Author Topic: What's in a Car Name  (Read 1023 times)

Offline sluggish

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #15 on: January 20, 2010, 11:46:15 AM »
It sold EXCEPTIONALLY WELL in the Spanish Market.   Nova isn't a Spanish word.   "No Va" is.    But it was still debunked in the Late 70's.  

As for your intended jab, you missed your intended target.   I live near Detroit, I've heard all of this ad nauseum.   I was merely pointing that out, Sluggish is near Detroit as well and would agree.   The only funny ones for me nowadays are IROC and FIAT.   Those two were never "over used" and still manage laughs.  

Indeed.  It was originally called the Chevy II.  When you consider that that manuals had to be translated and the language logistics that had to be worked out...  There's no way that this non-existent "fauxpas" slipped passed GM's spanish marketing team.  This was a clever made-up anecdote designed to show the implications of doing business across language barriers.

Offline DREDger

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #16 on: January 20, 2010, 11:51:36 AM »
"No Va" translates to "will not"...  Nova, on the other hand, was a economy car produced by Chevrolet...

Well, I'm not sure you are correct about that.  No va means 'does not go', although from what I've read would be an awkward way of describing a non functioning car in Spanish.

Also I think the Nova was more a muscle car, not an economy car.   As I recall it was a popular drag racing car in high school.
« Last Edit: January 20, 2010, 11:56:19 AM by DREDger »

Offline CAP1

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2010, 11:53:03 AM »
One of the models wasn't trash though.   Lotus did the Suspension.   :cool:    But you forgot the Subaru Justy and Brat.   Or do I bring up the Le Car.    :rofl

i've seen justys and brats with over 300k on em....they looked like poop, and rusted worse than an old chevy.....but they lasted.

 lecar........EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW :bolt:
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Offline john9001

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2010, 11:57:07 AM »

Also I think the Nova was more a muscle car, not an economy car.   As I recall it was a popular drag racing car in high school.

the nova was a economy car, not everybody goes drag racing, some people actually use a car for transportation as strange as that may seem.

Offline CAP1

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2010, 12:01:41 PM »
the nova was a economy car, not everybody goes drag racing, some people actually use a car for transportation as strange as that may seem.

ya......but we can race from traffic light to traffic light too........ :D

 my 165k mile grand caravan is suprisingly quick off the lights........so far, i've taken a nissan quest....a dodge charger, but that was in the rain.......and a riced out civic.
 no one expects some doof in one of these things to try to beat em... :rofl
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Offline sluggish

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #20 on: January 20, 2010, 12:03:39 PM »
Well, I'm not sure you are correct about that.  No va means 'does not go', although from what I've read would be an awkward way of describing a non functioning car in Spanish.

Also I think the Nova was more a muscle car, not an economy car.   As I recall it was a popular drag racing car in high school.

It depends on what tranlator you use. One thing's for certain, the word "nova" doesn't translate to anything...

The Nova, was a small economy car.  It grew over the years and was available with a v8 in the SS package.  It was a good car to hotrod because of it's size and the fact that a lot of Chevelle parts would bolt on.  It was commonly called the poor man's Chevelle.

Offline tassos

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #21 on: January 20, 2010, 12:13:57 PM »


Toyota AYGO = in Greece= Toyota EGG



Fiat Palio= in Greece = Fiat old



Seat Mala(k)ga= in Greece= Seat Wan... do it youre self
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Offline 68Wooley

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #22 on: January 20, 2010, 12:20:08 PM »
Seat Mala(k)ga= in Greece= Seat Wan... do it youre self

My Grandfather had one of those Seat's with a 1.7 (non-turbo) diesel engine in right around the time I got my driving license. He'd often lend me it and - whilst beggars couldn't be choosers - I think its fair to say it was the worst car I've ever driven.

EDIT...

