Yesterday was, oddly enough, National Name Your Car Day.  And no, I didn’t make that up.  It actually exists.

We had a spirited discussion at work regarding the various names people picked for their beloved automobiles. One was named Gertrude. Another was El Senor.  Fine choices, I’m sure.

Back in the day, my ’92 Cavalier was called the “Buh-Bye Mobile”, as my license plate read “B-U-H B-Y-E”.  (A cute homage to an archaic “Saturday Night Live” skit.)  Come to think of it … a lot of people would refer to my car by that name.  It kinda stuck.

I’m not exactly sure why this day was signed in to legislation.  It was probably the brainchild of a GM executive who figured folks should have an attachment to their cars that transcends time and space.  That makes me wonder if pilots name their planes.  Captains of ships certainly take painstaking effort to name their boats.

Since the Buh-Bye Mobile, I haven’t named my other cars.  Although they have all been blue.  Speaking of … that was my dad’s nickname for his Pontiac Tempest.  He lovingly called it “Old Blue” … even when it wasn’t that, uh, old.  It was a battle tank of a car.  If there was a police chase, that car was designed with enough steel to ram through an entire building and come out unscathed on the other side.  It was the perfect badass getaway car.  And no matter what the conditions were outside … Old Blue loyally started every single time with one quick turn of the key.  It was faithful and reliable.  Eventually my dad gave it away to our 16-year old neighbor girl who probably didn’t quite know what to do with such a beast.  She probably hung pink fuzzy dice from the rear view mirror.

Do I think cars deserve names?  Well, they certainly have personality … and can be quite temperamental at times.  And we do have to cater to their every whim lest they stop working at maximum efficiency.  I’ve been driving my Acura Integra since 2000 with minimal muss or fuss.  It has 250,000+ miles and I’ll drive that thing until it drops.  Weird that I’ve never given it a nickname.

How about “Farfegnugen”?  Is that sacrilegious because it’s not German?  Maybe just Farfi for short?  Yeah … that works.  It’s a lot better than Gertrude, for Chrissake.