Hooniverse Asks: What Car or Truck Named After a Place Most Poorly Reflects That Place?

1982 Chevrolet Malibu Classic-08
I don’t know about you, but when I think of the tony town of Malibu California what springs first to mind is drop top Mercedes’ and Porsches, not mid-sized and middle class Chevys. Oh sure, there’s nothing wrong with being aspirational, and I’m sure there are some residents of the beach-side community who actually drive the cars named after it, but do those cars really reflect its vibe?
That’s the problem with naming cars after places – Monte Carlo, Seville, Granada, et al – they should have some sort of aspect that ties them to that name, right? That’s often not the case, and for today’s question we’d like your opinion on which places are most poorly represented by their automotive name-sharers. What do you think is the most incongruous place-based car name?
Image: Old Car Brochures

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  1. smalleyxb122 Avatar
    smalleyxb122

    Saturn.

    1. CraigSu Avatar
      CraigSu

      At the time it seemed out of this world but, with the possible exception of the Red Line, it never ran rings around its competition.

      1. Kiefmo Avatar
        Kiefmo

        Two exceptions: It won the “get hit in the door panel by a salesman with a five-iron and not sustain damage” prize, and the “so damned easy to maintain” prize.

        1. CraigSu Avatar
          CraigSu

          I distinctly remember a trip to the local auto show when the Saturn line was introduced. I accidentally stepped right on an outer door skin they had laid out on the floor near the car. My friend and I were mighty impressed when the panel literally popped off the floor and resumed its normal, unblemished shape.

          1. Andrew_theS2kBore Avatar
            Andrew_theS2kBore

            I had a 1996 SL2 that I put sideways into a snowbank at 45+ mph. Other than having to re-mount the headlight with some well-concealed zipties, there was no evidence of the incident.

    1. PotbellyJoe★★★★★ Avatar
      PotbellyJoe★★★★★

      I just always assumed it was that buying the car was a gamble.
      Much like the Suzuki Reno.

  2. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Low hanging fruit? No. Rotten goo from last year.
    https://autopolis.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/lemans.jpg

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      And, yes, GM Uzbekistan is still producing it as the Daewoo Nexia II:
      https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Daewoo_Nexia_2008.JPG

      1. Tamerlane's Thoughts Avatar
        Tamerlane’s Thoughts

        I’ll just leave this here.

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          Glorious, just glorious! Nothing looks more modern than 16 human valves in Matrix-dresses marching past Lenin.

        2. Vairship Avatar
          Vairship

          Related (maybe?):

    2. Maymar Avatar
      Maymar

      https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Pontiac_LeMans.jpg
      Ehh, it wasn’t a great end to the name, but at least you could actually get the LeMans in LeMans (as the better Opel Kadett), unlike some of the bigger, older versions.

        1. dead_elvis Avatar
          dead_elvis

          You must mean the steamy, brown, solid-matter exhaust from the horse & not the horse itself. Tough to see in that photo, but I’m sure it’s there.

      1. I_Borgward Avatar
        I_Borgward

        As long as we’re talking LeMans:

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          Wallowing its way through the streets, only matched by public transport.

      2. Jeepster Avatar
        Jeepster

        I bet there are plenty of these on .. Catalina

  3. tonyola Avatar
    tonyola

    Dodge Monaco

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Got to say, the first word I’d associate with Monaco is “excess”. Not way off.

      1. elan Avatar
        elan

        I associate Monaco with yachts, the Monaco is definitely a land yacht.

    2. neight428 Avatar
      neight428

      larded my contribution in to the Monte Carlo post, given the geography of the situation.

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Kudos for finding a Versailles in Versailles. Similarities to the VW Santana are striking:
      http://cloudlakes.com/data_images/models/volkswagen-santana/volkswagen-santana-11.jpg

    2. engineerd Avatar
      engineerd

      I don’t know, Versailles Ohio is kind of bland and boring.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versailles,_Ohio

      1. Jeepster Avatar
        Jeepster

        Also in Kentucky, but they call it ” Vur – sales ” up there.

      2. mikeinappalachia Avatar
        mikeinappalachia

        But not their high School football teams.

  4. engineerd Avatar
    engineerd

    Milan, Italy is a center of style and commerce. It is home to the Borsa and a cathedral housing Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It has the third largest GDP among EU cities.
    On the other hand, the last generation Mercury Milan was a badge engineered and barely different copy of Ford’s Fusion and was not anywhere close to enough to save the Mercury nameplate from extinction. It should have been called Vesuvius.
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Mercury-Milan-Premier.JPG/1280px-Mercury-Milan-Premier.JPG

    1. Eric Rucker Avatar

      Maybe they named it after Milan, Michigan. (Which is actually not named after Milan, Italy, and the pronunciation is different.) That’d be more appropriate for the Mercury Milan.

      1. engineerd Avatar
        engineerd

        That’s always been my contention.

    1. engineerd Avatar
      engineerd

      Big Sky Country vs. Big Interior Volume. Almost the same thing.

  5. StephaneDumas Avatar
    StephaneDumas

    Pontiac Laurentian, along with the Parisienne who was sold in Canada?
    http://www.tocmp.com/brochures/1976Pontiac/images/1976PontiacBrochure-Can-06.jpg

  6. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    It’s got half a wheel spat, you know, like a streamliner…
    http://www.cars-on-line.com/photo/46400/79pont46425-1.jpg

    1. Jeepster Avatar
      Jeepster

      Over at Barnfinds …. http://barnfinds.com/1966-pontiac-bonneville-yellow-submarine/
      $2500 ( wait is this Crapshoot ? )

    1. Lokki Avatar
      Lokki

      The similarity is that both Sedona’s are blue above and rust-colored below?

