Let’s Call It Piquezed948!

What is your all time favorite automobile?

First, pronounce the mystery word in the title. I’ll wait.

Did you come up with peek-zed? Or pee-quay-zed? How did your brain process that series of letters?

That’s what I’m doing sometimes these days when I see car model designations. After the boring names of yesteryear, like “Model A” and “Model T” (and Studebaker), cars suddenly had exciting names, like Mustang, Charger, and Challenger. Then it seems car makers began opting for place names, like Tucson or Tacoma. Suddenly we have the Denali (google tells me it’s a mountain in Alaska, so it is a place name, though I assumed it was an Indian holiday or an anagram for Denial), the Ioniq—which I guess is a word but with variant spelling—and the Elantra. And other manufacturers have gone back to (or stayed with) the numbering system: EQB, EQE, CLS; these sound like a group of secret alien organizations that all report to the Earth Illuminati.

Also, you always knew which company made which car. Ford Mustang. Chevrolet Camaro. Toyota Corolla. Now I look at a series of letters and just wonder. Not to mention, the first time I saw the rebranded KIA logo, I thought a new company called KN (with a backward N) had appeared.

I’ve been driving only Toyotas since the 1990s—the Tercel, the Corolla, and two Priuses. I hear that that Corolla is still out there and driving around, having surpassed 250,000 miles. And I only traded in my 2002 Prius because I thought, after 15 years, I should get a new car.

But—if I had that second, fun car, it would be a Mustang, the classic version from the 1960s. I always found the styling of that car attractive. No convertible for me, since I don’t find my eyes being wind-blasted fun, but that would be a good ride.

And in my poor college years, I also harbored a desire for a Mercedes 350-SLC. That seemed like a car to crave.

My car choices have been practical for decades, and now I prefer to use my disposable income on travel, so I don’t actually desire buying these cars. Not in reality anyway…but a person can always dream.