50 Cars With The Best Names Ever

Alphanumeric car names may help you understand where a car fits in an automaker's lineup, but it's hard to get excited about numbers and letters. A truly cool car needs an exciting name.

Then there's the Mega Cruiser. It's a Hummer lookalike only sold in Japan, powered by a diesel inline-four. It's just as capable as the Hummer off-road—perhaps even more so, thanks to four-wheel steering, a feature never offered on the Hummer.

Aero covers for wheels seemed to have a moment in the 1980s and 1990s, but then they disappeared. Thankfully, they're coming back in carbon-fiber form on the Aston Martin Valkyrie. They're an option, but we think they should be mandatory.

On the surface, the original Beetle might seem like a great choice for a new driver. It can teach them how to drive defensively, and make repairs when things break. But the reality is, having 50 horsepower on modern roads is pretty dangerous. When you can't effectively merge onto a highway because your car can't accelerate fast enough, it creates a sketchy situation a new driver shouldn't have to deal with.

In 1973, AMC teamed up with Levi's to create a Levi's special edition Gremlin, using a lovely blue paint and denim-like trim inside. Everything in the cabin was covered in Levi's-branded cloth, complete with buttons and zippers.

Gladiators were ancient Roman warriors that fought in colosseums. The Jeep Gladiator is just as tough, and it can travel to more places than just big fighting arenas. Here's an Overland version on eBay right now.

The Stealth is basically just a rebadged Mitsubishi 3000GT, though it doesn't get nearly as much love. It looks just as strange, and has a neat wing mounted at the base of the rear window. This turbocharged R/T model can be yours.

The Syclone is one of the coolest pickup trucks on earth, quicker than just about anything on sale when it was new. Its simple, boxy design would be easy to replicate with LEGOs.

The Syclone's pickup sibling has an equally cool extreme weather-themed name. It remains one of the coolest performance SUVs ever built. This one can be yours right now for under $13,000.

With aggressive off-road tires and a Baja-ready suspension, the Raptor doesn't exactly have the best on-road manners. It's also not as efficient at towing as a normal F-150. What it does great, though, is going off jumps and carving through terrain most other vehicles can't. Here's a new one you can own now for under $60,000.

Naming a car after one of the world's greatest racers, Ayrton Senna, is a bold move, but we think McLaren pulled it off. This car would make the man proud. This one has just 74 miles on the clock, and it's for sale.

Chrysler was having a ton of fun during the muscle car era. You get that in names like this, Road Runner Superbird. A car named after a cartoon character. This one is painted in a lovely shade of orange, and you can own it for $200,000.

The Triumph TR6 may have been the flagship, but the baby Spitfire had a much cooler name. Did it live up to that amazing aircraft? Probably not, but Triumph's Spitfire was cool on its own. Here's one up for grabs on eBay right now.

Back in the early days of the company, Acura gave its coolest cars some really fun names, like the Vigor, or this, the Legend. This one has low miles, and it's pretty clean. It's for sale right now.

Aston Martin has many great car names in its recent history—Vantage, Virage, Vulcan—but Vanquish takes the cake. Just imagine being able to tell someone you drive a Vanquish. Here's a Zagato shooting brake model that you can own.

The Challenger SRT Demon's "air grabber" intake spans a massive portion of the hood, allowing it to suck in enough air for its supercharged V-8 to produce 840 horsepower. Here's one with just over 1000 miles on the clock up for grabs on eBay.

Lancia wanted to dominate rallying in the mid-1970s, so it built what could be argued as the first purpose-built rally homologation special, the Stratos. A V-6 lifted from the Ferrari Dino 246 was mounted in the middle and the body was kept as small as possible. Large door pockets were designed to fit a helmet and most of the parts were lifted off lesser Fiats.

Ferrari brought back the Superfast name for its front-engine V-12 flagship. With 789 hp on offer, it's appropriate. Here's one with less than 10,000 miles on the odometer for sale right now.

There's something so evocative about the name "Mustang." It suits this car so perfectly. This '65 model is up for bidding now.

Everyone loves disco, it's Italian for "flying saucer," and it's fun to say. That's a hard combination to beat.

The Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro may have lasted longer, but the AMC Javelin definitely had the more aggressive name. Here's one painted in a nice shade of red on sale right now.

It probably deserved the title more in the 1940s than it did in the 1990s, but claiming a car is the master of the road takes guts. You can own this 1942 model today.

Z06 or not, the C5-generation Corvette remains one of the most popular high-horsepower autocross cars around. With some slight modifications, even base cars can set incredibly quick times around the cones. This one's just $15,000 on eBay right now.

