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The Lamborghi Countach is one, Ford Mustang another. The names alone make you want one.
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And what of the Lamborghini Gallardo, Murciélago and Aventador. :-) Not sure about the Diablo. All names after fighting bulls aren't they?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 23 Jun 11 at 22:50
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Jowett Weasel.................................Nah.
Ted
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"Testarossa" roles off the tongue, even though it loses a bit in the translation (doesn't it mean "Red Head"?)
Other great names, making you think of the glamour of aircraft are "Interceptor" and "Spitfire".
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I've never owned a car with a name. Proper cars have a number designation.
Giving a car a name is like plastering a house in stone cladding.
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>I've never owned a car with a name.
Not even an "Escort" Dave?
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"Not even an "Escort" Dave?"
Not even a Bimbo
tinyurl.com/5sp493n
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Agree Ford Mustang. (wild)
Daimler Benz.(posh)
Jaquar.(Fast) Porsche (Power) Bentley.Rols Royce even posher.Ferrari.(Off the scale)
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From the suggestions above, Interceptor is my favourite.
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That will show the neighbours Alstair.!
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It will be a long time coming, Dutchie. I think the Octavia will be with me for a while yet.
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I thought at the time that Sierra was a good choice. Maybe not cool, exactly, but more dynamic and aspirational-sounding than Cortina, even if it does mean 'saw'. But then I suppose back in 1847 or whenever, Cortina evoked Continental glamour and skiing, rather than Billericay Dickie and furry dice.
Continental, there's another one. Not Bentley, of course, but a Lincoln Continental sounded to my eight-year-old self like a fine thing to travel in. Never have, and not sure which continent it's meant to evoke when it's designed, built and sold entirely on one, but that's not really the point, is it?
And I've always liked Aston Martin's series of V-names, especially Volante, which just sounds so effortlessly elegant. Virage, though, just means 'bend', which is a bit silly.
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The Jensen Interceptor. It's become a recent favourite of mine.
The Alvis Firebird.
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Corvette Stingray.
Ford Thunderbird.
Pontiac Trans Am.
Oldsmobile Cutlass.
Dodge Charger.
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Yes lots of examples of the name making the car cool though what about the car making the name cool:
E-Type
Mini
Daytona
Dino
599
SL
SM
RS
etc
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>> Yes lots of examples of the name making the car cool though what about the
>> car making the name cool:
>>
Good point....and the best example of all IMHO is "GTI".
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Friendee Bongo.
Now come on, that IS a cool name because it's so flippin' naff.
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I always thought the Ford Probe was a great name for a car ... for a gynecologist!
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>> Good point....and the best example of all IMHO is "GTI".
>>
Maybe it you consider the Golf though there have been many GTI perhaps not worthy of the name which after all oroginated in GT meaning Gran Turismo - itself redefined lately by the gaming fraternity.
Last edited by: Cheddar on Fri 24 Jun 11 at 15:59
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Isn't that the point? The success of the Golf GTI and, later, the 205 made it a trademark-free tag that anyone could stick on anything in the hope of grafting on some prestige. I suspect seeing the free ride it gave Peugeot was part of VW's motivation in making TDI a trademark, much imitated - TiD, CDTI - but never actually matched for oily cachet.
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>> VW's motivation in making TDI a trademark, much imitated - TiD, CDTI - but never
>> actually matched for oily cachet.
>>
TDI and cachet? No surely not, to most it means rumbly noisy DI and PDI units, it anything they should have changed it for the CR units that are nicely refined. Rather like Ford did going from TDDi to TDCi, similarly Saab and GM and also MB with CDi meaning CR.
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Plymouth Cuda
Pontiac Tempest
Buick Riviera
Ford Corvair
Wolsely Hornet
Gordon Keeble
Reliant Scimitar
Humber Hawk
They don't make names like that anymore, at least not for bread and butter cars. Only seems to be the preserve of supercars. Pagani Zonda is one of my modern favourites.
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>> Ford Corvair
Corax: forgive me for a bit of pedantry, but the Ford model was called a Corsair.
The Corvair was a Chevrolet model, a rear-engined air-cooled flat six, the most original car from a major US manufacturer since WW2. It oversteered of course - had a swing axle rear end that could catch US drivers out - and was killed off by the dastardly lawyer Ralph Nader with a class action. Instead of paying off the victims' families and improving the thing, GM wimpishly stopped making it. Nader later stood for president splitting the Democrat vote and helping the appalling George W. Bush into power. May have a well-meaning side but objectively is a super-carphound.
Corvair was a good-looking jalopy too. I'd like one.
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Lotus always came up with some decent names, Elite, Elan, Europa and Esprit for example.
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I agree AC.
European lines made it striking and uniquely different to anything on the US domestic market. The rear suspension 'jack up' tendency could have been sorted. IIRC the rear engined Skoda had the same problem which was corrected.
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>> the rear engined Skoda had the same problem which was corrected.
Actually cc the front-engined Octavia - there's a link to pix somewhere in this thread - which was very well-made and durable, had a swing-axle back end and was notorious for wayward behaviour on slippery bumps.
Of the five rear-engined Skodas I owned, the first and in many ways the best had the swing axle back end. It was fine in corners provided you kept your foot firmly on the loud pedal all the way through the bend. But if you were marching on a bit and lifted off in a corner, the tail would go out sharply (although not dangerously in my experience).
All the other ones I had were 130s, with semi-trailing arms at the back and double cv joints in each half shaft. They were a bit more comfortable and a lot less wayward, but a bit thirstier and somehow not quite as 'pure'. Great cars though if you could be bothered to keep them in tune, in an era when few modern cars needed much tuning.
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>> Corvair was a good-looking jalopy too. I'd like one.
Of course you're right AC. Looked it up as well, and still didn't notice the manufacturer! But the notorious swing axle was in the back of my mind.
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Cars With Cool Names - rtj70
