>I have another question.  Why do people try to add some sort of cachet to
>something as inanimately pedestrian as a car by giving it a name?
>
>Wait a minute!  There is a nebulous form appearing in the corner of the room!
>  It is Gabriel!  Yes, Yes!  I see the Light!!!  As soon as I finish, I'm
>going to the kitchen!  Does anybody have a good name for a Hobart N-50 mixer?
>  It is a fine and noble machine which has never failed to do whatever was
>asked of it and I would not want to demean it with an inferior handle.  How
>about The Gray Pounder?  What do you think?  We need more grist for the mill
>and, heh, bytes are cheap, so, why not bloat the archives (sic) some more?

I've named one of my pens "the Pickle", though an option was "the
Blot". Thinking about the toilet now...

Actually, cars are emotive items, far more so than household
apliances. We build real attachments (or hatreds!) for them.

The only vehicle I have owned (and there have been a few) was an
unbelievably rough Honda SL100, which was well-known as "the
Brachiopod". I did try gluing a fossil brachiopod to it, but given
the violent accelerations the bike was prone to (as in landing hard
upside-down during botched wheelies etc) it wouldn't stay put...

Someone tried to name my Honda CB450K6 "Yellow Peril" but this didn't stick.

My VW vans have always been "the Van".

>Well after searching for a name for my syncro, I did what I
>should have done in the first place... I talked to the
>original owner.

That's the best idea... unless the name is REALLY stupid.

>Why is your van named what it is?

Mine's called "The Caravelle" because that's what VW named it ;-)

If it ever gets up & running with its SVX engine and Porsche trans, I
may well want to name it myself... what do you call a two-tone blue
brick-shaped rocket? Hmmm... if I used it to carry the local brew I
could call it "the Speights Shuttle"!
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut