Harry P. Posted November 14, 2009 Posted November 14, 2009 And you thought "Edsel" was weird? When it comes to weird names for cars, nobody comes close to the Japanese. A few examples: Daihatsu Rugged Field Sports Resin Top Honda Life Dunk Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard Mazda Autozam Carol MeLady Mazda Bongo Brawny Mazda Proceed Marvie Will Breeze Mitsubishi Canter Guts Mitsubishi Mini Active Urban Sandal Nissan Big Thumb Harmonised Truck Subaru Domingo Aladdin Subaru Gravel Express and Bistro Vivio Suzuki Alto Afternoon Tea Suzuki Every Joy Pop Turbo Toyota Estima Lucida G Luxury Joyful Canopy Yamaha Pantryboy Supreme Feel free to post your own (pictures would be good, too!)
Harry P. Posted November 14, 2009 Author Posted November 14, 2009 I take it these are translated names ? Maybe not. From the Japan Times Online: Over the years, Japanese car names have been a source of unending comedy, frivolity and perplexity in international motoring circles. Let's face it, many of the names that surface only in Japan are simply hilarious. Note That's Century Life Zest Move Latte. Fit Cima Every Inspire Freed Naked President Crown Odyssey. No, that's not some new language from the back of beyond — but two sentences exclusively comprised of Japanese car names. One look at such names and you feel like you are watching a badly dubbed martial-arts movie. Remember those early Bruce Lee flicks such as "The Big Boss," in which the actors' mouths seemed to move at random as the English voice-over struggled to keep up. That's the way the vast majority of Japanese car names come across. A little bit weird. It's like you're in a parallel universe where all the rules of language have been thrown out the window and just about anything goes. So why do the Japanese use English or Latin-sounding words? One Japanese colleague, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that "they sound more exotic and culturally deeper than Japanese names, even if we don't understand the actual meaning of the word." He has a point, though I think the bottom line is this: The vast majority of Japanese involved in naming products just don't really give a hoot what a name means outside of Japan. As long as it looks cool, and captures the attention of domestic buyers, then that's all that matters. The problem is, however, that many of the words just don't make sense.
my name is nobody Posted November 14, 2009 Posted November 14, 2009 Some American cars sport odd names..... Like the Dodge Aspen. I mean, come on, just thinking about asking someone: "So, Hows your Aspen?" brings a smile to my face.
Chuck Most Posted November 14, 2009 Posted November 14, 2009 And you thought "Edsel" was weird? When it comes to weird names for cars, nobody comes close to the Japanese. A few examples: Daihatsu Rugged Field Sports Resin Top Honda Life Dunk Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard Mazda Autozam Carol MeLady Mazda Bongo Brawny Mazda Proceed Marvie Will Breeze Mitsubishi Canter Guts Mitsubishi Mini Active Urban Sandal Nissan Big Thumb Harmonised Truck Subaru Domingo Aladdin Subaru Gravel Express and Bistro Vivio Suzuki Alto Afternoon Tea Suzuki Every Joy Pop Turbo Toyota Estima Lucida G Luxury Joyful Canopy Yamaha Pantryboy Supreme Feel free to post your own (pictures would be good, too!) Thank gawd above that the industry's going to alphanumeric 'names' for their vehicles...
Harry P. Posted November 14, 2009 Author Posted November 14, 2009 Thank gawd above that the industry's going to alphanumeric 'names' for their vehicles... Just think what would happen to you if you drove a Yamaha Pantryboy and the "R" fell off...
Chuck Most Posted November 14, 2009 Posted November 14, 2009 Just think what would happen to you if you drove a Yamaha Pantryboy and the "R" fell off... Wow! Yeah! That would be enough to make one want to escape that Mini Active Urban Sandal and sit down for some Alto Afternoon Tea, perhaps beneath the cozy shade of a Joyful Canopy! Am I on drugs, or is this a real thread? No, I'm serious. I'm getting a little creeped out!
