In the 1960s and 1970s, the automobile industry was all about character and showing off your own personality. From your Mustang to your Charger, when friends and family saw your car going down the road, they knew it was yours. That is something that has changed drastically over the years. Replacing Shelby and Cobra are names like the Lexus IS300 or the BMW M5. While these cars show your status symbol within the community, they don't show your individuality like the cars of the past did. What is the difference between the car names of today and the car names of yesterday and how can you give your car its own personality despite its name?
Classic Car Names
Popular car names of the previous decades were all you needed to know about that particular ride. In the movie
Gone in 60 Seconds, the name Eleanor was given to the 1971 Ford Mustang in the original movie and the 1967 Ford Mustang from the 2000 remake. When you told someone that you owned a Mustang, Camaro or Corvette, it told them something about you. Owning one of those automobile classics told the world that you had a wild side and had fun. In the popular television show that ran from 1979-85,
The Dukes of Hazzard, the iconic symbol was the orange Charger with the confederate flag painted on the roof. That show made it so every male wanted to own a Charger and while some made it look like the General Lee, others were happy it simply being a Charger.
Luxury Car Names
Today, luxury cars aren't only known as a single name that sends a message. With a large amount of models readily available, they won't know if you have a sedan, SUV or something more exotic. For this reason, BMW and other companies began using numbers to name cars. You won't usually hear people say they own a certain car by saying just the number code, rather they will say the entire name like the Lexus GX 460. Car names in the entertainment business haven't always been known by a single name. In
Ferris Buehler's Day Off, the car that Ferris took out for a spin was a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider. The car is a movie icon like the Mustang from
Gone in 60 Seconds, but it is the exception to the rule when talking about classic car names. When you tell someone that you drive a Mercedes-Benz SLK250 Roadster, the thought of money comes immediately to mind instead of pride. When someone asks you to what your car is, you will essentially be giving free advertising to the company with these newer models. That is something that wasn't done years ago. You never heard someone say they owned a Ford Mustang, you usually only heard the word Mustang. Even then, when you heard someone say they owned a Mustang, they said it with excitement. Today, the excitement level isn’t always there when talking about cars.
Personalizing Your Car
Even if you decide to purchase a car that advertises their company name, you can still give it a personality. You can still make it shine as something other than just a Lexus, Mercedes-Benz or Ferrari. You can make it something that you won't only take pride in proclaiming as yours, but something you can help bring back to the days when cars were the pride and joy of most men. Instead of being a walking billboard for the company, you can put logos, decals and other images on your car, making it your own. There are many things you can do to personalize your car and make it so everyone knows what car you are driving. You can order customized window decals, car specific kits,
vinyl pin striping and more. There are also stock adjustments you can make for your car that will make it stand out above the typical car. These personalization options come with instructions for easy application and make your car stand out above the rest. For a business owner, this is an ideal way to promote your brand while simply driving to and from each job site. Just because not everyone takes pride in their cars anymore doesn't mean you don't have to either. You may not own a classic Mustang, Camaro or Charger which come with their own personality, but by using customized decals for your luxury car, you can quickly build your own.