Automotive homophones are a fascinating thing. These are vehicles that share a name, even when they might not have anything to do with one another. Sometimes, different vehicles from different brands share the same name, but sometimes, you even get one nameplate from one brand being applied to a crazy variety of different vehicles. What nameplate has been used on the largest variety of vehicles?
Just in case this question sounds a bit convoluted, I’ll expand on what we’re talking about here. Two years ago, Jason wrote about the wildly different vehicles to have been called a Clipper. The list is rather hilarious:
Volkswagen Clipper (Type 2)
Volkswagen Golf Cabrio Clipper
Packard Clipper
Allard Clipper
Nissan Prince Clipper
Trident Clipper
Clipper Steam Automobile
That list is wonderful because each of those vehicles is different. The Volkswagen Clipper is a Type 2 van while the Trident Clipper is nominally a GT car and the Nissan Prince Clipper is a truck. Jason also left out one big Clipper and that’s the Flxible Clipper bus!
Here’s a Nissan Prince Clipper:
Take a gander at the Packard Clipper:
We’re sure that other Clippers are out there, but this means that the name Clipper has been applied to everything from compact convertibles to sizeable buses.
Personally Victimized by [MILK] brought up another example of this on the Autopian Discord. Today, the Ford Maverick is a pickup truck. However, in the 1970s the Maverick nameplate was slapped on a two-door and four-door compact.
But wait, there’s more! The Maverick nameplate is also applied to Chinese and European versions of the Ford Escape as well as two different Ford-badged Nissan SUVs sold in Australia and Europe.
So, the name “Ford Maverick” could have wildly different meanings depending on where you live in the world. Here’s where I turn it to you. What nameplate do you think has been used on the largest variety of vehicles?
Ford maverick was also used in Australia. It was a rebadged Nissan patrol.
“Arrow” has been used on three distinctly, very different vehicles; my 1978 Plymouth Arrow (sporty-economy cars, also under Dodge & Chrysler), vintage luxury Pierce Arrow, and the Pace Arrow Motorhomes/RVs.
(There was also the Plymouth Arrow Pickup.)
Eagle:
Dan Gurney’s F1 and Indy cars
Eagle motorcoaches
Eshelman Eagle, the bedazzled Corvair
Everything AMC and Chrysler slapped that badge on
And probably more.
GT has been stuck on just about every kind of car, truck, motorcycle, and even bicycle at some point. It is now completely meaningless.
It might be reaching a bit it the spirit of the question, buy “Spider/Spyder” nameplates have probably been put on more vehicles that anything else.
Thought of another which I think received mention in another article’s comments the other day – Buick badged the FWD A-body Century as the Regal in Japan due to the Toyota Century. So with the RWD A-body/G-body, 1985 N-body Somerset Regal, W-body, that means Buick used the Regal name almost as frequently as Olds used Cutlass, just not concurrently or the same market.
all 4 series of the Edsel were later used on other cars from Ford and others: Ranger,Pacer,Corsair, and Citation.
Also the Villager wagon. The Bermuda wagon reused a name from a rare 1955 Willys.
The only Edsel name that I don’t think has been used by any other car is the Roundup two-door station wagon.
…because Roundup has been sprayed on almost every acre of wheat that’s been grown in the US for decades.
I have no doubt Monsanto would have sued if Ford had tried.
Hey, that’s me!
The Maverick definitely exists in a weird space in my brain, I had a neighbour with one of the rebadged Patrols and that’s the only kind I’ve ever physically seen, ha.
Toyota Crown is one that stands out, they made about a billion different versions. From taxi cab to station wagon to top end luxury car with a v8 and satellite navigation in 1989.
There were also pick-ups!
850
Ooh that one is good.
240 works too. Volvo, Datsun/Nissan, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari. Feel like I’m leaving some out…
Ferrari 308 and Peugeot 308. Also Maserati Bora supercar and the 4th gen VW Jetta was sold as the Volkswagen Bora in Europe
Colt.
It was a Dodge, Plymouth and a Mitsubishi.
And in 1990, you could buy a Colt 100, which was an older design.
Or you could buy a Colt 200, which was a newer design.
And there was also the Colt Wagon… which was a small minivan.
And there was also a Colt Van
And in South America, there was a Mitsubishi Colt that was a pickup truck not related at all to all the other Colts.
And there was even a Colt Car Company owned by Mitsubishi in the UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Car_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Colt
Also the Ariel Colt Motorcycle
Whoa, I didn’t know it had that many variations! Also, surprised you didn’t mention Colt 45 ha ha
Wasn’t there a Colt Vista as well? Or was that the same as the Wagon?
Oh yeah… the Colt Vista was another one of the many Colts.
It’s a minor stretch, but the Ford F-150 and Ferrari F150 would make an awesome two car garage.
Question: has there yet been either a staff-written article or an ask-the-audience article like this one, about odd or weirdly inappropriate namings?
The Piaggio MP3 has always seemed a poor choice to me. Weird that they would name something based on M P 3 (wheels), despite the very common use of the term for something wholly unrelated to motoring.
Also, side note: does Mercedes or anyone else have personal experience with the Piaggio MP3, or the Yamaha Niken? I’m curious whether the dual front wheels on parallel arms produce the effects one might hope, such as increased security under lateral loading in cornering, since a loose stone can only affect one of the pair, or better ride, since a vertical movement of one wheel would might be partially mitigated by pressing the opposite wheel downward on its air cushion.
