The Energon Pub

My freshman comp students flatly denied that anyone would ever give their vehicle a name or a gender. That's apparently 'weird'.

Is it? Every vehicle I've ever owned has had a name. Most have been a 'he', though one--the Big Red Embarrassment--may have been a neuter.

My current car (which I like to call 'suburban camouflage') is a graphite Honda Accord, a boy, named Unferth. Yes, there's a painfully pretentious Anglo-Saxon joke in there that if I explained to you, we'd both feel lame.

So, what about y'all? Is is 'weird'? Am I the only one to give the ol' wheels a name and a personality? What's your vehicle? What's the story behind the name?

HK, geek on wheels.

Count me as another geek-on-wheels here.

In 1995, I bought a brand-new Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, top-of-the line and loaded minus leather. White, gorgeous. I immediately named her- yes, her- the Mach 5. She's loaded with gadgets (buttons on the steering wheel, head-up display, etc.), white, and quick, the name was a natural.

and like the Mach 5 on TV, she's damn-near indestructible. She has almosty 270,000 miles now, on the original engine. She's won 8 car show trophies over the years, but recently has fallen on hard times- someone turned left right in front of me a couple years ago, twisted her up pretty good. But I straightened her out, mostly, and she's still rockin'.

mechanics refer to cars with manual transmissions as he. automatics are she. my 88 thunderbird is hatred. my 85 nissan 4x4 was superbeast. my 70 chevelle was rosetta. my 67 el camino was short ride.

Not weird at all, well mostly... I name all my cars, I'm currently driving a 1986 Dodge Ramcharger, I call her Betsy because its a common fat girl name and boy is she fat lol, but I love her, she's my tank.

The only part I do find weird is naming a car with a mans name or refering to it as a he, I don't know, just doesn't sound right to me. A car is a beutiful thing, a man is not lol.

I drive 1998 Escort SE that 140,000 KM and since my name is chris i often refer to it as the Chris-Mobile

Autobot Cheetor wrote:Not
The only part I do find weird is naming a car with a mans name or refering to it as a he, I don't know, just doesn't sound right to me. A car is a beutiful thing, a man is not lol.

Well, someone else said that manual trannies are 'he's to mechanics, and all of my vehicles are manuals, so...maybe that's less weird? Besides, if my motorbikes and cars were girls, we'd *both* have PMS at the same time and...oh, it just wouldn't be good.

A man *is* a beautiful thing, when he's not deliberately trying to be all hairy and filthy and snaggle-toed. Jason Statham? Rowr. I could look at him all day.

HK, who saw more of Statham than she necessarily wanted to in _crank_.

My 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport is treated as an Autobot by the name of Wildfrost. And I usually talk to him, too. But usually as long nobody's within earshot. So nobody has ever caught me doing so.

My '98 Jeep Grand Cherokee's name is Highbeam (go figure) and he's definitely a "he". He's got a mind of his own and isn't afraid to show it off but usually likes to behave himself and keep me safe My friends and I all talk to him on occassion. He's also a party car as my friends call him, hehe.

My parents' '02 Chevy Venture's name is Megatron after we discovered his battery name was "Mega-tron". He also hates me to no end. That minivan has locked me out on a few occasions and doesn't behave only when I'm behind the wheel.

I named our new '91 CR-X "Midnight" because of his colors. He's black with an undercoat of deep teal-blue.

We used to have an old '95 Pontiac Firebird Formula that I named Phoenix. He was the ultimate show off

I don't see anything wrong with naming one's car and I think the gender gets determined based on the car's personality and behavior.

Hey, I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee that I want to say is Limited Edition, he's got the gold letters on his sides, and all the goodies that a regular one shouldn't have. I think he's the same year as Highbeam's if I'm not mistaken, but mine I like to call Ironhide. He can be a grouchy ol' fart sometimes, but he's dependable. Poor guy needs new front tires and a very thorough oil change though (yeah, we rescued him from a friend of my husband's for 800 bucks! ). He's still my Jeep though, he's about the only vehicle I've even felt remotely secure about driving...For some reason my husband gets trouble from him though. Every time Ironhide has to deal with him, he grumbles all the way there and my husband almost has to fight to get him to turn properly

*EDIT: Forgot to mention he's as red as his namesake, which is why I intitially started calling him that o.0

Fun thread.

Lessee, I got my first car at age 16 in 1987, a 78 Honda Civic hatchback- 5-spd manual, mor fun to drive than youd think, esp. for a kid. Fixed him up w/ my dad and brother, painted him bright red, and drove him all through HS and college. Named him Red because I had no imagination then, and this girl I was friends with suggested it. I was a sucker for her. Still have the car, haven't driven him in years tho.

