Nicknames

[padgett]

Laughter is good particularly now. Ever since cars became common, the have always been nicknames. To some they seem demeaning but not for those who had one.

Recently I was corrected for calling a Yenko Stinger a Stinker (or lil' stinker) when back in the day it was common. Also people often sound out or play on acronyms. The earliest I know of is a Flivver. (which actually has an interesting history). While Doozy passed into the language. What popular car's nickname can from one of Micky Mouse's "nephews".

Speaking of which what Italian car is really "Micky Mouse". ?

For example the GTO is commonly called a GOAT or a Garbage Truck Option. What legendary accessory really started as a Garbage Truck Option ?

What is the moniker given to the Ford Explorer ?

What is the "Floating Bull".

What car name means "Doesn't go" in Spanish

Others ?

 

 

[oldcarfudd]

The FIAT topolino means little mouse.  No va, two words, means doesn't go in Spanish.

[Grimy]

When I was in college almost 60 years ago, I drove a two-tone green 1948 DeSoto Suburban known among my "friends" as The Green Latrine.

[padgett]

Specific cars: Had a 70 Grand Prix 400 four speed with H78 tires and an open read end. We called it asphyxiation.

[CHuDWah]

Mickey Mouse's nephews are Mortimer and Ferdinand - Morty and Ferdy for short.  A Ford sometimes is called Ferdy.

 

Floating Bull - Lamborghini?

[Uncle_Buck]

My Gran Turismo Omologato suggested to me that the true meaning of the 3 letter abbreviation - GTO: means Go To Olds ...  So I made the switch !!

[padgett]

Floating bull : Toronado (really swimming bull but like floating better).

 

OK try this: (no googling).

 

 

 

ps my Judge has a W30 'vert suspension with delrin bushings. Does that make it a resto-mod ?

[Billy Kingsley]

I earned the nickname El Camino Billy by my protestation of the common abbreviated nickname used for them, when I was 15 years old. 

More people refer to me as El Camino Billy than just Billy or Bill. 

 

I don't care for nicknames or abbreviations, but strangely I'm fine with acronyms. You will never see me say or write Chevy, it's always Chevrolet, for example. Yet I rarely type out General Motors and have no issue with GM.

[JamesR]

Way back when, my brother called my '87 Ford Escort an "Escargot" (French for "snail" 😄.)

[Buffalowed Bill]

A friend and coworker with a wry sense of humor would make statements with the hats he wore and the tea shirts that he had printed . He was a young family man who only had to commute of about fifteen miles a day, so he searched out those big luxury cars, which usually belonged to older people. They were well taken care of, garaged, comfortable and cheap. One day he showed up with a beautiful early 1970's Buick two door htp. As I looked over the car, i just burst out laughing. He had printed a bumper sticker "The facial fuel eliminator."

Edited April 29, 2020 by Buffalowed Bill (see edit history)

[lump]

Surprised no one has yet mentioned the common "Tin Lizzy," which many of us have applied to Model T's. 

[jukejunkie1015]

I remember my Grandfather calling first car, a 1926 Essex , an Assex because he said you had to be an Ass to buy one. 

[lump]

Even engines and engine families have been given nicknames, now that I think of it.

 

Many of you may have heard of big block Chevy engines being referred to as "Rats," and small blocks as "Mice." Then there is the high performance Ford "SOCK" (S.O.H.C." 427), which was also sometimes called a "Cammer." And who could forget Chevrolet's famous "Stovebolt" six? Chrysler high performance motors were often described by the shape of the combustion chambers, such as the famous "Wedge" motors, and the even-more famous "Hemi," (now a commonly-used brand name for the engine...but hot rodders were calling them that when Chrysler was still using names like, "Red Ram" for the engine). But racers have long called the beloved Chrysler Hemi engine the "Elephant." We all know the Ford "Y-Block" engine family...but does that qualify as a "nickname?" You decide. Same goes for the FE engine family, with names like "Side Oiler," and "Low Riser," etc. 

 

How many others can you think of? 

Edited April 27, 2020 by lump (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

I have a reminder in the center of my steering wheel. "BRING MY WALLET"

[padgett]

a) Mentioned Flivver so Tim Lizzie would have been for the same car.

b) Nailhead, Copper Cooled, Silent Knight, Twin H Power,, tripower, Firepower,  Porcupine head, Ardun Heads,  Pentastar head, SOHC 6 Pontiac was also a cammer, tunnel port, oval port, d-port.

c) Acronyms: Fix it again tony, First on race day

d) Headers: banana, trombone, snakes

[46 woodie]

My wife's mother has a Pierce Arrow when she was young and they called it a "Fierce Sparrow".

[dictator27]

BMW= bowel moving wonder.

[3macboys]

1 hour ago, padgett said:

First on race day

Or Found on road dead, Fix or repair daily

 

And the Ford Exploder

Edited April 27, 2020 by 3macboys (see edit history)

[oldcarfudd]

Over 50 years ago I had a pretty doggy-looking '22 T.  The wood had mostly rotted away, so the prior owner had welded some of the body metal to the frame to hold it together.  But it ran well, and my family and I put many miles on it. I alternated between calling it the clatterwagon and the fartmobile.  All went well until my 5-year-old son told the good Lutheran Sunday-school teachers across the street:  "Daddy's going to take us for a ride in the fartmobile."

