Tuesday, June 21, 2005

A car, personified

For some bizarre reason that I cannot explain, I assign names to my cars. My first machine, a well-loved Mazda with a 5-speed, a sunroof and a stereo, was known as Bessie. I went the alliterative route for my next car, a red Honda known as Henrietta.

(It, too, had a stick and a sunroof. You can tell I've got a thing for vehicles with holes over one's head.)

This picture is older than our kids (the car was from the 1990 model year), but I've always loved it because it's this amazing swath of pure color and surface texture.

Your turn: Do you name your car? If so, I hope you'll share the name, as well as the story behind it.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Naming cars has been a trend in my family since before I was born. My grandfather had an ancient brown Dodge called Lizzy Jane. The car my mother had was a white duster named "Harvey S**thead" (Asterisks used for your sake, not mine), although when I started using the latter half of that at the age of one, it was renamed "Harvey Schmitlapper" Whatever.

Anyway, our current vehicle is a green subaru Forester. Forester Gump.

Heather said...

The closest I ever came to naming my car was when I called my old one that always overheated on me a #^*()^$#!

Thumper said...

My car is named "FINALLY!" 'Cause, you know, I finally got the ragtop I wanted... ;)

Only other time I sort-of named a car was the Hyundai Accent I drove for a while. Nerple. It was as purple as a concord grape, so it was my Purple Nerple.

Yep, I'm a dork.

Jennie said...

We took a trip across country two summers ago and somewhere around the Grand Tetons (it was a frightening ride down) we got sentimental about our van and named her Gold Traveller, Goldie, for short.
I named my first car, an ugly but groovy yellow Mustang II, Sir Jazz Carr, an actual name of a baby in my WIC office when I was a nutritionist.

Anonymous said...

I call mine either "Scooby" or Rex." Both are totally unoriginal. They're both common nicknames for the model I drive - Subaru WRX.

I know - I'm a dork.

Diane said...

(cough)

Why yes!

Hershchel and Lucscious

Henrietta and Bessie - Classics!

My favorite was a beat up Dodge Charger that was missing its exhaust, owned by a friend of mine many years ago. We dubbed it "Chocolate Thunder".

Diane said...

Oh- I forgot to mention that it was a brown Dodge Charger.

Dayli said...

My parent old car (a 1975 Subaru) is named "Tarantula", from the word "tarante" which means (freely translated) "old piece of sh*t" in Hebrew.

My Honda Civic was called "The Whore", because we lent it to anyone who asked , to use in any way the see fit (as a 4x4, a tow car, etc). It made for some nice sentences - "It's my turn with the Whore today!".

My newest car, a Ford Focus is called, simply, "Baby".

Suzanne said...

I suppose it's better to have a whole over your head, than a whole IN your head.
I used to drive an ivory colored old timer-- convertable VW beetle bug, that was referred to as "the Wedding Car", because people always wanted to borrow it for their weddings.

These days, I just try real hard to look cool in my peacock blue "Momma van" I love it!

Anonymous said...

1991 Honda Accord -- The Hurricane. In my weekly commute from Kitchener to London it zips down the highway at speeds greater than 119 kilometers(74 miles) per hour. According to the Beaufort scale, this qualifies as a hurricane.

musingwoman said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
musingwoman said...

My 2004 dark blue Stratus is named Miranda, because when I got her (a few months ago), I was reading The Tempest and watching Sex and the City reruns.

Christine said...

I love that picture! The bright red and the reflection - great shot!

We don't name our cars. We are terribly uncreative, and refer to them as "the Mazda" and "the van".

Queen on the run said...

I have named every car I ever owned.
My last car was liberty, because it had been a long time between cars and I finally felt free again.
This one is called Annie. Because I bought her in Anacortes. I had a yellow cellica that was called suuny.a brown Nova named Bessie.
There are more.I could go on for a long time. I think we name our vehicles because we spend so much time in them and they come to mean so much to us.

Mellie Helen said...

My mom always named her cars, but I didn't. Makes it easier to trade 'em in if they aren't personified! Although I am *still* driving the Honda Civic I bought new in 1988, so I guess trading in isn't really a valid reason for this argument.

Raehan said...

I haven't named my car, but we did when I was a kids. Maybe I should start again though.

Dawn said...

I do not name my car but I do call it a spoiled brat when it starts acting up....does that make me crazy? :)

Anonymous said...

My new car's name is Ravioli. It's a RAV 4. :-)

millennium hippies said...

The only car I ever named was my first one. It was a hand-me-down Subaru sedan from my mom. I named it Ferbert. I cannot for the life of me remember why I named it that.