How come people refer to some cars as "he" and to others as "she"? Does it have to do with the make/model or the person who drives it?

If the car is balky, undriveable or otherwise cantakerous for a few days each month, I would venture that it's a she . .

My car is neither, it made of metal and plastic. I could never get into naming inanimate object's name's for my gun's is as far as I go.

Heater = my Benelli duck gun because I got the barrel so hot one day it warmed my hands.

Boomer = My muzzleloader

The Equalizer = my riot shotgun

Tit's= Browning superimposed. (don't ask.)

excite the car and look under the hood

At the risk of encouraging stereotypical responses....

I can't think of my W126 in anything but masculine terms. I am thinking of naming him, but I've only done that once ( Car was named "Damn Car" after the times when my girlfriend (later wife) would call my mom to see why I was late in picking her up, My mom's reply to the question always started, " Damn Car!.......)
The name for the W126 ( 300SD) that seems appropriate is " Wotan". For those not familar with Wagner's characters in the Ring cycle of opera ( could it be that any such uneducated persons exist here on THIS board?), Wotan is the King of the gods. What more fitting name is there for the king of cars?
I see most British cars, as well as all French, and most lesser Italian cars as feminine. Asian cars seem to have all character designed out so are gender neutral. Italian super cars are probably masculine, especially the one that grew from a tractor manufacturer--feel the testosterone!
American cars vary too much for generalizations. Except the pickups, especially diesel-powered ones; they have to be masculine!

http://www.allesoverballen.com/engels/BUMPER.html

these rather give it away...

__________________
Cannondale ST600 XL
Redline Monocog 29er
2011 Mini Cooper Clubman
2005 Honda Element EX

www.djugurba.com
www.waldenwellness.com

You just gave me the best prank gift idea ever. I have this friend to whom I've said more than once, "You really need to grab a pair..." Maybe he needs a pair to grab.

Cars and boats are usually she's in my book. I refer to my SDL as she because it sounds better than it. The Toyota on the other hand was an it.

She is called the Money Pit.

__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I have never really been able to give a car a name. Tried to but it just wouldn't mentally stick.

__________________
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!

What colors are feminine? Yellow, baby blue, what else?

What colors are masculine???????

I have always called my car "my Mercedes".
But I have just realized that this is a female first name.

__________________
-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831799-post13.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831807-post14.html

Some of us anthromorphize cars, and some cannot I find that some of my cars in my mind have personalities, and others just don't, although intellectually I know without a doubt they are all 'just machines'.

Both vehicles I have now I perceive to be definitely masculine. In the past I had a Nissan Maxima which was a fantastic, reliable, powerful car, but never really had a personality -- just a machine. My Miata was a female. My Oldsmobile and Buick, first two cars I ever had, were males. My Saturn was a female.

It never seemed to have much to do with paint color, manufacturer, 'cushiness' or reliability. Actually, I have yet to own an unreliable car. I think size and weight are a factor -- the smallest cars (Miata and Saturn) were female. The big heavy ones (the early Detroit iron, and the Benz and Jeep I have now) are male.

My car just always seemed like a guy. I have no idea why ... it just looks masculine. I definately anthropomorphize my car. In fact I have to watch myself to make sure I don't refer to it as "he" when talking to a mechanic (I think that would safely erase all my credibility). I'm a big sap, and tend to assume my car has feelings and a personality.
Because it's a plucky, hard-trying car, I named it "Bodhi" after a St Louis Cardinals player named Bo Hart, who was called up to the majors the same time I really became obsessed with my car. Bodhi seemed like a nice name, and it alliterates with "Benz," hence "Bodhi Benz," or, as most of my friends know him, Bo.
Every once in a while, someone refers to my car as a "she," and I get bent out of shape. People do that with my male cats as well ... come on people, if all cats were shes, the species would be in trouble!

Those car, ahem, "decorations" are a riot. Adds new meaning to the term "car nut," I guess.

Iv'e never really considered a car to have a sex, although there are definitely "chick" cars and "guy" cars, so I guess some cars seem to be feminine or masculine.
The only time I would refer to a vehicle with any gender-specific reference is when it's fighting me to repair it, in which case it's a male ( SOB!!!!)
Gilly

__________________
Click here to see the items I have up for auction at EBay

Click here to see a photo album of my '62 Sprite Project Moneypit (Now Sold)

A lot of factors go into my feeling that a car, if it were alive, would be masculine or feminine. I suppose that size does indeed matter -- the larger cars tend to be male, smaller feminine. Darker colors, male; lighter, female. Et cetera.

That said:
'75 4-dr. Ford Maverick -- midsize car, metallic green; female
'65 4-dr. Mercury Park Lane -- a car to dwarf the 126, white; male
'75 Volvo 164 -- compact, white; female (probably because it self-destructed on me)
'84 Ford Escort -- small, white; female (the girl you'd take to the prom only because her family and yours were friendly)
'89 Olds Cutlass coupe -- midsize, silver; male for some reason, despite the fact that my next car with the same body, the '94 Olds Cutlass coupe in gold, seemed female
'84 MB 280CE -- midsize, dark blue/palomino; female, but kind of tomboyish
'86 MB 420SEL -- big, dark grey; masculine in size and presence, but when I likened it to a German battleship, then it was "she"
'97 C230 -- small, smoke silver/parchment; female

Out of 9 cars, 5 seem to have a strong feminine presence, 2 were sort of confused, and only 2 were strongly male. Wonder what that says about me? (Probably that I need to lie down and talk to somebody. . . .)

__________________
* *
-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino