
Humans generally do not look kindly on invertebrates. Creepy-crawlers with a surplus of appendages are, for the most part, unattractive and undesirable to have around. But there are exceptions. Insects and spiders bite, sting, can carry disease, carry venom. And, as we all know, any creature that is badass enough to inflict pain and potentially kill you is marketing gold.
Since most people are a bit fuzzy on the differences between insects, arachnids, and crustaceans — and don’t realize that a centipede is none of the above, I’ll open up this discussion to all Arthropods, which is basically any animal with a hard exoskeleton and six or more jointed legs.
The Caveats (there are always caveats):
- Manufacturers’ marques, model names and trim lines are all fair game. Slang, nicknames, and marketing imagery are not.
- The names of concept cars, race cars, one-offs and stillborn prototypes are only allowable if it was an officially-bestowed name by a recognized automotive manufacturer, kit car builder, or styling house.
- Cars, light and heavy trucks, motorcycles are all fair game. No boats or airplanes, please.
Difficulty: As easy as getting bit my a mosquito on a summer’s night at dusk.
How This Works: Read the comments first and don’t post duplicates! Bonus points for adding photos.

Since I’m an Italian car aficionado, I vote Lancia Scorpion:
Just to keep the Scorpions together, here’s the Pisa Scorpion (Fiero Kit, but allowed per the rules)
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/qr004dqgspx5mie4tec8.jpg
Don’t worry, they’ve been together for so long, they’ll stay that way. (I know where the door is, thanks.)
http://949therock.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Scorpions.jpg
I assume the Mahindra Scorpio can join the club.
http://www.topgear.com/india/images/stories/articles/512×288/2014Sep25021746.jpg
Merkur- & Ford Scorpio (the one below is very ugly, sorry about that)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Ford_Scorpio_1995_Taxi_hl.jpg
Alvis Scorpion
and the WW2 Matilda Scorpion.
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/all_images/british/Tanks/BR054a.jpg
(Anyone who remembers the D-Day version of this based on a Sherman tank will have bagged themselves another arthropod…)
And the MuZ Skorpion.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/MZ_Skorpion_Sport.jpg
http://images.car.bauercdn.com/upload/11054/images/thegraduate.jpg
Hillman Imp Scorpion – a Cooper S rival that never made it to market.
http://www.magical.eclipse.co.uk/impclub/scorpion02.jpg
Fabulous
http://c85c7a.medialib.glogster.com/media/ed/ed99644e622530536db2fab112c1814fa1327d0b854fba62dd053a7a4dc7d4cf/hudson-hornet-bmp.jpg
Less fabulous:
Fab-Four-ulous:
http://www.murileemartin.com/UG/LWA15/186-UG-IMG_4098.jpg
Lance Reventlow’s Scarab Chevrolet
And the Stout Scarab bus.
http://www.zhome.com/rnt/Scarab/Scarab.htm
http://www.zhome.com/rnt/Scarab/ScarabLead.jpg
The Scammell Scarab
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i_AovfzNXgQ/TMzaEUANjuI/AAAAAAABV6M/dP9jVpjFjKY/s1600/gv_creations_1141768810_scammel_townsman___1967.jpg
http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/ScarabREarticle1A.jpg
http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/PabstScarabRE2.html
http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/PabstScarabRE3.html
https://www.shannons.com.au/auctions/2012-shannons-sydney-spring-classic-auction/UBVD12GH0NYT3309/
https://www.shannons.com.au/library/images/auctions/P5B9L4T8Q6D2U8L6/full/1958-triumph-scarab-650cc-open-wheel-racing-car.jpg
Vespa.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Light_blue_Vespa_GL,_front.jpg
Beetle
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/1949_VW_Beetle.jpg
Dung Beetle
http://media.cagle.com/177/2015/11/05/171058_600.jpg
Ape.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Piaggio_Vespacar_APE_P400V_MPF.dsc01304.jpg
Apes are mammals.
When is an ape not an ape…
http://www.fancydressball.co.uk/big_images1/daisy-bumble-bee-costume-83343.jpg
(Despite pretending to be an arthropod, she is DEFINITELY a mammal…)
It took awhile for the costume industry to catch up with Stryper, I guess…
http://33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbdnu405uY1qaeuu9.jpg
http://mobile-dictionary.reverso.net/italian-english/ape
I guess I forgot to use the “tongue-in-cheek” font.
The Mantis was a kit car made by Marcos of the UK. Both the 1970’s Mantis and the 2000’s mantis had a fiberglass body and tube chassis, the the newer Mantis was equipped with a supercharged 4.6, and the old a rover 3.5 v8. Mantis is definitely a fitting name for the first generation car…
I know I’m true to myself when I wonder wether the blueprint got wet just before tooling was ordered, every single time I see that original Mantis.