[zipdang]

FIAT: Finally I'm almost there.

 

Oh, and Fiat never officially sanctioned the name Topolino. The public named it and it stuck.

[padgett]

Ok what had suspenders ?

and what was the advertising race between a 2CV and a 4CV.

[Buick35]

I remember somebody calling an LTD a long tailed dog and refered to his Electrak as a duce and a quarter. My dad was a service manager for Pontiac and told me a man came in for some body work and told my dad "my car done been Ribb rubbed". Another woman came in and was complaining that her whistle wont blow. True story,while watching a car commercial for a new Nissan my wife asked me "why do they call it a 28 oz?"

[Grimy]

E-M-F (Everitt, Metzger, Flanders):  Every Morning Fix-it, Every Mechanical Fault

[Dave Mellor NJ]

GTO stands for "Get your Tools Out"

Studebaker was a "Steady breaker"

Edited April 28, 2020 by Dave Mellor NJ (see edit history)

[JamesR]

5 hours ago, 3macboys said:

Or Found on road dead, Fix or repair daily

 

 

😄

 

I remember my dad saying that when he was younger, Chevrolet was morphed into "Shuv-it-or-leave-it." 😄

[JamesR]

5 hours ago, 3macboys said:

Or Found on road dead, Fix or repair daily

 

 

😄

 

I remember my dad saying that when he was younger, Chevrolet was morphed into "Shuv-it-or-leave-it." 😄

[JamesR]

Sorry for the double post.

 

VW= very weird??

Edited April 28, 2020 by JamesR (see edit history)

[Grimy]

"Slip and slide with Powerglide"

[wayne sheldon]

The old Chevrolet sixes were also known as the "cast iron wonder". Heavy cast iron engine with cast iron pistons well after most marques went to aluminum pistons, plus archaic oiling, but they would run for a very long time if not run too fast!

Hudson's Terraplane was named by mechanics that hated working on them as "Terrible pains".

Model A Fords were often called "puddle jumpers". I don't know why.

 

I was dubbed as "Wild Wayne Sheldon" many years ago because I would drive my model T speedster as fast as it could go for many miles! It didn't have a lot of oomph in the engine, but it was overdrive and full throttle all the way!

[padgett]

Gooole (Pontiac)

[oldcarfudd]

One of the versions of the Mexican song "La Cucaracha" (the cockroach) is about the Model T Ford that Pancho Villa, the revolutionist, used.  Several years ago, I was on a progressive Model T Club tour in Colorado.  We had stopped somewhere for the night.  After dinner, I was wandering ar round in the parking lot where several hispanic-looking men were admiring the cars.  One said to me, admiringly and without a trace of disparagement:  "Las cucarachitas son muy bonitas"; the little cockroaches are very pretty.  So, south of the border, a Model T is a little cockroach to this very day.

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

47 minutes ago, oldcarfudd said:

One of the versions of the Mexican song "La Cucaracha" (the cockroach) is about the Model T Ford that Pancho Villa, the revolutionist, used.  Several years ago, I was on a progressive Model T Club tour in Colorado.  We had stopped somewhere for the night.  After dinner, I was wandering ar round in the parking lot where several hispanic-looking men were admiring the cars.  One said to me, admiringly and without a trace of disparagement:  "Las cucarachitas son muy bonitas"; the little cockroaches are very pretty.  So, south of the border, a Model T is a little cockroach to this very day.

I looked at a Model T Ford for sale in Costa Rica two years ago and “La Cucaracha,” was in the title of the advertisement!

The owner of the T also had this sign in his shop......

[DAVES89]

Ford LTD "Long Term Debt"

 My dad teased that to my neighbor when he came home with one...

[Steve Moskowitz]

Our current AACA National President has more than a few cars but has never named any of them until now.  His current project is now called Pandemic for obvious reasons!

[edinmass]

All my cars have nicknames. They usually evolve as I get them sorted and running well. Usually they start with something like a "rusty pile of sxxt" and "rolling junkyard". After hundreds of hours of labor and endless dollars they finally get their "forever" name. 

[Matt Harwood]

None of the names I call old cars are printable in a family forum.

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

I had an AMC Alliance convert once and I learned Renault is the French word for CRAP........

[Steve Moskowitz]

My 1903 Curved Dash Olds is named "Murphy" for obvious reasons...EVERYTHING that could go wrong did go wrong!  Some friends who make high end trucks and toys made me this great keepsake as a gift.  Murphy buried in Hershey's chocolate!  The car buried me in another substance. 

[J.H.Boland]

In 1929, the newly restyled Buick had a distinctive bulge around it's belt line.It was not a popular feature,especially after gaining the nickname "the pregnant Buick".

The acronym for Jeep is "Just Empty Every Pocket". I should know .I've had four of them !

[J.H.Boland]

5 hours ago, padgett said:

Gooole (Pontiac)

 

I once had a customer come into the dealership looking for a wheel disc for his "Gooole".On going out to the parking lot,I found his 6000LE. When I came back in,I asked if his brother drove a "Gooose". He replied "how did you know ?".