It has sometimes struck me that motoring history is full of names that in themselves have such a powerful resonance that I find myself wanting one without even knowing anything about the car.
Any double-barrelled name on a car brings out the Toad in me!
Eg:
Isotta-Frascini
Hispano-Suiza
Laycock de Normanville J-type overdrive
Maybach Zeppelin engine powered 20s special (I see Maybach have made a recent reappearance)
Coachwork by Thrup and Maberley
Lea-Francis
Marles-Weller steering box
Twin Stromberg carburettors
Claudel-Hobson carburettors
Rolls-Royce of course.
On the other hand some names are so offputting I wonder anybody ever buys the car :
Robin
Fiesta (sounds like a contraceptive)
De Dion rear axle (something on the London to Brighton run?)
Gunk (clever name for a down to earth product)
Ka
Remember J Bonnington-Jagworth?s Boggs Super Oaf?
Does anybody else notice names like this?
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In a similar vein to "gunk", how about:
Muc-Off
Doesn't really make you want to reach out and haul it from the shelves, does it.
On the historic side of things,
Lagonda.
Has me in raptures... then I remember that blinkin' awful late 70s AM Lagonda saloon. Oh dear oh dear.
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Monteverdi (attractive 70s saloon, not back-of-grid F1 team).
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Monteverdi (attractive 70s saloon, not back-of-grid F1 team).
The Monteverdi Hai was always my favourite Top Trump card.
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Cliff
Panhard and Napier come immediately to mind. For double-barrelled I still remember seeing in the '60s that lovely Facel Vega with the vertical twin headlamps and the mesh grille that MG have revived today.
And a really romantic name - Louis Zborowsky. A Polish count who raced Mercedes cars (I think) in the 1930s and is purported to have had the car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was based on. He put a lot of his fortune into building the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (still well worth a visit especially with children or grandchildren) but was killed before it was built. No, I don't have any connection with it but I do like things powered by steam!
Terry
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Forgot to say: Farcel-Vega
Lovely name, lovely car. Saw some nice ones parked at Goodwood Revival earlier this year.
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Saw an old Facel-Vega Sunday afternoon between Bracknell and M3. Open 2-seater, red, body a bit rough (not rust but panels a bit wavy). Lovely looking car though.
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Francis Barnett, known as "Fanny B".
Male or female, I always wondered.
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I always liked the names of those pre-war racing drivers like Nuvolari and Caracciola - but I also always wondered about whether Dick Seaman was quite as romantic!!!!
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....he didn't drive an Iso Rivolta by ancy chance?
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Well it certainly wasn't a Wankel. I think I'd better stop there ar Mark will ban me. This could be a conversation stopper!! Apologies.
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Am I correct in saying BMW have kept ribghts to the old pre-Rover names?
Riley,Van Den Plas,Wolsley,????
VB
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What about the Alvis?
They ain't nothing but hound dogs! :-)
(with apologies to Elvis)
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