Considering how much so many of us love dogs, it’s a bit surprising more of our cars aren’t named for them. I’ve got a little three-legged part-chihuahua, part um, gremlin right next to me, and a half-husky, half-Australian shepherd at my feet as I type this, in fact. Dogs are a big deal in the lives of so many of us, so you’d think cars like a Ford Dalmatian or a Honda Bloodhound or a Kia Spaniel would be all over the place, but they’re just not. Still, there are a small set of those that are, so every now and then, if I remember, I’ll talk about one in a Cold Start. Sound good? Let’s start with the pleasingly alliterative Bedford Beagle!
Bedford was a subsidiary of Vauxhall, which was in turn GM’s British subsidiary. The marque was focused on building commercial vehicles, which is something that makes the Beagle a bit unusual for Bedford, which you’d normally see in livery like the red getup of the Royal Mail.
These were pretty stylish mail trucks:
The Beagle was a modified version of Bedford’s HA van, which was the vanified version of the Vauxhall Viva car. Man, this thing is all about recursions! Subsidiaries of subsidiaries, conversions of conversion! The Beagle’s third level of conversion (Viva to Bedford HA, then HA to Beagle, you see) was done by Dormobile, who often made little campers. This time, their instructions were to convert the HA van into a usable and cheap little family station wagon.
While I’ve never had the chance to drive a Beagle, what I’ve been told/eavesdropped is that these were still very much vans, just with windows and a back seat, and still drove like a delivery van. That means noisy, harsh suspension, pretty austere. They were certainly cheap to use and maintain, and I think they seem pretty charming, but it seems that station wagon-buying – sorry, estate-buying Brits wanted something a bit more refined, so not that many Beagles were sold.
Since you made it this far, here’s a lovely, calm portrait of my two girl dogs, Abby and Juno, projecting their auras of peaceful harmony. I hope this soothing influence helps to make your day one of soothing ease.
These cars really actually do look like dogs somehow.
Didn’t Ferrari have a car called a Boxer? Am I imagining that? Does the boxer engine count?
Is it too much of a stretch to talk about the M151 Military Utility Tactical Truck, aka the MUTT?
Honorary mention goes to RUF
The car named by dogs
I had a Hillman Husky, sweet cute little 2 door wagon/delivery thing with no power and lots of rust
Kinda related, Why are designers enamored with Saint Bernard eye stains? Makes me want to get out the hydrogen peroxide solution, and coconut oil. Hear Adrian “It’s dog shit!”
https://www.theautopian.com/no-top-the-kia-k4-can-you-sell-a-cheap-sedan-if-it-looks-crazy/#:~:text=Home%20%C2%BB-,The%20Kia%20K4%3A%20Can%20You%20Sell%20A%20Cheap%20Sedan%20If%20It%20Looks%20Crazy%3F,-The%20Kia%20K4
There was a special, dog owners’ package for a kei car (I thought it was the Suzuki Alto Hustle) which included netting and special, stain resistant fabric.
Aston Martin Bulldog?
They made one.
Hmm, Wallace and Gromit should have been driving a Beagle in Curse of the Were-Rabbit instead of that Austin A35 van for their Anti-Pesto business
I don’t get why more people didn’t buy these. Who wouldn’t want “extra smartness?”
It’s kind of notable how not surprised I am that Jason owns a three legged Chihuahua.
Let’s hope there were no chainsaws involved.
What about Rover, et al.? Apropos of that, as children growing up during the Depression my mom and her sister had a dog they named Rover, their reasoning being that since they had never met a dog named Rover, and they had asked everyone they knew if they had ever met a Rover with the answer always being negative, then their dog’s name would be indeed unique. Yeah, pretty sound reasoning for children. Only if they’d had a second dog, they could’ve named it Fido. (Fun fact: Abraham Lincoln had a dog named Fido.)
So, had I grown up British, the Beagle is what my Dad would have bought instead of the Dodge Sportsman van, which was a metal box with two benches in the back and not much else.
Also, the gremlin dog looks very much like our Elvis, who was quarter chihuahua, quarter fox terrier and half Jack Russell. Yes, he was a tiny handful.
You mentioned the dogs and then you provided a photo, as the internet demands. Good on you Torch.
There was a Hillman Husky, like the one by your feet. And a Leyland Terrier lorry, also an AC Greyhound and a Colani Whippet. I am not sure if the Albion Dog Cart counts.
And the Mitsubishi Flying Pug, which might be my favorite.
My friend owns one of the 139 examples built… it’s exceedingly bizarre.
Haval Big Dog from Great Wall Motors has to count, even if it’s not a breed
Also, Willys Overland used Whippet as a marque from the mid 1920s to early 30s
The Technical Highlights section refers to the “4-speed gearbox with crisp, positive floorchange”.
The word “floorchange” makes sense, of course – a gear shift on the floor, rather than column or dash – but that was the first time I’d seen it anywhere. Googling for the term doesn’t reveal a lot of usage. The first car-related hit, fairly far into the results, is “need a floorchange gear lever for renault 5 mk1” (Clementine’s Renault 4 Garage). The next one is a post on oldschool.co.nz where someone says “You can also convert floorchange box to column change if you have the right steering colulmn.[sic]”.
There isn’t a huge need for floorchange as a word but it’s nice to know we have the option. And who knows, maybe someone will bring it back.
There’s the Hillman Husky. I’m also calling the Daihatsu Rocky eligible, because both my grandparents’ dog and the recycling dog from Paw Patrol were/are named Rocky.
Going the other way, a friend of mine named his dog Lola after the race car manufacturer.
My father in law named their dog Lola for the same reason.
My friend up the street has a golden retriever named Enzo for Ferrari. Confusingly it’s a female
My sister named her dog Enzo, now she has a new dog named Dino. I bought a Dino key fob for the dog to wear on his collar, man those are expensive.
Nothing coming to mind for car names but I have a great idea for naming our next dog!
Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce Roadster.
Fun to be yelling that at the dog park
Kia K9 😀
This just reminds me of some of the dad jokes I heard as a kid. My mom had a Datsun 810 wagon, and whenever we drove it anywhere as a family my dad would often say “To the dog-mobile!” followed by “Get it? Datsun sounds like dachshund, so it’s a car named after a dog!” I still cringe at the memory of that terrible joke…
My dad took me to a Zoo back in the day… Zoo had only one dog in it – was a Shih Tzu. I’ll see myself out.
I saw that on a sign at a local vet, took me a minute
I, too, have a 3-legged Chihuahua. May be a Mexican Blue/Chinese Crested mix as he has the white Mohawk.
I love a longroof, but think I prefer the mail van version here
I have a Ausie, huskey, and some other stuff mix too. I laughed out loud at the picture of your dogs projecting their peaceful harmony. I see that exact same thing all the time.
What is going on in that brochure picture with the automatic milkers? Those two folks seem a bit overdressed for dairy farmers, and I don’t like the implications of where his eyes are looking.
Sounds like it was well named as the vehicle howled like a beagle
Does Rover count as a car named after a dog? And what about greyhound buses? There is also the Aston Martin bulldog if you’ll allow it.
Dog cars…
Dog cars…
All I can come up with are the defunct brand Whippet and the armored car maker Mastiff.
I guess that Corgi toy cars doesn’t count. All I could think of.
Awaiting reports from other parts of the globe: there’s got to be some out there
The niche seems to be dominated by the British: Hillman Husky, AC Greyhound, Leyland Terrier truck, Daimler Dingo armored vehicle…