Just curious, Benjamin and I, why do we name our cars? Someone told me I was crazy. I told them that they just did not understand, and that they obviously have never had a close relationship with a car. They then told me I was sick in the head
Oh well....
Guess I am sick and crazy...and in love

MP and Benjamin (84300SD)

Cars are named just as one would name a pet.

I name mine so people know which one I am talking about. And a little out of affection and labeling of the personality of the car.

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89 190E
2.6L
Arctic white
Grey leather
Sunroof
Pirelli P400 rubber
Smoked corners

So if you walked up to me and said "I having a problem with " that would help me understand which car you were having a problem with better than saying "I'm having a problem with my 190"????

I've never understood this practice, I think it's a bit strange.

. . . it's kind of fun to find the character of the car and express it in a name. In the animal arena, for example, my late Maine Coon cat was named "Arizona" -- he was large, sandy-colored, and with the general prickliness of a cactus.

I nicknamed the 420SEL "The Tirpitz", after the famous German battleship, because (duh) it was big, grey, and German. I considered "Bismarck", but that would have been too many letters for a vanity plate. (Though I have my limits: I never really considered getting a vanity plate that read "Tirpitz". Too many historically-challenged people would have asked me, "Why'd yuh name yore car 'Tar Pits'?")

The little gold C230 is still too new for a nickname, though its sturdy little manner has led me to liken it -- if the 420SEL was a thoroughbred -- to a quarter horse.

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-- 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

Sorry, but I agree with Tim.

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95 SL500 Smoke Silver, Parchment 64K
07 E350 4matic Station Wagon White 34K
02 E320 4Matic Silver/grey 80K
05 F150 Silver 44K

I meant with my family. Of course you would not have a clue

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89 190E
2.6L
Arctic white
Grey leather
Sunroof
Pirelli P400 rubber
Smoked corners

I dunno either, but they all earn a name of some sort or another.

To date all of my family's benzes have been named after their color, however that may change.

'85 300D Turbo Black/Palamino "Black Beauty" KIA Aug '88 at 78,000 miles by a nissan running a red-light and T-boning my mom. Fortunatly she was uninjured. The engine still ran, but the frame was bent. I had been promised that car when I turned 16 (was 10 at the time)

'87 300D Turbo Silver/Grey "Silver Bullet" Fast, but not too quick. Did not do well in the snow and ice so we sold it when we moved to Colorado.

'78 300CD White/Navy "White Lightning" Named for cognitive dissonance my first car. Got it at 158k miles, currently 221k miles My sister teases me by calling it the "White Wonder" since its so old she "Wonders if it will start"

'88 560SEL Navy/Palamino origionally planned on naming it "Big Blue" or something equally cheezy... although the terms "Damned Yankee" and "Kurt Weildheim" seem to stick alot (car was purchaced from PO in NY) I'm been calling it Kurt since it's been acting like an f'ing nazi and things only go well with it when I play Wagner or Beethoven. Time should tell..

I think we name our cars becuase that was a give the Germans gave us by only naming the cars with a number. Who would of thought the Germans could be so creative

Other cars in the family (although not mine"
'99 Acura 3.2TL no official name but I call it the "Akula" since its grey and looks like a shark
'01 VW Passat "Wolf Wagon" or "Wolfie" for short since Volk is also Russian for "Wolf"
'93 Jeep Grand Cherokee "Reggie" dunno how it got that name
'96 Jeep Grand Cherokee "Darth" was black

I'll chalk it up to a human nature towards personification of inanimate objects. But whatever works.

i believe that there is an analogy here with naming horses, which perform the same function of basic transportation, and then some. This is different from a pet, since the horse almost qualifies as a "partner in crime".

i used to call my old beat-up car "Rosinante", Don Quizote's old beat-up horse.

as a "partner in crime", some people may also name the car as a person of the opposite sex.

in a multi-vehicle household, a name identifies quickly the vehicle being referred to.

To me it seems rather natural. Do they name boats and ships? I believe they do. Before they hit the water they typically have a name. Now, as someone earlier implied, it does not seem unusual to wait until the character directs you to a name. In my case that is exactly what I am doing. Until then, I refer to the "603", "617", '87 300TD or "84 300D Turbo. I would prefer to have a name attached, when and if appropriate, for a combination of the reasons stated earlier. Just a preference. I could have name my late Bulldog, "dog" or "Bulldog" or even "English Bulldog". Can you imagine the confusion in an obedience class if everyone named their canine "dog"?

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Steve
'87 300TD - 132K - Soon 4-Sale
'84 300D Turbo - 122K - Driving
'77 VW Type II - 77K - Restored
'08 250EX Ninja
English Bulldog (Brier) - My best friend. Passed away 12/02/04 while in my arms.

I think it has something to do with the lure of Mercedes. Our 72 is our first Mercedes and the first car I have ever named. Like the Mercedes commercial says: "No one ever takes a picture of themselves with their toaster."

These are all great answers, and I am glad I am not alone.
My 2000 SL2 Saturn is named Dori, because I always forget where I put her, and what maintenace is due .
I'm always in Benjamin (300SD) and simply forget about her, my teenage daughter drivers her and you can bet she dosen't remember the maintenace intervals. thankfully they are large intervals!

Without a name, you can't get a SSN. Without a SSN, you can't claim 'em on your income tax.

My 911's name is Britney. Hell of a lot of fun ride, and shakes her hips all over the place. She's also a targa.....her tube top comes off real easy!

I think that all of us that are DIYers are more likely to name our cars. It's all about personality and identity, and a DIYer has a better understanding of the personalities of inanimate objects than anyone. You form some kind of a bond w/ 4500lbs of metal taking care of it, bleeding under it and worrying about it.
In a sense you may as well ask why we name ourselves or anything else. We could call each other by our phone #'s or our birthdays or our SS#'s or the like. In a sense that would even make more sense. But a name is about identity. Why don't we just use our real names as our screen names here?
I have named many cars to come through my stable, but my current ride (91 300E) has been hard to identify. The PO named all of his cars religiously and after years w/ her he never could come up w/ a name that stuck. I haven't found one yet either. I have been considering the german word for 'immortal' ('cause it's pretty) but I'm afraid that that might curse the poor girl. (I was going to name it after my girlfriend too, but then we broke up...talk about a name not sticking LOL). I was thinking about starting a "name me" thread....hmmmm...

Cheers.

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Currently:
1972 350SL Euro 4spd
1973 BMW R75/5
1981 BMW R80GS
1995 FZJ80 with OM606 Conversion In Progress