The times manufacturers ran out of numbers and letters and named cars after birds
- Automakers often use letters and numbers to name their cars, but not always
- On these occasions, they used bird names
- From famous cars made by Ford to lesser-known supercars, these cars are all often named after birds
Published on Mar 18, 2024 at 6:53 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Mar 19, 2024 at 7:14 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Picking the right name for a car is a risky business and that’s why many legacy brand manufacturers play it safe by opting for alphanumeric names.
Sometimes automakers name their cars after something else and get it right, and that’s definitely the case when it comes to cars named after birds.
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From iconic cars made by legacy brands such as Ford to lesser-known boutique supercar brands, it’s a rich list.
And these are our favorites cars named after birds.
Aspark Owl
The Owl is an obscure battery-powered supercar designed in Italy but manufactured by a Japanese company called ‘Aspark’.
It’s not what you’d call featherweight, despite being made out of carbon fiber, but what it lacks in terms of agility it more than makes up for with horsepower.
The Owl flies, pun intended, thanks to its four-motor setup for a combined power output of 1984 hp and 1475 lb-ft of torque.
It also has so-called McLaren-style ‘dihedral’ doors, basically like gull wing doors but cooler.
Stutz Blackhawk
This semi-unknown American car from the 70s is equipped with a weird grille, massive headlamps and the coolest name ever: the Blackhawk.
Stutz Motor Company, a now-defunct automaker from Indianapolis, marketed this as an ‘ultra-luxury personal car’, and called the Italians to help them build it.
It’s nearly six meters long and, back when it was new, it was available with an extremely long list of engine options – most of which were V8s – including the iconic 429 Cobra Jet.
Unfortunately, it didn’t do too well in the market.
Possibly because a hawk and a cobra don’t really see eye to eye.
Plymouth Superbird
Ale Renesis / Supercar Blondie
You can’t really write a list about cars – or birds for that matter – without mentioning the Plymouth Superbird, which is fitted with the coolest car wing ever.
The Superbird is not – technically speaking – named after an existing bird but it is based on the Road Runner and that is a real bird.
It was available with three engine options, all three were V8s and all three were given cool names like the ‘Super Commando’ and ‘Hemi’.
Back when it was new, in the 1970s, it delivered 420+ horsepower which, back then, was not bad at all.
Ford Falcon
Ford originally launched the Falcon in 1959 and kept it in production for a little over ten years and three and half generations.
Yup, three and a half, because in 1970, they replaced the third-gen Falcon with something called the ‘Intermediate Falcon’.
All three and a half cars are quite interesting and most are powered by V8s.
And you can’t go wrong with a V8.
Eagle Speedster
The Eagle Speedster is arguably the most beautiful and probably the most expensive car named after a bird ever.
Arnold Schwarzenegger owns one.
Designed as a modern-day version of the Jaguar E-Type and built in England, the Speedster is powered by a 4.7-liter V12, putting out 350 horsepower and 360 lb-ft of torque.
It’s like an E-Type, but modern.
And even more beautiful.
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