The naming of sea-, air- and space-faring ships is a common practice...the Mayflower, Titanic, Zeppelin, Spruce Goose, Spirit of St. Louis, Challenger, Voyager, Enterprise, Apollo . . . more common vehicles such as cars and motorcycles have production names, i.e. Model T, and it is left up to the owner to nickname his or her set of wheels. I just read a section in Where the Suckers Moon about this, discussing cars:
Dan volunteered that his daughter used to call her maroon Pontiac "the Blood Vessel." Davenport referred to his Volkswagen as "the Badass Jetta." Eyes turned back to Jerry, who'd driven them along this tangent, "I call mine," he said dourly, "the Shitbox."
For a large part of my adolescence my mother drove a big, white four-door 1968 Chevy Bel Air. The model is pictured here and that is about the condition she parted with it in the 80's. A lacework of rust barely held the body to the chassis. Her high school students affectionately called it "The White Bomb."
Dan volunteered that his daughter used to call her maroon Pontiac "the Blood Vessel." Davenport referred to his Volkswagen as "the Badass Jetta." Eyes turned back to Jerry, who'd driven them along this tangent, "I call mine," he said dourly, "the Shitbox."
For a large part of my adolescence my mother drove a big, white four-door 1968 Chevy Bel Air. The model is pictured here and that is about the condition she parted with it in the 80's. A lacework of rust barely held the body to the chassis. Her high school students affectionately called it "The White Bomb."