Pre-War car celebrity model names

[CHuDWah]

17 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

PORTOLA! Just remembered that Pope Hartford honored him @1910 by naming a Roadster in his name.

 

I'm not big on brass cars but that roadster is pretty slick.

 

I've seen fixed mother-in-law seats on cars of that era but not folding ones like that - an early rumble seat!

[nzcarnerd]

On 11/12/2022 at 6:44 AM, 1937hd45 said:

Washington, Grant, Cadillac, LaSalle

According to The Standard Catalog the various Grant car makes were all named for their founders, and not the more famous general.

[nzcarnerd]

On 11/12/2022 at 12:14 PM, Paul Dobbin said:

In 1936. Studebaker had a model called a "Dictator" and had to drop the model name a few years later because of Germany's Dictator.   Anybidy know what they change that model into?

Studebaker first used the name Dictator in late 1927. It 'dictated' the standard to which cars were built. The next model up was the Commander (of the world), and the President name is self explanatory. Studebaker continued with essentially a three model (sometimes more) line right through to 1935 when they dropped the Commander line and went back to two models only. From 1938 on the Dictator name was dropped and the Commander name resurrected. I guess by then it had become politically expedient to do so. For some unexplained reason the export Dictators in the later 1920s were named Director, although for how long I don't know. My 1928-built, 1929 model is a Director.

14 hours ago, 8E45E said:

I was making a statement to emphasize the term 'Dictator' did NOT always have the bad connotations it received in the mid-1930's in Europe.

 

Same with the Swastika.  It was actually a stamp-of-approval for many cast iron fittings and used other consumer products until the 1920's.  A notable example:

 

 

 

The swastika is or course "a very ancient religious symbol...." - Swastika - Wikipedia

[nzcarnerd]

On 11/12/2022 at 7:04 AM, 1937hd45 said:

Bugatti named some models after race tracks and towns Brescia being one of them. 

The majority of Bugattis were given simple 'Type' names.

 

In the Type 57 series of the 1930s three of the four body styles offered were named for mountain peaks and passes - Galibier, Ventoux and Stelvio.

[nzcarnerd]

4 hours ago, Tom Boehm said:

St. Regis was also a Jesuit Catholic Priest like Marquette. St. Claire was a catholic nun in the middle ages. It is a possibility that these cars were not named after saints directly. The Dodge St. Regis was probably named after the hotel and the Wills Sainte Claire could have been named after the St. Clair River or Lake St. Clair in Michigan. 

Studebaker used the name St Regis Brougham for their victoria coupe body style in 1932-33.

 

The Wills Saint Claire was designed and built by Childe Harold Wills (the designer of the Ford T) in a factory built on the banks of the St Claire River.

[Leif in Calif]

On 11/12/2022 at 4:59 PM, Tom Boehm said:

Good one. Had to look it up. Gaspar Portola, explorer and first governor of Spanish California. 

Well known in these parts...