Ford/Mercury Cougar/Kuga (yea, it’s a stretch). The US Mercury Cougar was a pony car, personal lux coupe, family sedan, station wagon and finally a Contour/Mondeo based Mitsu Eclipse competitor. Now, if you count the phonetically similar Kuga, you add the European Ford Escape Crossover to the mix.
Other random entry, the Ford Fusion was a crossover hatchback overseas.
Ford’s reused quite a few of their names, capri also comes to mind.
First the luxury barge Lincoln Capris of the 50s, and the smaller ford Consul Capris in Europe,
then a variant of the Mercury Comet in the 60s,
then the European Ford Capri sports car of the 60s/70s (and its USDM Mercury rebadge),
then the 80s Mercury Capri, a restyled Mustang,
the 90s Ford/Mercury Capri, the Australian built Mazda 323 based… thing,
and now, supposedly a “coupe SUV” version of the volkswagen based Explorer EV *gags*
I dunno but that Maverick Grabber has me worried.
Hornet: Hudson full-size high-power car, AMC compact, Dodge Italo-American compact SUV
Missed the opportunity to add the Honda Hornet series of motorcycles.
And everything in this article
https://www.theautopian.com/dodge-is-bringing-back-the-hornet-so-lets-look-at-every-car-that-ever-had-that-name-there-are-more-than-you-think/
You forgot the McDonnel Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
-Dodge Charger: RWD mid size Coupe –> FWD compact L body (Omni) Coupe –> LX based sedan –>
-Chrysler Laser (K-Car based liftback) –> Plymouth Laser (Rebadged Mitsubishi Eclipse) –> -Ford Laser (rebadged Mazda 323 sedan sold in Australia)
But my #1 has to be:
-Oldsmobile Cutlass –> Every freaking mid-tier compact and midsized sedan, fastback, notchback, wagon, hatchback in RWD and FWD sold by the brand for decades. Many times without mechanical nor exterior resemblance whatsoever
being fresh off the boat in 98 when Oldsmobile was still selling anything cutlass i seriously thought of it as more of a trim than a model
It could’ve pretty much been a sub-brand through all those years. Seriously: Cutlass Ciera, Cutlass Supreme, Cutlass Calais (all being sold at the same time), and I’m sure there were more of them.
But by 98 the Cutlass nameplate was old, tired and had little brand equity left. Oldsmobile made the most out of that nameplate, until it meant nothing and disposed unceremoniously as a short-lived N-body
I was gonna say Suburban, but that was just used for virtually the same thing by many brands, so I’m gonna put Daytona: Ferrari used it, but it was also Dodge’s “Wing Car”, Dodge’s FWD performance coupe, and now their EV variation of the Charger.
Speaking of Charger, despite the fact it generally remained a coupe, it’s pretty odd how many different variations it’s been through: an everyday full-size coupe, a personal luxury coupe, two different economy coupes (the Brazilian A-Body and the Omni-based car), and as of late, a sedan.
Don’t forget that the Daytona was also a FWD hatchback in the late 80s & early 90s
That’s what I meant by “Dodge’s FWD Performance Coupe” lol
Ferrari never used the Daytona name officially. The cas was always officially referred to as the 365 GTB/4.
What about the Daytona SP3?
Good point 😉
Fun fact early 365GTB/4’s have an Italianized Daitona stamped on some of some of the panels.
To the New York State DMV, an SUV is a suburban. The vehicle class on registrations is PAS (passenger car) for coupes, sedans, regular wagons, etc., and SUBN (suburban) for SUVs.
The Century nameplate has been on Buicks of every description – though, sadly, not for an entire century. Still, they were on the majority of body styles – coupes, convertibles, four doors both hard top and pillared, fastbacks, even minivans in China – with engines with four, six, and eight cylinders.
Toyota also sold it with a big V12 as the ultimate Japanese luxury sedan. New ones are hybrids, however. The Century is a royal limo too. Now they’re even putting the name on an SUV.
If we can get a V10 pickup, a 3-cyl commuter hatchback, and an EV sports car the Century badge will have been on everything with every mainstream power train.
Eclipse is one, maybe Mustang as well
“Carryall” seems to be used for a ton of things. From earthmoving equipment, golf carts, horse drawn carriages, the Chevrolet Suburban, the International Carryall, and some vans to designer bags
In Australia the Maverick was a rebadge Y60 Nissan Patrol for a time.
Ford Falcon (sedan/coupe, van, ute)
Falcon Motorcycles
Varla Falcon Electric Scooter
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
SpaceX Falcon 9/Heavy
You can add AIM-4 Falcon to that list.
YT-1300 Correllian Light Freighter Millennium Falcon
Nice one! And though nobody wants to think about it, you know there is at least one guy out there who calls his dick The Falcon.
It’s you, isn’t it? You can tell us.
No… The first time I told my wife The Falcon was ready to land her laughter would totally kill the mood. Flacon shot down.
Also the AIM-26, 47, and 76.
Curtiss Falcon
22 different British navy ships had that name
4 ships in the US Navy
(Wikipedia is my friend)
The Volkswagen Bora (known as the Mk4 Jetta in North America) was quite different from the Maserati Bora.