Lownslow Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 oldsmobile bravada chevy nova chevy malibu chevy lumina buick la crosse< this is a dirty word in a region of canada so theyre called lucernes buick lucerne pontiac firechicken i mean friedbird...... ...... geez i mean firebird
Custom Hearse Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 here's some.............. Datsun Cherry Dave Could you imagine if the car was stolen... Operator:911 emergency? You:Help, I lost my Cherry!!!.... pontiac firechicken i mean friedbird...... ...... geez i mean firebird That's Fryabird... Get it right!!!
Lownslow Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Could you imagine if the car was stolen... Operator:911 emergency? You:Help, I lost my Cherry!!!.... That's Fryabird... Get it right!!! i have a friend that gets bent out of shape when we call his trans am, trans man lol its everytime too he got rid of his GTO because of the jokes lol but at least he bought something worthwhile like a G8 GXP
FujimiLover Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 I think the Ford "Probe" was made by aliens! LOL! How about Honda Fit, Fit what? Yugo, nobody wanted to "go" in one of those. Econo Van? How can anything that boxy be economic? And where does the word Prius come from?
FujimiLover Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Some American cars sport odd names..... Like the Dodge Aspen. I mean, come on, just thinking about asking someone: "So, Hows your Aspen?" brings a smile to my face. Could have been named after Aspen city of Colorado! A lot of Dodge, GMC cars/trucks mostly trucks, are named after Indian thing's. Dodge Dakota, Chevy Tahoe, etc'.
Craig Irwin Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 "Strength Through Joy Car" was the Volkswagen beetle's pre-war name.
MrObsessive Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Some American cars sport odd names..... Like the Dodge Aspen. I mean, come on, just thinking about asking someone: "So, Hows your Aspen?" brings a smile to my face. :lol:
Modelmartin Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 The Brits did well in car naming. Humber Super Snipe Singer Vogue Singer Gazelle (Hey we have an Impala!!) Hillman Husky (my parents had one! With no heater! In Minnesota! Yes.) Hillman Imp and its Sunbeam badge engineered cousin, the Chamois Hillman Avenger - Sold in the USA as Plymouth Cricket!!! Riley Elf (A Mini with a trunk and stubby tail fins.) Sunbeam Rapier (It's a sword.) Sunbeam Stiletto (Another sword, not high heel shoes) Sunbeam Minx And then there is that spooky outfit RR with their Ghosts, Phantoms, Shadows and Clouds. Then they go with Corniche and then Camargue which is a swamp in France! How about British trucks? Bedford Beagle Bedford Rascal Scammel Himalayan, Highwayman, Scarab( a 3 -wheeler), Routeman, and the unforgettable Rigid Six or if you needed more a Rigid Eight.
Brendan Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Here's some interesting race car chassis names. Argo Chevy Intrepid (Yes, before the Dodge ever came out and Dodge was sued over this.) Fabcar Grid Kudzu (How would you like to be named after an edible leafy plant?) March Spice Tiga This is just a short list of the many odd names.
CAL Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Fiat Jolly. From the orginal post Volugrafo Bimbo Homy Super Long Toyota Deliboy Toyota Estima Lucida G Luxury Joyful Canopy Tang Hua Detroit Fish Studebaker Dictator
curt raitz Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 A Hummer! brings back fond memories...and not of an oversized land tank
lordairgtar Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 The Brits did well in car naming. Humber Super Snipe You just have to love a car called a Humber Super Snipe.