  7. dead_elvis Avatar
    dead_elvis

    Along these lines, but not geographic… has an actual celebrity ever owned a Celebrity? (While famous, not just during their pre-fame, struggling actor/waiter period.) Likewise, an escort with an Escort?

    1. Citric Avatar
      Citric

      I imagine many escorts owned Escorts. It’s not exactly a glamorous job.

    2. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      It is entirely possible that GM punished some celebrities by giving them a free Celebrity. So might one have owned one? Probably. Might one have bought one? Never.

        1. Monkey10is Avatar
          Monkey10is

          or Senators, Diplomats, Cavaliers, Starlets, Lancers, Ambassadors, Princesses, Rangers, Tuareg and Brats.
          I am sure that statistically around 1/12th of the purchasers of Ford Scorpios probably were Scorpios though.

  8. Citric Avatar
    Citric

    I’m not sure there’s much Swiss about the Buick Lucerne.
    http://media.caranddriver.com/images/media/202259/2008-buick-lucerne-cxl-photo-202261-s-986×603.jpg
    http://www.premiumswitzerland.com/img/image_db/lucerne_luxury_hotels_main-1920.jpg
    But Lucerne is also the name of the Safeway brand of yogurt, and I can definitely see some parallels between the Buick and yogurt.

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      With the Swiss’ penchant for quality, you’d expect them to block GM from using any of its local names.

  9. Jeepster Avatar
    Jeepster

    Biscayne down at Biscayne Bay ? ( my favorite here ) ( the 66 427 )

  10. Jeepster Avatar
    Jeepster

    Cherokee, North Carolina ? NO WAIT , it is juuust right .

    1. dead_elvis Avatar
      dead_elvis

      What a beauty!

  11. Jeepster Avatar
    Jeepster

    Cimarron New Mexico

    1. Jeepster Avatar
      Jeepster

      clean 1987 Cimarron asking $3900 http://rochester.craigslist.org/cto/5201473598.html May as well hijack this thread into a crapshoot while we are at it ….

  12. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    Doesn’t this just scream “tony mountain resort town”? http://wikicars.org/images/en/e/e0/Dodge-Aspen.jpg

    1. Jeepster Avatar
      Jeepster

      Aspen in Denver, asking $4000 http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/5220148226.html

      1. Alff Avatar
        Alff

        OTOH, I think Oldsmobile really captured the sleek stylishness of this Colorado city… https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/1st_Oldsmobile_Aurora_.jpg

  13. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    GMC Yukon, GMC Denali… NO! You are not expedition vehicles, you are grocery getters and soccer mom family trucksters. (And as such, you’re an embarrassment to the GMC legacy.)
    GMC Sierra, GMC Acadia, GMC Sonoma… YES. You are made to visit these 2WD accessible vacation destinations pulling a trailer full of Jet Skis.

    1. Jeepster Avatar
      Jeepster

      COOL – harpies.
      That would a made a great car.
      Introducing the Pontiac Harpy …
      ( drawing by the late great Ray Harryhausen )

    2. Citric Avatar
      Citric

      But Homer really liked the Odyssey.

      View post on imgur.com

  14. Alan Cesar Avatar
    Alan Cesar

    The Toyota Sienna and Siena, Italy. (The name of the color sienna is taken from the color of the dirt in Siena.)
    http://www.airpano.ru/files/siena_01_big.jpg
    http://onlineautotech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/06-toyota-sienna.jpg

  15. Alan Cesar Avatar
    Alan Cesar

    The Mazda Millenia looks nothing like millenials, but I, for one, would be happier if I heard more about the former and less about the latter.
    http://images.automotive.com/reviews/images/00millenia.jpg
    http://grmworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/millennials.jpg

  16. Bradley Brownell Avatar
    Bradley Brownell

    As a Reno resident, I constantly bemoan Suzuki and their little hatch.

    1. Alan Cesar Avatar
      Alan Cesar

      As an extra-terrestrial being from the planet SX-4, I understand your pain.

    1. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      The crime rate is about the same though…

    1. wunno sev Avatar
      wunno sev

      au contraire, i would suspect that the eponymous Sebring, FL is quite well-represented by a Sebring ‘vert.

      1. Amoore Avatar
        Amoore

        Ah, forgot about that…still, this is what I was thinking of…
        http://watcheshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/race-rolex.jpeg

  17. guyla Avatar
    guyla

    Yay! Retire in Florida with a 1989 Yugo! Yay! Fun! We did it Ryan! We be famous, Yay!

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Whoa, my communist uncle bought one after reunification. You couldn’t say “Florida” fast enough to describe how quickly it fell apart. I’m not even sure if he had it for a year, and he’s the rather frugal type.

  18. Rover 1 Avatar
    Rover 1

    Skyline Corner, Mt Panorama, Bathurst and Nissan Skyline R32 GTR on it’s way to winning the great race.
    Wait… this isn’t ‘best match’ is it?
    http://sacarfan.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/R32-Nissan-Skyline-GT-R-2.jpg

  19. Eric Rucker Avatar

    Volkswagen California.
    https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/media/1256511/sehead.jpg
    No picture of it in California because you can’t buy it in California (or anywhere in the US).

  20. Cool_Cadillac_Cat Avatar
    Cool_Cadillac_Cat

    Really? Nobody went here, yet?
    And there is so much irony here, I could not bear to retouch it.
    http://imganuncios.mitula.net/1991_chrysler_new_yorker_fifth_avenue_4dr_sedan_6020055421803676948.jpg

    1. Alan Cesar Avatar
      Alan Cesar

      Shoulda been the Chrysler New Jerseyer.