Happy Name Your Car Day!
There are some dates that are pretty hard to forget. Everyone knows that the fourth of July is Independence Day (unless you’re from North Korea or something). Given this, does anyone know what October 2nd is? Anyone? Bueller? Now if you said the International Day of Non-violence or Gandhi’s birthday, you’d get a solid second prize. At your favorite auto shop, we’re about, Uhm, autos so… Happy name your car day!
Why Bother Naming Your Car?
Never named your vehicle? You certainly wouldn’t be the odd one out. We tend to take our basic transportation, or ‘wheels’ to use the vernacular for granted. Our cars are always there for us. They get us to work and back, take the kids to school or do the shopping run. The average American spends one hour every day in their auto… Scary when you think about it. Since we spend so much time in our vehicles, it makes sense to regard them as an extension of our character. Heck, you didn’t purchase one without ever having seen it before, did you? So, why not name them? As Dr. Seuss puts it, ‘I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.’ If you allow your car to have a personality, suddenly it becomes less of an object and something that you are more inclined to appreciate.
Searching For Inspiration…
Naming a car isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s hard to find a name that fits well. I own a classic BMW and for the first few months, I struggled to find something suitable. Until one day it decided to explode spectacularly (this is why at Foreign Affairs Motorwerks we recommend service schedules). It took me a while before we got back together and that is why I decided to name it ‘Toothless’ after a character from ‘How To Train Your Dragon’. Incidentally, this was before BMW’s latest series of ‘buck tooth’ styling. Perhaps there’s something about your vehicle that reminds you of a movie character? Or maybe it sounds like one of your favorite bands? Often the type of vehicle can help with its name – sports cars tend to have more punchy, racy names while SUVs might be more butch (like Bob) and something foreign could be exotic (Evette springs to mind). You can also use the nationality of the marque. Fiat and Ferrari are Italian, so names like Mario, Frankie and Giulia make sense. Japanese cars like Honda or Toyota could have names like Ito or Kuyo or Mitsuko. You get my drift?
Another cool trick is to use your number plate for inspiration. ‘PE2’ might become Pez or Pepe while ‘SNY’ could be something like Sandy. This is also a pretty neat way of remembering your registration. Don’t forget to take stock of your vehicle’s color when deciding the name. White is always rather formal, so names like Victoria or Peter spring to mind. Red just always makes me think of Scarlet (yes, that one) while black could be Midnight or Kitt from Nightrider.
Already Named Your Ride?
Way to go man! Now come and celebrate name your car day with us by giving your auto some tender loving care. You might take some time out to wash it or buy some new carpets or accessories for the inside. Perhaps all you want to do is have a nice long Saturday drive through the Florida sunshine with the stereo and your significant other for company. ‘They don’t make cars like they used to,’ sang Billy Jo. We may be nearing the end of the combustion engine as we know it, so let’s keep the romance alive!