Mr. Toyoda (Creator of Toyota) was advised by a fortune teller to start an
automobile division in his loom works plant and if he named his models after
something that started with the letter "C", he would become very successful.
The "C" type truck was their first model in the 20s, a beefy pickup truck.
Since, they have had:
Corolla, Celica, Carina, Century, Celsior, Crown, Camry, Corona, land
Cruiser (Studebaker had a "land cruiser" in the 30s I think), Cressida,
Carina, Curren, Cynos, Caldina, Corsa.
Not all imported into the US under those names and of course there are
Toyota models that don't start with a C, but the majority do.
Of course I think the all time best fitting name ever for any car is the
"Sprite". It fits.
Toby
-----Original Message-----
From owner-spridgets at autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Chris King
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 12:52 PM
To: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Modern car names, no LBC
>Let's face it, some car names just fit better than others. No one
complains
>about "Electra" or "LeSabre" or "Chevelle" or "Camaro" not having meaning,
do
>they? And a corvette is a "lightly armed warship, smaller than a
destroyer."
> Kinda fits. I once had a Volkswagen Scirocco -- a warm Mediterranean wind
>sort of car...
>
Then there are the names that are translations. "Tercel" in Japanese
supposedly means hawk. Given the car's size, it's more like chicken hawk.
;-) Corolla is a flower, I think. Could be wrong. The the Nissan Stanza.
Stanza is a section of poetry, akin to a paragraph of prose...
>Maybe we should allow truth in advertising to rule in car names. The Honda
>Boring (comes in three sizes!). The Acura Boring with Some Luxury. The
>Chevy POS (pick a model!). The Chrysler Stylin' but Crappy. The Ford
Clumsy.
>
I suppose then you'd have the Toyota Appliance, the Lexus Mercedes-Wannabe,
Pontiac Ugly, and Kia Cheap. How about a few more?
-=Chris
'79 Midget
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