Hooniverse Asks: Which car enthusiasts are most obsessed with generational codes?

Jeff Glucker

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I walk past a black BMW 5 Series every day. It’s parked along a route in my neighborhood where I walk my dog. The car always catches my eye. Not because it’s some crazy top-spec M5. Rather because the standard model badges have been removed and replaced with a simple F10 badge on the back. For those not aware, F10 is the generation code for the 6th-generation BMW 5 Series sedan. If you’re a BMW fanperson, you’ll understand referring to the car as an F10. If you’re anything else, the practice seems odd.

Other makes or models that get the same treatment fall into the BMW camp. There are lots of references to E30s, E36s, and so much more. Mercedes-Benz fans do this as well, but not as aggressively. Porsche drivers call it out too, and there it makes good sense since it would be easy to confuse 911 models if you’re not totally invested in the brand.

What other enthusiast camps are obsessed with automaker generational codes? And do you find the practice totally normal or a bit oddball? Sound off below.

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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39 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Which car enthusiasts are most obsessed with generational codes?”

  1. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    I hear it more with BMWs than any other. Occasionally you’ll hear it referenced with Chevy/GMC trucks (GMT-800, etc).

    Reply
    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      I get annoyed by the retroactive naming of early Corvettes. Chevy marketed the fifth-generation Corvette as a C5. Fine. I am OK with anything after that being a C6 through C8 and whatever they call the generations to follow. But it irks me whenever I see a Sting Ray called a C2 or a Stingray called a C3–that’s not what they were referred to at production. “C1”-“C4” don’t really exist.

      Reply
      1. nanoop Avatar
        nanoop

        Out of curiosity, what would be the correct designation for what I got to know as a C4?

        Reply
        1. 0A5599 Avatar
          0A5599

          Fourth generation, which admittedly takes more effort to type than C4.

          Reply
        2. Zentropy Avatar
          Zentropy

          POS, in my opinion. I only dislike the C5 more.

          Reply
      2. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        I can see your point, but it sort of makes sense to apply the practice retroactively, at least for consistency. I mean, “World War I” wasn’t referred to as such until FDR named the second world war in the early 40s. Before that, the earlier conflict was just the “Great War”. Say that now and anyone who isn’t a historian probably won’t know what you mean.

        Reply
    2. neight428 Avatar
      neight428

      GM so rarely changed their trucks up until recently, the OBS/NBS designation worked for almost all discussion. Now they do major updates every seven years, it’s hard to keep up!

      Reply
      1. Scoutdude Avatar
        Scoutdude

        Regarding trucks it is interesting that in Fordom you have the Bump side, Dent side. and then since they only changed the front end sheet metal for a long time you have the Bull nose, Brick nose and Aero nose and once they did bring out a new truck the Jelly Bean. However I don’t know if there are any names for the post Jelly Bean other than referencing the soon to be first generation of Aluminum trucks, nor do I know of anything used for the pre bump side era.

        All of those make sense to me as they describe actual physical looks of the trucks. I think if you did the matching game, ie match the words to the picture most people non car people would do quite well. Certainly if you asked to ID bump vs dent or brick vs aero most would get it right.

        The long generations there for a while were actually unusual in the overall scheme of things.

        At Ford 48-52, 53-56, 57-60, 61-66, 67-72, 73-79

        At GM 48-55, 55-59, 60-66, 67-72

        So an average of 5 1/3 years at Ford and 6 1/2 at GM. Then of course emissions, fuel economy and safety regulations became higher priorities and cars were much bigger volume and were under tougher regulations so they both focused on cars over trucks. Now that trucks are the best selling vehicles in the land they can’t afford to let one design hang around too long.

        Reply
        1. 0A5599 Avatar
          0A5599

          I think most non-car people could also pick out a Wrong Bed Ford.
          https://www.fordification.info/tech/images/63wrongbed_adv.jpg

          Reply
        2. Zentropy Avatar
          Zentropy

          The “Aero nose” I always refer to as “OBS” or “Old Body Style”, because that body carried on with the F250+ even after the F150 Jelly Bean debuted (the Jelly Bean I usually call “Triton”).