In college, I wanted to spare my little red buddy from Chicago's brutal winters, so I bought a beater, another 78 Civic. This one was yellow and pretty beat up, but the thing was as reliable as the Sun. Called him Superbeater, painted a Superman-style logo on the hood. I must have welded 100lbs of sheet metal onto that car in the few years I had it, just to keep it together. Never let me down until it started to literally fall apart. Junked him with a heavy heart, and ran into him again at a local junkyard a few months later.

Next beater was a 78 (odd trend, right?) Ford Festiva. Had it for 2 years, and the first year it was nothing but trouble- carb iced up all the time in winter, punched the windshield once and shattered it. I used ot leave the keys in it at school, windows open. Strangely, the 2nd winter I drove it, it was fine- borderline fun, a total 180. The ZZ Top song "I'm bad, I'm Nationwide" has a line that says, "Rollin' down the road in some cold blue steel", which I love, so I called the car "Old Blue Steel."

Which brings us to the Mach 5 I'm currently driving. Ah, the old gray lady, long may she run.

My wife and I also had a Pontiac Aztek we called Brickhouse- don't laugh, it was an extremely fun trucklet, which we had to sell as our family grew from 3 to 4. Our Pontiac Montana SV6 minivan is named Magic Bus, because the remote-operated sliding doors "magically" open when our 4-year-old asks them to.

Junk-Rat wrote:Hey, I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee that I want to say is Limited Edition, he's got the gold letters on his sides, and all the goodies that a regular one shouldn't have. I think he's the same year as Highbeam's if I'm not mistaken, but mine I like to call Ironhide. He can be a grouchy ol' fart sometimes, but he's dependable. Poor guy needs new front tires and a very thorough oil change though (yeah, we rescued him from a friend of my husband's for 800 bucks! ). He's still my Jeep though, he's about the only vehicle I've even felt remotely secure about driving...For some reason my husband gets trouble from him though. Every time Ironhide has to deal with him, he grumbles all the way there and my husband almost has to fight to get him to turn properly

*EDIT: Forgot to mention he's as red as his namesake, which is why I intitially started calling him that o.0

Yay, another red Jeepy $800 bucks though?! Wow...what condition was he in at the time? Sounds like a great deal

Highbeam wrote:Yay, another red Jeepy $800 bucks though?! Wow...what condition was he in at the time? Sounds like a great deal

Well, besides the fact I still need to find a way to fix his back bumper (yeah, the previous owner found the time and money to get a bloody bungee-cord to hold it onto him, but couldn't afford a simple welding job, go figure ), all he needs is new front wheels and an oil change (yeah, been too poor to take care of the poor guy properly ), he runs pretty dang good otherwise. Over all, Ironhide was (and still is) in great condition...just need to replace the fuse or whatever so the speedometer works/lights up at night...I'm having to go by RPMs to see how fast I'm going at the moment . But he's in better shape than what he would've been if we hadn't rescued him (he was stuck right in the grass, and hadn't really been driven anywhere, just revved up every now and then so the battery didn't run out or whatever )

Long story short, I got one heck of a deal, and the owner doesn't even know that even for his condition, Ironhide's still worth a good $2000 or so I wouldn't sell him though *hugs her awesome Jeepy*

I used to have a 1987 Pontiac named Chug. I called him that ("he" was manual, but I didn't know about this gender thing until now, so he'll stay a he) because:

* the oil pan had a hole in it and would leak into the gas line (at least that's what we thought); this made him REEK retchedly for about five minutes after he was turned off
* also, the gas tank had a hole in it so you could only fill it up halfway until it started leaking out
* the windshield was cracked
* the turn signal handle was stiff
* the gas guage was a filthy liar, reading about an eighth of a tank more gas than he actually had (found this out the hard way on the highway)
* the horn barely worked
* the tape deck didn't work anymore
* it shook violently when you hit a certain speed (can't remember what it was, but it was a legal speed)
* there was root beer spilled into the change compartment
* the gear indicator read one gear too low (so neutral would actually be reverse, etc.)
* the usual rust spots
* the passenger's side unlock latch was busted
* the windows wouldn't reel down or up properly
* if he sat idly for too long, the corner of the hood would catch fire (didn't know what the reason for that was)
* the muffler was giving in
* the radio knob kept coming off, but you could just stick it back on

Sold him for $100.00 in 98 or 99.

well, I dunno about the manual/automatic gender thing, but many of my friends name cars...

My cars: 1983 Olds Delta 88 (cream): Bodacar (Boat-a-car)
2000 Chevy Malibu (black): Snowbird (rest in peace)
199? Ford Taurus (red): Rattletrap
2004 Chevy Aveo (green): Gawain (I know, I know)

My Wife's Cars: Spectra? (white): Balthasar (r.i.p.)
2004 Chevy Aveo (blue): Moody Blue

Friends': 1978 Chevy Malibu station wagon (woody): Battle Wagon
Jeep of some sort (green): The Green Pill
Chevy Cavalier (white): Shuttlecraft

My 2008 Mustang GT its Eleanor. Not an original name, but I like it.