Art Anderson Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 Chevy Beauville GMC Vandura Beauville goes all the way back to 1955, when it was used to name the Bel Air 4dr Station Wagon. But which was worse, calling the new mid-priced Fomoco product "Edsel" (so named after the late father of Henry Ford II, Benson Ford and Willian Clay Ford), or "Utopian Turtletop" which was what one avante-garde sophisticated poet suggested????? Car, and body style names have almost always been the province of marketing types, seldom anyone else. Most seem to have been concocted to evoke a buying emotion, some however, have come from the whims and personal opinions of upper management (the CEO of Nissan, for example, had just seen the hit movie "My Fair Lady" starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn (in the role of Eliza, the East End cockney girl whom the Professor determined to pass off as a society girl), and ordered that the forthcoming Nissan (then Datsun in the USA) GT sports car be named "Fairlady". Now Fairlady might play in Tokyo, but the US sales division balked at that, taking Fairlady badges off every one of the cars as they hit the West Coast, and substituting "240Z", which helped immeasurably to sell the car here. I think Honda's using the moniker CVCC for their first really serious marketing of their signature subcompact here resulted ultimately in the renaming of that series "Civic", probably because CVCC can almost be pronounced as Civic in the US. Nova, of course, had a really nice connotation here in the US, and it wasn't until political correctness began to be played, that it was pointed out that Nova is at least offensive in Latin America. Names like Impala, Cougar, Jaguar evoke a theme of speed, fleetness of foot, although being fleet of foot (wheels) isn't something one normally associates with bedspring ride and Powerglide. Automakers, notably GM and Chrysler for years used car body style or trim names to associate their cars with luxury, with desireable locations, such as Cambridge, Mayfair, Wayfarer, Belvedere, Bel Air, Biscayne, Delray. Newport, Windsor, New Yorker. Ford names, once they started using them, were more descriptive of the trim level. Mainline referred to their lowest priced, main line of cars, Custom tended to denote upscale, with Crestline being very descriptive of the "Crest" of Ford trim and appointments, but Mercury marketing got into the act with names like Monterrey and Montclair, even Lincoln had the Capri, Ford even had an upscale 2dr wagon called Del Rio. Fairlane simply was drawn from the estate of the then-late Henry and Clara Ford, Fairlane Estate. Ford's station wagon names for decades evoked thoughts of western dude ranches, of upscale rural homes, of life in the country, in an era when many Americans could point back to their growing up on farms and in small towns. Chevrolet termed their station wagon variant of their 1/2 ton Panel Delivery the Suburban, drawing attention to the then just-recognized fact that there were belts of suburban communities growing up around virtually every major city in the US in the 20's and 30's. Curiously, the 1955-58 GMC version of the upscale Cameo Carrier from Chevy was called the "Suburban Carryall". Whether GMC's Carryall was ever used to carry all, International Harvester called their station wagon version of the panel delivery, simply, the International Carryall, and likely most of them were used in that role. Buick, once management was convinced to adopt body and trim level names, used Roadmaster to indicate that their top line car was indeed Master of the Road, but how many correctly guessed that Century denoted a car that was capable of cruising at the then (in 1941) speed of 100mph, and that from a mass-production car (Duesenberg J's had already surpassed that cruising speed 12yrs earlier, on such roads that could accommodate such velocities). Many body style names came right from horse-drawn carriages: Beauville, Victoria, Phaeton, Roadster, Station Wagon, Landau, Cabriolet, Berline, Coach, Coupe', Landaulet, Coupelet, Sedan. A few of those names got munged by their use on car body styles that in no way reflect the heritage of the particular name, but that's Madison Avenue for ya. No horsedrawn carriages carried the names of Phaeton or Crown Victoria on a 4dr closed vehicle, for example. Phew, enough for now! Art
Art Anderson Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 (edited) You just have to love a car called a Humber Super Snipe. I've always chuckled at the notion of owning an Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire! (I wouldn't have cherished the notion of driving an ASS to work either!) Art Edited November 15, 2009 by Art Anderson
David G. Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 (edited) I remember when I first started seeing the Daihatsu Charade about 20 years ago, I thought, "All we need now is the Toyota Travisty and the Mitsubishi Farce!" Edited November 15, 2009 by David G.
JamesW Posted November 15, 2009 Posted November 15, 2009 How about a Chevy Citation............. I had a couple, and there's ALWAYS something wrong with them, believe me, those are definatly a "citation" on wheels.
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