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.