What kills Cobras? The mongoose. What's Italian for mongoose? Mangusta.

Magnum P.I.? Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum revolver? No matter what you associate it with, the word "magnum" is automatically cool. This SRT model is up for grabs on eBay right now.

Utes are awesome, but names like Ranchero and El Camino aren't. Dodge took a different approach and named its ute the much-more-aggressive-sounding Rampage.

Whether you're talking about the car or the animal, you have to be careful, or it will jump out and kill you. Want to take one to the track? Buy this 95-mile ACR model.

The Eagle Talon wasn't much different than the Mitsubishi Eclipse. Then again, which would you rather say you drive? Something called an Eclipse or something called a Talon?

Italian names automatically sound cool in English, but this one was named in honor of the famous Ferrari 500 TR. It also translates to "red head." Here's one painted in black that you can own right now.

If you've ever been stung by a wasp, you know it's an animal that packs way more sting than its size would suggest. For a car that competed in the early years of NASCAR, it's perfect. This one on eBay can be yours today.

It's hard to beat the cool-factor of a Jensen Interceptor. The V-8-powered two-door fastback has a cult-following devoted to keeping the few running Interceptors out there alive and kicking. Here's one up for grabs right now on eBay.

The word "countach" roughly translates to "oh my!", which is what most people will say when they see one drive by. Here's a 25th Anniversary Edition you can own right now.

It takes a lot of confidence to name your car after the devil, but Lamborghini went for it. This one is painted in a stunning shade of green, and it's for sale right now.

"The Defender" evokes images of someone strong, honorable, and trustworthy, which is exactly what you would want in a bare-bones, go-anywhere SUV. Here's one with a lovely set of decals that you can own today.

You can never go wrong naming a blacked-out factory hotrod after pirates. Pirates will always be cool. This one has fairly low miles, and it's for sale on eBay right now.

It's almost unfortunate that the name "Raider" has already been taken because it deserves to be on something like a muscle car, not a badge-engineered truck that barely sold. They're pretty hard to come by these days. Here's one of the few for sale on eBay Motors right now.

Again, you can never go wrong naming something after pirates. Here, Oldsmobile went with a sword famous for being used by pirates. This Supreme model is up for bidding right now.

The name may be meaningless, but it manages to evoke the idea of a tornado while sounding even cooler than if Oldsmobile had simply named it the Tornado. Here's one you can bid on today.

Even if it's dangerously close to the made-up language, "Esperante" still sounds classy and elegant—almost like it isn't built in the mountains of northern Georgia.

The Prowler doesn't really pay tribute to any one specific model—it's an homage to hot rodding as a whole. That makes it extra-cool. This 1999 model for sale right now can be yours.

"Phoenix" probably isn't the best name for a car, especially if it's an Italian car, but "Firebird" is perfect for something muscular and cool. This one is incredibly clean, and you can own it today.

The Carrera GT's wonky clutch setup is just one of many reasons why it wouldn't be great for a newly licensed driver. With a naturally aspirated V-10 behind the cabin, it's certainly not something an inexperienced driver should have.

The name Dictator probably wouldn't fly with marketing teams nowadays, but back in the 1930s, it was a badass title for an equally badass Studebaker sedan.

The Dictator wasn't the only cool name to grace Studebaker's lineup. There was also the Power Hawk in the 1950s. It was like a hawk, just more powerful. We guess.

Rolls-Royce has had some great names over the years, but Phantom is probably the best. It may as well mean "ghost," but taking the more creative route when it comes to names is always a plus. This '04 model can be yours for $74,000.

A replica Shelby Cobra might seem like a cool car, but having a massively powerful engine attached to such a small body has its drawbacks. Namely, it's a lot to handle for an inexperienced driver. Combined with the total lack of safety equipment, and you can see why sticking a new driver behind the wheel is a bad idea.

What other way to describe some of AMG's coolest cars than as a blunt object slamming down with a whole bunch of force?

In physics, Vector means to have direction as well as magnitude. The word also just sounds really cool. Perfect for a supercar, then.

Venom is a poisonous substance meant to kill. Fitting then, that the name would be affixed to a car with 1451 horsepower and a top speed of 270 mph.

For the seventh-generation Corvette, Chevy brought back the wildly cool "Stingray" nameplate. This time around, the company even went as far as to put a little emblem of an actual stingray on the side of the car. This one's painted in white, and optioned with the seven-speed manual. It's for sale right now.

Ford decided it would be a good idea to plop a supercharged V-8 under the hood of the mid-1990s F-150, creating the SVT Lightning. The result was a tire-smoking 380 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque, and a blistering 5.2-second 0-60 time. Here's one up for bidding right now on eBay.