Project 1995 Suzuki Sidekick, better known by its nickname, The Teal Terror. |
You may be familiar with our 1995 Suzuki Sidekick project vehicle, better known by its nickname, "The Teal Terror." Why is it called that? Part of it is irony. Frankly, we made fun of the color when we got it, since it's such a lovely shade of '90s greenish. Also, few cars are less filled with terror than a 95 horsepower Suzuki Sidekick—especially one that is teal-colored. However, the name stuck, and friends and acquaintances all now refer to it as The Teal Terror.
When we took delivery of our 2013 Subaru WRX, Mercedes wanted to immediately nickname it. Regardless of my attempts to dissuade her to wait for its earned nickname, she started calling it "Rexy." (WRXy), although I refuse to call it that.
Oddly, our 2007 Toyota Yaris never got a nickname that stuck. We called it "The Egg" for a while and Mercedes still refers to it as "The Jetsonsmobile" and then makes the sound of the Jetson's car. She calls it this because she thinks it looks small, semi futuristic, and people always smile when they see it.
One of the better nicknames we recently heard was from our new neighbors. They just bought a 2013 Toyota Prius in a very nice shade of burgundy; it also has the anthracite-colored 17" wheels. Being wine enthusiasts, they call it the Tempranillo Torpedo (tempranillo being a wine grape varietal).
We had a friend who had a 2001 Hyundai Accent she called "Pigpen" due to the fact that it often looked like a dumpster on the interior. In fact, I heard her father say that passengers should probably get a tetanus shot before riding in it.
So does your car have a nickname? If so, what's the story behind it?
3 comments:
There's been a 2000 Mazda Protégé in the family since it was new... Somewhere along the way my father started calling it the PJ, much shorter than saying Protégé I guess.
More recently than that, my dad bought my mom a Suzuki SX4, the first time he's ever owned a car with a CVT, he started calling it the Angry Hamster, because the CVT causes it to rev quite a bit differently than anything else he's owned
Many of my cars have had names. Last three were Vanilla (white Scion xB), Pepper (red Scion xA), and Hakumai (white Scion xD).
Four of the earlier ones were The Fish (Plymouth Barracuda), The Beast (Land Cruiser), Jeff Jeep, and #!%$&* (all three of my MGs).
It all depends on how much personality they have, and what sort.
Some cars just don't have enough personality to earn a name, some seem to demand one almost instantly.
I don't force it, if they suggest a name they get it, if they don't they end up as just a transportation appliance... :)
I have a 1993 Teal Suzuki Sidekick jx myself! I was getting teased by my friends with Jeep wranglers that my zuk was incapable. One jeep got stuck in a water hole that I drove right through before him. My friends asked me to drive down the trail and pick up parts for the stuck jeep. It made it through the trail, drove into town to get parts, and drove back. Mine is called Mighty Mouse! "Here I come to save the day!"
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