Caterpillar
http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/Caterpillar/C833061?$cc-s$
Roach Coach was featured on these pages not long ago.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/68/42/c9/6842c9581df26e54831066a9f439919b.jpg
If that counts, then: http://www.moodysfoodtrucks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/img_3647-300×2002.jpg
http://moomettesmagnificents.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Monster_Jam_8-600×330.jpg
Something for everybody:
http://www.pineharbour.co.nz/assets/_resampled/resizedimage287407-Red-Bug-4.jpg
Hudson Wasp
Also Marmon Wasp.
http://cdn1.blog.powerblocktv.com/wp-content/gallery/76-automotive-history/dsc_6189.jpg
Also Isuzu Wasp
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3020/2849622193_e1c9731217.jpg
Also Vespa (“Wasp” and the root of Mel Brooks’ W.A.S.P. joke in naming a character “Princess Vespa”)
http://www.thevespagang.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Vespagang-history.png
Plymouth Cricket.
http://hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/4487898178_746cdf7c3b_o.jpg
Odd choice of models – are they famous for something?
They were meant to emphasize the Cricket’s roominess.
http://www.atticpaper.com/prodimages/life1971/cricket.jpg
Touché. As such, a car relevant for today’s Hooniverse Asks…
Dodge Super Bee
I always liked these Super Bees! 🙂
Also Rumble Bee.
http://www.pickuptrucks.com/trucks/IMAGES/2004/dodge/rumblebee/bee4.jpg
Wolseley Moth:
http://jensjansen.com/blog1/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/DSC09852.JPG
The other Hornet.
S/C 360 FTW!
Datsun Honet Bee
Would you bee-lieve…an insect named after a car?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnophaela_vermiculata
Fergus Mosquito.
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/115171858.jpg
Yenko Stinger?
Challenger SRT8 392 Yellow Jacket
http://cdn.boldride.com/hennessey/2013/thumb/hennessey-dodge-challenger-srt8-392-yellow-jacket.654×436.Mar-01-2013_11.27.37.695135.jpg
Libelle (in German, “dragonfly”):
http://aws-cf.caradisiac.com/prod/mesimages/207405/1594b.jpg
Back in the day the Scarab was on the short list of aspiring young Hoons in my world…
Chevy Monza Spyder
Can we talk about the Spiders and Spyders on this page?
The convertible car known as a spider isn’t really a call-out to the arthropod. Instead, it comes from the horseless carriage age, when a small and light roofless carriage was known as a “speeder”. If you spell that phonetically in most other European languages who didn’t suffer the same Great Vowel Shift that English went through from the time of Chaucer onwards, it becomes “spider” or “spyder”.
/someone is wrong on the Internets…
I included the Monza Spyder because Chevrolet plastered an eight-legged decal on the hood. That qualifies the car despite the spelling/term origin.
Sure, but it’s a mashup. Kind of like how Pontiac also confused a roast chicken with a majestic beast of mythology…on two different cars.
This fails to qualify, as it’s only a nickname (albeit one used by the factory), but the Bugatti Type 10 prototype became known as “Le Homard” (the lobster) after Ettore Bugatti painted it red. It has since been restored to its previous appearance, more or less, as “La Baignoire” (the bathtub):
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3676/14068802210_0399a290b3_b.jpg
I wondered if there were a smaller car named ‘langoustine’ but found only bikes:
Paul Jr. created the Black Widow custom car. This was an official name bestowed by its creator. I’m not going to pass judgment as to how it looks.
http://pauljrdesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/paul-jr-designs-car-black-widow-231.jpg
http://pauljrdesigns.com/car/black-widow-car/
Not allowable by the rules because it’s a nickname, but much better looking than PJD’s car is the ’57 Chevy SEDCO-prepped race cars called the “Black Widows”. This one went for over $200k at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale.
http://cdn.barrett-jackson.com/staging/carlist/items/Fullsize/Cars/185733/185733_Front_3-4_Web.jpg
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Archive/Event/Item/1957-CHEVROLET-150-RACE-CAR-BLACK-WIDOW-185733
Kind of a distant cousin to a motorcycle, the Garelli Mosquito was one of the many auxiliary engine used to turn bicycles into cyclemotors during the 50s.
Fun fact : before becoming a bike manufacturer, Ducati also made a similar engine, called Cucciolo (puppy), and even before that they built radios !
You said no boats, but what about outboard motors ? Meet the Piaggio Moscone (blowfly)
http://i.imgbox.com/Cwt18n0C.jpg
http://i.imgbox.com/BkQycjVf.jpg
Or truck motors? ‘Scorpion’:
http://image.trucktrend.com/f/27597155+w660+h495+cr1/1004_8l_03%2bdiesel_truck_news%2bscorpion_engine.jpg
Meet the Cicada, an SCCA Formula B car from the early 1970s.
http://www.canamcarsltd.com/photo/CicadaG.jpg
Aptera is a genus of cockroach.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3374/3492056150_d1a9637304_z.jpg
It’s posts and threads like this one that make me really love Hooniverse.