On the Nova name, GM continued with it in UK on the Vauxhall Nova - a small hatchback sold throughout the 80's and early nineties. The same car was sold as the Opel Corsa throughout the rest of Europe. The Corsa name was adopted in the UK too in the mid / late nineties.

« Last Edit: January 20, 2010, 12:25:18 PM by 68Wooley »

Offline tassos

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #23 on: January 20, 2010, 12:27:33 PM »


Pontiac in US
 and in Greece:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Q4iMtBoCc
Pontios
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Offline Fulmar

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #24 on: January 20, 2010, 07:23:00 PM »
So you found a website that refutes that claim.  I read this article in the Wall Street Journal.  Tell me which on is more credible?
I think the #1 rule I remember learning when writing term papers in college was: Don't use Newspapers as sources.
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Offline Captain Virgil Hilts

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #25 on: January 20, 2010, 08:26:29 PM »
The Chevy II began in 1962 as an economy car, you could not even get a factory V8 Chevy II until 1964. It became a real serious performance car, in some versions, in 1966, when the 327-350HP L-79 option was available. In 1968, the Chevy II was also known as the Nova (and it began sharing a basic platform with the Camaro), and eventually the Chevy II name was dropped. There were true performance versions all the way up to 1972. After that, there were some pseudo performance versions. The Nova died off in 1979, it was a mere shadow of what it had been.
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Offline Widewing

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #26 on: January 20, 2010, 10:46:17 PM »
they used to sell the mr2 here in the us too......it's a piece of trash..it rates right up there with the renault fuego.


MR2 is far from trash... I preferred it to the Mazda Miata. Earlier MR2 turbos, with a little upgrading, will put a whoopin' on far more expensive hardware on a road course.

As to the Fuego, it was a very comfortable tourer, and no less reliable than any other Euro car of its day.



My regards,

Widewing
« Last Edit: January 20, 2010, 10:57:10 PM by Widewing »
My regards,

Widewing

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Offline Widewing

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #27 on: January 20, 2010, 10:56:32 PM »
i've seen justys and brats with over 300k on em....they looked like poop, and rusted worse than an old chevy.....but they lasted.

 lecar........EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW :bolt:

We owned a 1980 Renault Le Car (AKA R5) for commuting. It was utterly bulletproof. Over 98k of use, it never suffered a single repair other than a frayed throttle cable. Torsion bar suspension... Better ride than many full size cars. Of course, we also had Jeep CJ-5, a Toyota, Buick Regal Turbo and an MG Midget at the time.

I used a hair dryer to remove the "Car" portion of the Le Car graphic. Replaced it with "Pew"... Yep, Le Pew.


My regards,

Widewing
My regards,

Widewing

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Offline Serenity

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #28 on: January 20, 2010, 11:12:15 PM »
We owned a 1980 Renault Le Car (AKA R5) for commuting. It was utterly bulletproof. Over 98k of use, it never suffered a single repair other than a frayed throttle cable. Torsion bar suspension... Better ride than many full size cars. Of course, we also had Jeep CJ-5, a Toyota, Buick Regal Turbo and an MG Midget at the time.

I used a hair dryer to remove the "Car" portion of the Le Car graphic. Replaced it with "Pew"... Yep, Le Pew.


My regards,

Widewing

My god man, how many cars have you owned?!?

Offline CAP1

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Re: What's in a Car Name
« Reply #29 on: January 20, 2010, 11:20:07 PM »

MR2 is far from trash... I preferred it to the Mazda Miata. Earlier MR2 turbos, with a little upgrading, will put a whoopin' on far more expensive hardware on a road course.

As to the Fuego, it was a very comfortable tourer, and no less reliable than any other Euro car of its day.



My regards,

Widewing

i worked on quitre a few mr2's back in the day....every one of em was....well......trash.

 same with the fuegos........none of them were even in the same ballpark as a dodge omni......

 not tryin to argue....i tend to base my opinions on my experience though....and i work on pretty much everything eventually......

 been lucky enough to not havre to work on too many jags or land rovers........
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