of badges that he fitted to the local Vicars' Land Rover. They read "Randy Lover"!


:rofl2: Quality!

I love Simon Mayo's confessions spot - it always makes me giggle and more often than not absolutely howl :)
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by Michel »

white exec wrote: 25 Jan 2018, 13:27 Years ago, I found myself behind a Range Rover, where the letters had been re-arranged (with a bit of help) to read
G R A V E . E R R O R

On a humbler level, a tidy bright red Ford Escort simply proclaimed
S O R T E D


I've seen "Shaguar" on, of all things, a Ford Galaxy people carrier by Northolt aerodrome.

I bought a 2cv off a chap in Saunderton who had a Range with Strange Lover on the front.
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by van ordinaire »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 25 Jan 2018, 08:02
Michel wrote: 24 Jan 2018, 23:51 Mazda Carol Me Lady
Honda That's
Ford Probe
Volugrafo Bimbo
Mitsubishi Lettuce
Mazda Titan dump
Isuzu mystery utility wizard
Subaru Every Joypop Turbo
Geely Rural Nanny
Daihatsu Naked
Daihatsu Scat
Mitsubishi Active Urban Dandelion

I <3 Japanese car names.


Excellent Mike, I thought the only real one on your list was the Ford Probe at first, but no. For anyone wondering what a Mitsubishi Lettuce looks like here it is, AND.....it has wing mirrors on the wings!

https://images.complex.com/complex/imag ... vszic3.jpg

Regards Neil


All real, all lifted, unashamedly, from "25 most ridiculous car names" (although a few are trucks, many are vans/MPV's & a couple defy categorisation).
The Lettuce has the MOST extraordinary wing mirrors, yet the doors are clearly designed to accomodate mirrors (odd for a Japanese home market model), clearly anticpating its successor, the Mittice (or some such) which DID have door mirrors!

The best (worst?) Japanese use of "gratuitous English" must be the Athletes Foot chain of trainer shops.
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Can't let the thread dribble away into obscurity without one of these

Image
Spoiler: show
Image
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by dnsey »

I had a B25 'Starfire', which I always thought was rather a good name.
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New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

dnsey wrote: 29 Jan 2018, 18:57 I had a B25 'Starfire', which I always thought was rather a good name.


This little article may bring back some memories, nice pics and a US Advert from 1969 which across the bottom illustrates the range of excellent names for BSA machines at the time.

ie 250cc Starfire 441cc Victor Special 500cc Royal Star 650cc Thunderbolt 654cc Lightning 650 cc Firebird Scrambler 750cc Rocket 3

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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

Simca came up with a concept car that was only a mis-spelling from being considered somewhat rude;
Spoiler: show
http://www.cultofweird.com/transportati ... ncept-car/
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Re: New Topic! Car Names what are the best?

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Send that link to Elon Musk
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