The problem? I have no experience in naming cars. Not the Volkswagen Fox, not the Ford Contour, not the 1969 Dodge Swinger (Heyo!) not the many rentals I've used to escape the surly bonds of Manhattan, where I live.

So I've enlisted the help of colleagues to provide a little inspiration for this exercise.

Gadling's fearless leader Grant Martin once had a 1989 Honda Hatchback he affectionately named Jeco Speeder. So very...Grant.

A colleague to remain unnamed calls her Mazda 3 Crackerjack for reasons only known to her. AOL Travel Assistant Editor Rebecca Dolan named her 2011 Ford Escape Hybrid Knight Rider. When asked why she called it Knight Rider she replied, "I don't know."

Knight Rider (Minus David Hasselhoff)


Rebecca's father called their 1970 "brown" (that's all she can remember about the name) pickup The Sled.

The Bee is what Senior Editor Chris Anderson not-so-affectionately nicknamed his first car, a yellow 1977 Toyota Celica that sounded like a bee with a hyperextended wing.

Finally, an editor-not-to-be-named-ever was once the proud owner of a 1994 Ford Taurus which he named Boris. Yes, Boris the Ford Taurus.

Boris?


There's too much awesome contained in the name for Boris the Ford Taurus. I need some of that awesome applied to naming my Ford.

Inspired yet?

When you've got a suggestion, drop it in the comments here or message me on Twitter. The best name will live in glory, at least for the summer, and to help you come up with good submissions we're giving the winner ONE FREE HP VEER PHONE (valued at $99.99) . Just go easy on the phallic references.

[flickr image via Kim Scarborough]

This giveaway is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. To enter, comment below and name the Traveling the American Road car. You must comment before 11:59pm on Tuesday, June 21st and may enter only once. 1 winner will be chosen at random to receive one HP Veer phone valued at $99.99. Click here for the official rules.