Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Cars named after winds


Austin
  • Maestro (mild sea-to-coast wind in the Adriatic)
Dongfeng (eastern wind)

Chevy
  • Tornado (Mexican pick-up)
GMC:
  • Syclone
  • Typhoon
Lincoln/Ford:
  • Zephyr (breeze from the west)
Maserati:
  • Bora (ancient Greek name for north wind)
  • Ghibli (Libyan wind)
  • Karif (Somalian wind)
  • Khamsin (hot dusty wind in North Africa and Arabian Peninsula)
  • Mistral (wind from the north that blows over the northwest coast of the Mediterranean)
  • Shamal (summer wind over Iraq and Persian Gulf)
Pagani:
  • Zonda (Andean wind in Argentina)
VW
  • Bora (see Maserati Bora)
  • Passat ("trade wind" in German)
  • Santana (Santa Ana wind (subject to debate))
  • Scirocco (warm wind in Mediterranean)
Yugo (it is not derived from the word Yugoslavia; rather, yugo is a southeasterly wind on the Adriatic)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about the Ford Zephyr and the Zonda and the Austin Maestro or if you want a helicopter try the Chinook for size, wind would seem popular for names

Anonymous said...

Me again , i nearly forgot the Lambourghini 'Diablo'a northern Calafornian version of the Santa Ana wind

Maxichamp said...

Thanks for playing! I'll add the Zephyr. The Diablo is a stretch. There is a wind called that but were the Lambo people thinking-- let's name our next supercar after an obscure Northern California wind? I'm also debating the Maestro thing. Check back soon for an update!

Lukas said...

Ford's performance arm in Oz also had a Typhoon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FPV_F6

Lukas said...

PS - seems there was also a Holden Hurricane, but only as a concept - Google knows about it.

Anonymous said...

Looks like you may have forgotten the Mercury Cyclone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Cyclone

Anonymous said...

I don't see the most popular of them all... Golf! I had read it has got its name from the Gulfstream (Golfstrom in German). Wikipedia is unsure about it, though (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Golf#Nameplate_etymology)

Sanchez said...

Nissan Mistral;
Pagani Huayra;
Tramontana - Spanish sportcar;
Gaz Barguzin - Russian car, version of Gaz Gazelle.

Anonymous said...

And kinda meta, the Talbot Wind:

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/matra/rancho/the-cars-talbot-wind/

Giles said...

There's a specialist manufacturer in Catalunya, Spain that builds a car called the Tramontana, named after the wind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramontana_(sports_car) & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tramontane)

Anonymous said...

chinook helicopter is named after Native American Chinook people of modern-day Washington state, as have many other USA military copters been named in the past.

Graham Clayton said...

Lister Storm GT racer from the early 2000s.