Silly names for vehicles/racing teams

[ggr]

Last night I had a strange dream, bordering on a nightmare, involving the name of a kind of car. I'll get to that later. But it made me want to share a story from a long time ago.

I was in a bus, in around 1986, from Narita airport to Tokyo, and my business companion recognized the F1 world champion Alan Jones and we started a conversation. Alan was just starting to consult for a large Japanese auto maker. When he first got to the factory to meet their racing techs, they were all wearing uniforms with a squiggle above the pocket where normally they'd have had the company logo. He asked (all through translators of course), "What's that?"

"We are Team Worm!" says the boss. "Worm! WORM! YAYYY!" shout the team.

"What?" Alan asks.

"High tech! Smart! Science! Study! Worm!" says the boss. "Worm! WORM! YAYYY!" shout the team.

"What?" Alan asks.

"Science good. Study good. Read books! Read lots of books. Bookworm! Team Worm!" says the boss. "Worm! WORM! WORM! WORM! YAYYY!" shout the team. [Images of Vikings chanting "Spam..."]

"Change it!" Alan says.

-----

Anyway, back to the real subject. Some cars have silly names. For example, why would you name a large hunking SUV "Armada", when the Spanish Armada was famous for being sunk because the ships were too big to maneuver or shoot downwards? Or name something "Nova" when it means "doesn't go" in one of your largest markets? Or call another SUV "Aviator", as if it could ever get off the ground without a SpaceX rocket under it? These are among my favorites.

Anyway, the dream: it involved lots of running around, I somehow had a job at a car company, and I was trying to convince everyone (or even anyone) that the car name was a really bad idea. The car was to be a Tesla-killer called the Nissan Vestibule!

So, what are your favorite strange names?

 

[Johan]

I always though Honda Odyssey was a real cheesy name for a minivan. Also when I learned to drive it was with my dad's old Nissan Sunny. Great car but what a name.

 

[Doug_G]

Did my driver's exam in a Plymouth Satellite. Trust me, it was nothing like a rocket.

 

[ggr]

I always though Honda Odyssey was a real cheesy name for a minivan. Also when I learned to drive it was with my dad's old Nissan Sunny. Great car but what a name.

I have a different problem with many Hondas; the names are too close to something else. So I refer to that one as the Idiocy, and there's also the Elephant.

 

[EldestOyster]

There is definitely the Elephant. My neighbor had one; it was orange but had lots of grey areas that looked like elephant hide. And this is why I can't look at an i3 without seeing the elephant.

But one day, years ago I saw this car in the parking lot proudly emblazoned with the word, "CROSSFIRE". And I wondered, "How many other cars can I find that are named after operational issues?" Sadly, I couldn't find other examples. Maybe, if says "Diesel", we could assume it keeps running after it's shut off. But I'm still looking for other examples.