Junk-Rat wrote:Long story short, I got one heck of a deal, and the owner doesn't even know that even for his condition, Ironhide's still worth a good $2000 or so I wouldn't sell him though *hugs her awesome Jeepy*

Hehe, nice I hear ya though, I love my Jeepy to no end. Got him back in '02 for something around $15k from a family that didn't really treat him so well, but he's spoiled now and seems to repay me by behaving like a champ Jeeps are so much fun too.

/Jeep fangirling *giggle*

Highbeam wrote:Hehe, nice I hear ya though, I love my Jeepy to no end. Got him back in '02 for something around $15k from a family that didn't really treat him so well, but he's spoiled now and seems to repay me by behaving like a champ Jeeps are so much fun too.

/Jeep fangirling *giggle*

I've noticed an unsettling trend here...Not a lot of people like the old rugged vehicles anymore (I know Jeeps eat a lot, but so do I, so I don't really see what's wrong with it ). What they don't realize is that if you end up in a ditch because of some Hot Rod deciding to be a moron, you can just drive on out of it instead of having to pay a tow guy to bail you out. Not to mention, I'd have to go to the store twice as often as I do if it weren't for Ironhide's rather ample cargo space, so I'm saving more gas in the long run ...Wow, $15k? Well, at least he's not being abused anymore ...Yeah, I feel bad for not being able to give my ol' buddy 100% of the TLC he needs, but I'm hoping that I can score some free tires and be able to drive him over to a place that'll check all of his fluids while giving him an oil change, and I'll be able to finally get him inspected .

I'm with you on Jeeps being fun, especially when getting people to move out of your way. They see one on their tail, they'll find a parking space a LOT faster . I'm hoping when Ironhide gets more of what he needs, he'll be more of a gentleman towards my hubby . I'll just have to wait and see though lol.

I have an green Oldsmobile Alero Coupe I named "Big Al." A friend of mine immediately made a reference to a certain South Park character, so then I called it the Green Monster but it reminded me of the Redsox and immediately made me wanna puke, so now I am stuck without a name for my ride...

I used to have a Lincoln Town Car I named "Link" and a Ford Escort I called "Beast Machine."

Rodimus: Hope you can find a name that won't be able to be made fun of, or that makes you puke. I wish I could help you out, but the first thing to come to mind was the name of a Transformers character (Springer)

EDIT: I forgot about this until now, but my mother-in-law has a little PT Cruiser she calls the Silver Bullet that's got an appetite comparable Unicron's in scale of its size-to-fuel-consumption ratio o.0'. Seriously, I don't think even my Jeep Ironhide eats as much as that little metal piglet

Junk-Rat wrote:Rodimus: Hope you can find a name that won't be able to be made fun of, or that makes you puke. I wish I could help you out, but the first thing to come to mind was the name of a Transformers character (Springer)

Ugh. Yeah. NOT going to name him Springer. Can't stand him.

EDIT: I forgot about this until now, but my mother-in-law has a little PT Cruiser she calls the Silver Bullet that's got an appetite comparable Unicron's in scale of its size-to-fuel-consumption ratio o.0'. Seriously, I don't think even my Jeep Ironhide eats as much as that little metal piglet

Really, most people I know who own one say it's fairly decent on gas, better than I had thought. Unless they lie.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I have an green Oldsmobile Alero Coupe I named "Big Al." A friend of mine immediately made a reference to a certain South Park character, so then I called it the Green Monster but it reminded me of the Redsox and immediately made me wanna puke, so now I am stuck without a name for my ride...

I used to have a Lincoln Town Car I named "Link" and a Ford Escort I called "Beast Machine."

how about Beret (like a green beret, special ops)?

Ally? row? green peace? just throwin things out there

why not visit tfu.info and look at all the green ones, they have a database referenced by color...

I call mine Wheelie!

Ho-ho-ho!

No?

My car(Mitsubishi Lancer) is named Chromia after the TF She needs a bath.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Ugh. Yeah. NOT going to name him Springer. Can't stand him.

Kinda figured you wouldn't...There's always the aspect of calling him Unicron if you want a powerful name (or Scourge, but that's just me, and I'm a bit of an oddball o.0')

Really, most people I know who own one say it's fairly decent on gas, better than I had thought. Unless they lie.

Well to be fair, hers has about 70,000+ miles on it, so that could be a contributing factor....Plus, she takes that bugger EVERYWHERE! Ticks me off sometimes, Ironhide gets stuck behind her a lot when we have to use the same stupid, tiny road to go out onto the freeway >_>'