          The 57-60 generation is one of my favorites. Dad always referred to those as “Iceboxes”, though I’m not sure why. Maybe they looked like freezers of the time.

          Reply
          1. Scoutdude Avatar
            Scoutdude

            Well compared to the 53-56 trucks they are very boxy so I can see that.

          2. neight428 Avatar
            neight428

            The Jelly Bean was a travesty. In my head, the F series had only superficial updates from 1973, so they predated me by three years and thus were, to an irrational young Ford fan, something like the sunrise, the tides or I-10, something that persisted forever without interruption. That they sent off the I-6 in the process made it all the worse. If I could find a clean ’96 with a manual and the six, I’d probably pay way too much for it.

  2. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Continental owners always refer to their cars as Mark II, even though it was the only model ever in production.

    https://conteudo.imguol.com.br/blogs/227/files/2019/09/93e12f850af669dddb2c40f6ec3d86fc-cool-pictures-lincoln-continental.jpg

    Reply
    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      Advertising and brochures had Mark II branding. The weird part is it was followed by the Mark III, IV, V in 1958-60 model years, but the numbering ignored this for the Lincoln Continental Mark III in 1969 and subsequent models.

      Reply
      1. 0A5599 Avatar
        0A5599

        Mark II was the only offering, ever, by Continental. The brand dissolved afterwards. The cars that followed were Lincolns.

        58-60 models were kind of ugly. There was a fairly long gap before the introduction of the Thunderbird-based Mark III, which was a good looking car. Maybe Ford was hoping that if they recycled the name, people would disregard the stupid stuff that preceded it; the auto equivalent of Bobby Ewing in the shower.

        Reply
        1. outback_ute Avatar
          outback_ute

          Yes they were a bit regrettable. Sorry never watched Dallas…

          Reply
    2. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      The Mark II was called such because, prior to Ford’s creation of the Continental division, there was a Lincoln Continental from 1940-1942 and 1946-1948. There was no need to call the first one “Mk I”, but it made sense to distinguish the second generation because of the change in organization structure within Ford.

      Reply
  3. peugeotdude505 Avatar
    peugeotdude505

    Mercedes people – W124, W126,W140, etc

    Reply
    1. Maymar Avatar
      Maymar

      I feel like this is the correct one – hell, I know that a W451 is a smart fortwo, a W203 is the worst C-class, and the W164 was an ML. I couldn’t tell you the BMW chassis codes for the X5 or, ugh, why can’t I remember the name of the suicide door’d EV?

      Reply
  4. ptschett Avatar
    ptschett

    I think it’s fine within a community to use the platform codes, but in a more generalist setting there probably should be more description. I know what a “MN12” (’89-’97 Thunderbird/Cougar) or “FN10” (the closely-related Mark VIII) or “SN95” (mid-’90’s Mustang) are from being on Ford forums, but if I was trying to match the Mercedes codes up to pictures of the cars I’d be doing no better than an educated guess.

    Reply
  5. nanoop Avatar
    nanoop

    You can’t discuss not-the-current (or emphasize that it actually is about the current) Porsche 911 without specifying some creative three-digit code that is starting with a “9” (so effectively, it’s a two-digit code).
    Not a fan.

    Reply
  6. bv911 Avatar
    bv911

    GT-R’s, there are (sorry) fans of R32’s, 33’s, 34’s & 35’s, not to mention KPC-10’s & KPGC-10’s.

    Japanese enthusiast cars in general. Is your Sylvia an S15? If so, how did you import it? What’s an “86” to you?

    So basically anything with a geeky enough community, where this knowledge is recognized & appreciated…

    Reply
  7. Scoutdude Avatar
    Scoutdude

    I’m sorry but F10 means ugly old Datsun to me, their first FWD car. Such engineering highs and lows. Realizing that a clutch replacement could be a time consuming proposition with FWD they provided a cover to access the clutch assembly and a cover that allowed the input shaft to be pulled out of the transmission, making it an easy and quick job. At the other end of the spectrum they used a non cross flow head and the manifolds are between the engine and the firewall. So to minimize afterboil there is a fan to blow air at the carb. Problem is that they would like to stick in the on position and drain the battery.

