Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Arthropod Vehicle Names

EH-arthropods
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.

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104 responses to “Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Arthropod Vehicle Names”

  1. B3NN3TT Avatar
    B3NN3TT

    Since I’m an Italian car aficionado, I vote Lancia Scorpion:

    1. smalleyxb122 Avatar
      smalleyxb122

      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

      1. nanoop Avatar
        nanoop

        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

      2. Citric Avatar
        Citric

        I assume the Mahindra Scorpio can join the club.
        http://www.topgear.com/india/images/stories/articles/512×288/2014Sep25021746.jpg

        1. Manic_King Avatar
          Manic_King

          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

          1. Monkey10is Avatar
            Monkey10is

            Alvis Scorpion

          2. Monkey10is Avatar
            Monkey10is

            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…)

    2. sunbeammadd Avatar

      Hillman Imp Scorpion – a Cooper S rival that never made it to market.
      http://www.magical.eclipse.co.uk/impclub/scorpion02.jpg

    1. Monkey10is Avatar
      Monkey10is

      Less fabulous:

  2. The Real Number_Six Avatar
    The Real Number_Six

    Lance Reventlow’s Scarab Chevrolet

    1. The Real Number_Six Avatar
      The Real Number_Six

      And the Stout Scarab bus.

    1. Tanshanomi Avatar

      Apes are mammals.

        1. Monkey10is Avatar
          Monkey10is

          (Despite pretending to be an arthropod, she is DEFINITELY a mammal…)

          1. ptschett Avatar
            ptschett

            It took awhile for the costume industry to catch up with Stryper, I guess…
            http://33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbdnu405uY1qaeuu9.jpg

        1. Tanshanomi Avatar

          I guess I forgot to use the “tongue-in-cheek” font.

  3. Car_Door Avatar
    Car_Door

    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…

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      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.

  4. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Roach Coach was featured on these pages not long ago.
    https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/68/42/c9/6842c9581df26e54831066a9f439919b.jpg

  5. tonyola Avatar
    tonyola

    Hudson Wasp

        1. Batshitbox Avatar
          Batshitbox

          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

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Odd choice of models – are they famous for something?

      1. mdharrell Avatar

        They were meant to emphasize the Cricket’s roominess.
        http://www.atticpaper.com/prodimages/life1971/cricket.jpg

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          Touché. As such, a car relevant for today’s Hooniverse Asks…

  6. tonyola Avatar
    tonyola

    Dodge Super Bee

    1. Moparmann Avatar
      Moparmann

      I always liked these Super Bees! 🙂

  7. XRSevin Avatar
    XRSevin

    The other Hornet.

    1. Tomsk Avatar
      Tomsk

      S/C 360 FTW!

  8. XRSevin Avatar
    XRSevin

    Datsun Honet Bee

  9. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Would you bee-lieve…an insect named after a car?
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnophaela_vermiculata

  10. XRSevin Avatar
    XRSevin

    Yenko Stinger?

  11. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    Back in the day the Scarab was on the short list of aspiring young Hoons in my world…

    The Scarab legend – The original hybrid Datsun Z.

  12. tonyola Avatar
    tonyola

    Chevy Monza Spyder

  13. The Real Number_Six Avatar
    The Real Number_Six

    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…

    1. tonyola Avatar
      tonyola

      I included the Monza Spyder because Chevrolet plastered an eight-legged decal on the hood. That qualifies the car despite the spelling/term origin.

      1. The Real Number_Six Avatar
        The Real Number_Six

        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.

  14. mdharrell Avatar

    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

    1. The Real Number_Six Avatar
      The Real Number_Six

      I wondered if there were a smaller car named ‘langoustine’ but found only bikes:

  15. engineerd Avatar
    engineerd

    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/

    1. engineerd Avatar
      engineerd

      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

  16. jim Avatar
    jim

    View post on imgur.com


    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 !

    View post on imgur.com

  17. jim Avatar
    jim

    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

  18. Tomsk Avatar
    Tomsk

    Meet the Cicada, an SCCA Formula B car from the early 1970s.
    http://www.canamcarsltd.com/photo/CicadaG.jpg

    1. needthatcar Avatar
      needthatcar

      It’s posts and threads like this one that make me really love Hooniverse.

    1. mdharrell Avatar

      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

      1. Vairship Avatar
        Vairship

        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.

  19. Citric Avatar
    Citric

    Concept cars are in? Then here’s the Ford Super Gnat!
    http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/concept/1981_Ghia_Ford_Super_Gnat_02.jpg

  20. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    “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

    1. Tanshanomi Avatar

      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

      1. 0A5599 Avatar
        0A5599

        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

        1. mdharrell Avatar

          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.

  21. Monkey10is Avatar
    Monkey10is

    Reliant Ant

  22. Tanshanomi Avatar

    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

    1. Tomsk Avatar
      Tomsk

      I’d argue this is even lower-hanging:
      http://img.directindustry.com/images_di/photo-g/55229-2906493.jpg

      1. Monkey10is Avatar
        Monkey10is

        Snap! We seem to have had exactly the same (obvious) idea at exactly the same time.

        1. 0A5599 Avatar
          0A5599

          The early bird gets the, uh, caterpillar.

      2. Tanshanomi Avatar

        But that was already mentioned.

    2. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      It’s named after a TV-series! 😉

  23. engineerd Avatar
    engineerd

    The BC Forest Discovery Centre has a gas locomotive named The Green Hornet.

  24. Monkey10is Avatar
    Monkey10is

    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.)

  25. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    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/

  26. desmo Avatar
    desmo

    VW Mexico “Hormiga” (spanish for ant).

    1. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      The windshield was slanted to enhance the aerodynamics?

    1. mdharrell Avatar

      Monkey10is beat you to the TW9, above.

  27. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    “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

    1. Tanshanomi Avatar

      ‘bilers are ALWAYS allowed!

  28. Sean McMillan Avatar
    Sean McMillan

    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

    1. ptschett Avatar
      ptschett

      My grandpa used to call the family farm’s skid-steer loader a doodlebug, for reasons that have never been entirely clear to me.

      1. Sean McMillan Avatar
        Sean McMillan

        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

  29. Krautwursten Avatar
    Krautwursten

    Pontiac Firefly, also fits the category “American badged vehicles which were differently American badged solely for the Canadian market”.

    1. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      Because Geo just didn’t make sense as a worldwide brand…

      1. Krautwursten Avatar
        Krautwursten

        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.

        1. Tanshanomi Avatar

          Because good-ol-boys were offended by Chevrolets being assembled overseas.