Recently, thanks to regular commenter italianiron, we were introduced to a nickname for the chrome trim pieces that adorn the rear flanks of 1951-1952 senior Packards: bottle openers. Seemed a lot of our other regular commenters hadn’t heard this term before, which led italianiron to wonder out loud whether we knew of other such uncommon sobriquets from automotive history.

Specifically, he pointed out how nicknames for certain parts or shapes on a car can lead to general terms for the entire car; “shoebox Ford” is one such example he cited. Indeed, when discussing certain eras or subgenres of automobiles, such nicknames can be a convenient shortcut. One of the nicknames most employed by the hobby – brass car – is the perfect example of this because it covers a whole range of cars from different manufacturers, because it perfectly captures an era of manufacturing based on one exemplary and distinctive element, and because pretty much everybody knows what it refers to.

But we’ll open this discussion to any obscure automotive part nickname that you think needs wider recognition, regardless of whether it came to refer to the entire car. This could be something you heard in passing or some term you’ve developed yourself, as long as it’s perfectly descriptive of something like the Packard bottle openers.

Brass cars, shoebox Fords, Tin Lizzy, Yellow Birds...lay 'em all on us!