    As far as using those designations I think some of it is silly but then again I often refer to my cars by their platform code, Panther, even though that covers 4 distinct generations of cars.

    Reply
    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      Makes me think of a shorty F150.

      https://www.generationhighoutput.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/bronco-2-short-wheelbase-f150-02.jpg

      Reply
    2. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      Dat’s un F10: https://images.hgmsites.net/lrg/datsun-f10_100385551_l.jpg

      Reply
      1. Scoutdude Avatar
        Scoutdude

        That add speaks volumes about these cars. Most ads show an front 3/4 view as the focus, not the rear 3/4 view. So yeah it seems the marketing/advertising people thought the front end might scare people away. It isn’t just this one ad either as there are others that don’t show the front view at all.

        Reply
      2. Scoutdude Avatar
        Scoutdude

        That add speaks volumes about these cars. Most ads show an front 3/4 view as the focus, not the rear 3/4 view. So yeah it seems the marketing/advertising people thought the front end might scare people away. It isn’t just this one ad either as there are others that don’t show the front view at all.

        Reply
    3. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      And F12 means save as to me

      Reply
  8. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    Another one you will hear it for is the SN95. Which is a car well worth the time to be remembered that way.
    I say this knowing these are the next Mustangs in line to go up in value after the Foxbody’s and cringe.
    Oh and the other ones you will hear it for is the Panther police packages like the P71’s.

    Reply
    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      “Foxbody” gets under my skin. Fox wasn’t a body, it was a Ford platform, like Panther and Jaguar.

      Reply
      1. Fuhrman16 Avatar
        Fuhrman16

        What platform was the Jaguar name used on?

        Reply
        1. Vairship Avatar
          Vairship

          https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/2007_Jaguar_X-Type_%281%29.jpg/1280px-2007_Jaguar_X-Type_%281%29.jpg By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Dogs.barking.duster.rolling&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="User:Dogs.barking.duster.rolling (page does not exist)">Dogs.barking.duster.rolling</a> – <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

          😉

          Reply
      2. Wayne Moyer Avatar
        Wayne Moyer

        You tell that to all the foxes that are out there. I don’t think they would appreciate that kind of talk.

        Reply
        1. Batshitbox Avatar
          Batshitbox

          They’re a tough audi-ence.

          Reply
  9. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    Don’t forget Honda (such as EG Civic) or Mazda (both with the Miata – NA-ND – and RX7 – FB-FD).

    Reply
  10. Monkey10is Avatar
    Monkey10is

    The whole world-within-a-world of abortive development projects throughout the 60s & 70s within BMC/BMH/British Leyland are discussed endlessly by the model numbers on sites such as the excellent and learned http://www.aronline.co.uk.

    To me that is all much ADO- about nothing.

    Reply
  11. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    I don’t know, but I personally like the practice. This discussion segues nicely from the “Is the C8 a Corvette?” post, because the difference between C7 and C8 is huge, even if they’re both “Corvettes”.

    Model names often carry over for multiple generations, even though the cars themselves may change significantly. In the case of some cars (BMWs and Porsche 911s, in particular) I think it’s critically important, because “3 Series” or “911” alone doesn’t tell me much at all. An E30 or 993 will pique my interest, but I could care less about an F30 or 996.

    Reply
  12. sunbeammadd Avatar
    sunbeammadd

    Australian car enthusiasts. Back in the day Holden started identifying each generation with a 2 character alphabetic code, then Ford Australia, Chrysler Australia and Mitsubishi Australia all followed suit. Most of my countrymen seem to know the differences between EH and XY and CL but being a Brit/Euro type of car guy when I hear HQXDTFHE my eyes glaze over.

    Reply
    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      Special points for the Holden codes for bouncing around seemingly randomly (there is a translation) instead of progressing alphabetically; HK, HT, HG, HQ, HJ, HX

      Reply