There’s always the Bond Bug.
http://cdn.silodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Bond-Bug-1.jpg
Oh, of course! Chortodes morissii bondii, the moth commonly known as Bond’s Wainscot.
Technically not a true bug, of course.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources/research-curation/projects/cockayne/images/large//503431.jpg
It should be obvious that that thing does NOT have a Hemi… Although in your picture it seems to have thrown a rod through the block.
Concept cars are in? Then here’s the Ford Super Gnat!
http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/concept/1981_Ghia_Ford_Super_Gnat_02.jpg
“Cars, light and heavy trucks, motorcycles are all fair game. No boats or airplanes, please.”
Technically, the Mayfly was not a boat or airplane. I see wheels under it, so maybe light(er than air) truck?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/HMA_No._1_%28Mayfly%29_-1911.jpg
Yes, HMA-1 did have some spindly little wire wheels, as shown below, but “Mayfly” was only a nickname.
http://www.walney-island.com/images/airship_sheds_07.jpg
Mayfly was the oft-used nickname of that particular airframe (#1), given by its crew, but adopted by the public. As it turned out, there were no siblings.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7209/6968160663_d89151eaaf_b.jpg
No matter whether it’s taken as evocative of the lifespan of an airborne adult or simply broken down to its component syllables, naming an aircraft “mayfly” is just asking for trouble.
Reliant Ant
As I have mentioned previously, there’s always at least one answer to these that I think is super-low-hanging fruit, which will get snatched up immediately. And yet, hours go by…
http://www.oih.hu/images/swift/1st/003%20pontiac_firefly01.jpg
I’d argue this is even lower-hanging:
http://img.directindustry.com/images_di/photo-g/55229-2906493.jpg
Snap! We seem to have had exactly the same (obvious) idea at exactly the same time.
The early bird gets the, uh, caterpillar.
But that was already mentioned.
It’s named after a TV-series! 😉
The BC Forest Discovery Centre has a gas locomotive named The Green Hornet.
The lowest hanging fruit of all:
http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/Caterpillar/Bulldozer-C811296?$cc-s$
(Hey! A CAT is a mammal!
…oh wait, yeh, OK.)
In an episode of The Dick Van Dyke show, Rob buys a Tarantula, which was fictional at the time. There is now a Local Motors submitted design by that name.
https://localmotors.com/farisdchef/lm-tarantula/
VW Mexico “Hormiga” (spanish for ant).
The windshield was slanted to enhance the aerodynamics?
ReliANT ANT for double score.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd70/LordFellatioNelson/2449913_zps05b722aa.jpg
Monkey10is beat you to the TW9, above.
“Cars, light and heavy trucks, motorcycles are all fair game. No boats or airplanes, please.”
Where do snowmobiles fit?
http://www.vintagesnowmobiles.50megs.com/1972_SCORPION_FEB_16_2012_PP15824A.jpg
‘bilers are ALWAYS allowed!
Barris Bugaloos Buggy:
http://www.bugaloos.com/Macys3.jpg
Doodlebug? Not sure if it’s an official designation, but I only see them referred to as such.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0fnQ1_AG3DU/ThHsP40frbI/AAAAAAABnj8/K9QJGqSKwGs/s1600/Texaco_Tanker_Heil_sized.jpg
My grandpa used to call the family farm’s skid-steer loader a doodlebug, for reasons that have never been entirely clear to me.
As far as I know, “doodlebug” also refers to automobiles from the ’20s (model A’s and T’s mostly) that were converted to tractors by removing body parts, shortening wheelbase and affixing tractor style wheels. something like this: http://car-us.com/img/source/big/360965755152_0.jpg
Why not airplanes?
de Havilland Moth
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Cirrus_Moth_G-EBLV.jpg/1920px-Cirrus_Moth_G-EBLV.jpg
de Havilland Mosquito
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/De_Havilland_DH-98_Mosquito_ExCC.jpg
McDonnell-Douglas/Northrop (now Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/USMC_FA-18_Hornet.JPEG/1920px-USMC_FA-18_Hornet.JPEG
Northrop P-61 Black Widow:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Northrop_P-61_green_airborne.jpg/600px-Northrop_P-61_green_airborne.jpg
Northrop F-89 Scorpion:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/59fis-f-89-goosebay.jpg
Pontiac Firefly, also fits the category “American badged vehicles which were differently American badged solely for the Canadian market”.
Because Geo just didn’t make sense as a worldwide brand…
Geo didn’t make sense as a domestic brand either. In most of the rest of the world Metros simply were Suzukis and Subarus (even with 4WD), don’t know why they had to invent Geo just for the American market.
Because good-ol-boys were offended by Chevrolets being assembled overseas.