On a different subject...
The name "Grandfather" has just sort of gotten used without
much thought. I think it might be time to find a "real"
name for our car. I've noted that most of you seem to
prefer English-sounding proper names like Percy and 'lizabeth,
but note that just with those two examples there is already
a dichotomy: what SEX is a British car?
It depends on the car, of course. My first Midget
was so obviously a tomcat that we never referred to
him in anything but the masculine gender after the
first couple of months. My first MGB was shabby
but stout of heart and character, but a little dotty,
so we called him The Major after the character in
Fawlty Towers, combined with the Gilbert & Sullivan
"major general," who after all has the correct
initials. I wanted to name my Sprite Buttercup,
partly because she was buttercup yellow and partly
because the Latin name for the buttercup is
_ranunculus_, which means Little Frog -- can't
get any better than that. She never ran, though,
so I never found out what her character was like.
(If I ever get a Mk I Sprite again, and it feels
masculine, it'll be Mowgli; use it if you like.)
My local friends know all about the Biscuit Tin of Steel
and the Milennium Falcon, of course -- cars with titles
but not names. The Falcon has a name, though -- it's
Maybelline ("As I was motorvatin' over the hill, I
saw Maybelline in a Coupe de Ville. The Cadillac
movin' on ovah the road, but nothin' outrun mah V-8
Fo'd...") BToS, or Biccie for short, hasn't revealed
his or her sex yet. Kim's car, the Chevelle SS, is
named simply Sport, with her lineage (and a little
bit of "To Kill A Mockingbird") in mind; I wanted to
name her The City Of New Orleans (in which case, Joan
would be correct) because she's how we take our
little girl places, "mothers with their babes asleep,
rockin' to the gentle beat, and the rhythm of the rails
is all they feel."
My MGB? Well, I go back and forth. He has a title,
The Regimental Bhisti after Kipling's poem and the
Alex Korda film ("Good work, bugler.") He has never
let me down. He is the one car that I own now that
always works, always starts, always does what he has
to do to get me safely home. "Though I've belted you
and flayed you, by the living God that made you,
you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din." He's also
(as now several SOL can attest) pretty shabby to look
at; in my younger days, I wouldn't have hesitated to
call him Strider after the Tolkien character ("because
I look foul and feel fair?") But I haven't found the
right name for him yet. It'll come. (I think it's
more like an Ent's name than a human's name, though,
as long as we're talking Middle-Earth...)
All this, BTW, is interesting in light of Joseph Campbell's
observations on the mythic differences between dealing with
objects as "it" and dealing with them as "thou." I somehow
think that the cars work better when we think of them as
individuals, if only because we're more likely to give them
the attention they require if we think of them as relationships
rather than possessions.
Then there are the
more descriptive names like Rust Rocket and Tinker's Damn
(I really chuckled at that) so maybe we should be thinking
along those lines? The car's most distinguishing characteristic
is his (her?) newness: a mere 20,000 miles after 17 years!
The paint (a handsome blue)
Well -- Dorian Blue (nee Gray), perhaps? Since Grandfather is
obviously male, the other alternative (Cleopatra, for Shakespeare's
"Age cannot wither nor custom stale..." line about her) is out.
So here you go, mates, name that MG! (No prize, but if you're
a local you can have a ride at the get together!)
Dale's other cars, which included:
1972 MG Midget : Flame (after the color)
Blaze Red, correct? (If you still had that car, I would buy it
today. New information has arisen that tells me my next car
purchase will be a 1972-1974 MG Midget. Heh. Subscribe to
autox and learn why...)
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