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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Car names #76018 07/13/02 10:51 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 771 Portland, Oregon Fiberbabe OP old hand OP Fiberbabe old hand Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 771 Portland, Oregon Ugh. I'm slogging through months of posts here in Q&A, and I'm trying to be good and not float a thread back up to the top that's been dead since May... but a little something intrigued me. In Bingley's "browned off" thread (http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=71115), Geoff brings up the naming of two particular cars... the Corvette and the Chevette. I always had assumed that they were stylistic modifications to the Corvair and the Chevelle respectively, and were so named - but that was never a *founded* assumption. Anyone care to set me straight? Also, I used to work for someone who in her previous life had worked for Ford Motor Co. She told the story of the marketing meetings where the new cars were named - thinking that the design would appeal to a young read: testosterone-filled male audience, the Probe was named to connote (ahem) penetration. Backfire alert: The demographic that ended up actually *buying* the Probe tended to be professional females in their 30s. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Car names #76019 07/13/02 11:08 PM Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 3,467 Marion NC TEd Remington Carpal Tunnel TEd Remington Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 3,467 Marion NC >The demographic that ended up actually *buying* the Probe tended to be professional females in their 30s. All of them right after having been abducted by aliens. TEd Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Car names #76020 07/14/02 02:51 AM Joined: Jul 2002 Posts: 8 M Manx stranger Manx stranger M Joined: Jul 2002 Posts: 8 I can tell you that since the Corvair came out 7 years after the Corvette was introduced, chances are that your theory on that pairing is wrong. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Car names #76021 07/14/02 03:29 AM Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 872 Birmingham, Alabama M milum old hand milum old hand M Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 872 Birmingham, Alabama In a thread about six months ago someone, I think it was tsuwm, had a URL that had very fascinating stories about the issuing of model names by makers of automobiles. I will try to find it and report back. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Car names #76022 07/14/02 11:55 AM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 1,055 Berlin B belligerentyouth old hand belligerentyouth old hand B Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 1,055 Berlin You might find this link with alll the Vette history interesting FB: http://www.vettefever.com/index_003.htm The Corvette was of course named after a small, maneuverable, and lightly armed vessel, which not only made sense because it is a sports car. After all, which man wouldn't want to ride around in something named after a war ship, right? Here's an image of one type of Corvette: http://www.ku.edu/~kansite/ww_one/naval/images/asar-i-tevfik_as-completed.jpg Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Car names #76023 07/14/02 01:20 PM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass tsuwm Carpal Tunnel tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass >All of them right after having been abducted by aliens. the same aliens that were responsible for those marketing meetings (heh, it was an Alien Probe). -ron Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. 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