DonW Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) The Rolls Royce Silver Shadow was originally to be called the Silver Mist until someone checked the German translation... Mist politely translates as manure, rubbish, or dirt.... Edited August 28, 2014 by DonW
Harry P. Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 Ford couldn't decide what to call their new cars (that eventually came to be called Edsels)... so they took suggestions from all sorts of people, and even hired a woman who was a poet (and the wife of a Ford executive) to come up with a name... one of the ones she suggested was "Utopian Turtletop." Really. Some other winners she came up with: The Resilient Bullet, the Intelligent Whale, Mongoose Civique, Aeroterre, Turbotorc, Thunder Crester, Dearborn Diamante, Magic Ravure, and Pastelogram. Seriously. Those were among her actual, serious suggestions.
Harry P. Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 In the 1890s, Henry Ford was having a hard time keeping a car business afloat. He had already gone through two businesses (both of which went belly-up) when he finally launched a successful car company on his third try. However, all he had was an idea... he had no actual way to manufacture a car. So he hired the Dodge Brothers, who ran a highly successful machine shop that supplied parts to other companies (most notably to Ransom E. Olds). The Dodge Brothers supplied Ford with the parts for basically a whole car, which were then assembled by Ford. That car, the first Model A (before the Model T and the second Model A series) were "Fords" that were actually Dodges. However, you didn't see that in the Ford brochure...
Harry P. Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 The original Corvette badge and horn button was designed to show a checkered flag crossed with an American flag. The design was changed when it was discovered that using an American flag on a commercial product is illegal. The American flag was changed to a flag showing the Chevrolet “bow-tie” emblem and a French fleur-de-lis symbol, reflective of the French etymology of the Chevrolet name. The original "illegal" Corvette emblem:
Ace-Garageguy Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) Ford couldn't decide what to call their new cars (that eventually came to be called Edsels)... so they took suggestions from all sorts of people, and even hired a woman who was a poet (and the wife of a Ford executive) to come up with a name... one of the ones she suggested was "Utopian Turtletop." Really. Some other winners she came up with: The Resilient Bullet, the Intelligent Whale, Mongoose Civique, Aeroterre, Turbotorc, Thunder Crester, Dearborn Diamante, Magic Ravure, and Pastelogram. Seriously. Those were among her actual, serious suggestions. Actually, I dated 3 of those. Had to stop seeing the Intelligent Whale when Greenpeace started camping on my lawn, threatening to sue me for cetacean abuse. Thunder Crester was the big-thighed sister of Magic Ravure, a well-known exotic "dancer" who often appeared with Dearborn Diamante. Good times. Edited August 28, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy
SSNJim Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 Ford couldn't decide what to call their new cars (that eventually came to be called Edsels)... so they took suggestions from all sorts of people, and even hired a woman who was a poet (and the wife of a Ford executive) to come up with a name... one of the ones she suggested was "Utopian Turtletop." Really. Some other winners she came up with: The Resilient Bullet, the Intelligent Whale, Mongoose Civique, Aeroterre, Turbotorc, Thunder Crester, Dearborn Diamante, Magic Ravure, and Pastelogram. Seriously. Those were among her actual, serious suggestions. The name "Intelligent Whale" is not without precedence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Whale Not the greatest name for a car, though it's OK for a submarine. I wonder if she knew her submarine history, or if she just randomly put words together. It would be pretty cool to be driving a 2014 Utopian Turtletop though, preferably the GT model.
Danno Posted August 29, 2014 Posted August 29, 2014 Actually, I dated 3 of those. Had to stop seeing the Intelligent Whale when Greenpeace started camping on my lawn, threatening to sue me for cetacean abuse. Thunder Crester was the big-thighed sister of Magic Ravure, a well-known exotic "dancer" who often appeared with Dearborn Diamante. Good times. Did you know their cousin, Thelma Thunderthighs?
Longbox55 Posted August 29, 2014 Posted August 29, 2014 French etymology of the Chevrolet name. I know I'm going to open up a whole can of worms and bad jokes about this, but the name Chevrolet, which is of French/German/Swiss (the area they were from is a bit fuzzy as to what country it was at any given time) origins, literally translates to "goat milker".
Harry P. Posted August 29, 2014 Posted August 29, 2014 It would be pretty cool to be driving a 2014 Utopian Turtletop though, preferably the GT model. The UTGT.
Harry P. Posted August 29, 2014 Posted August 29, 2014 I know I'm going to open up a whole can of worms and bad jokes about this, but the name Chevrolet, which is of French/German/Swiss (the area they were from is a bit fuzzy as to what country it was at any given time) origins, literally translates to "goat milker". It doesn't literally translate to goat milker, but the name evolved from the French words "chévre" (goat) and "lait" (milk).
Ace-Garageguy Posted August 29, 2014 Posted August 29, 2014 Ad leezt az long az meelkeeng zee goatz waz all zay waz dooeeng...
Longbox55 Posted August 29, 2014 Posted August 29, 2014 You're right, it isn't a literal translation, but it's pretty close.
Agent G Posted August 29, 2014 Posted August 29, 2014 (edited) I knew the Lee sisters, Ug, Beast and Home. I married their cousin Ghast................she was #3. G Edited August 29, 2014 by Agent G
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