9 Most Sexual Names For Car Features And Models

Coventry Climax sounds like a fun way to spend your British holiday, but it was actually the name of a forklift manufacturer from England founded in 1903. However, its fame in the automotive world stemmed from its engine production, most notably its 12 years in Formula 1 between 1957 and 1969, in which it accrued 40 victories, 104 podiums, and finished fourth in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships on four occasions (1959, 1960, 1963, 1965). Coventry Climax also powered the 1961 Cooper T54 – the first rear-engined Indy car, and you could have a Coventry Climax in your roadgoing Lotus Eleven as well.

Coventry Climax was bought out by Jaguar in 1963, and the team of engine designers went on to develop the Jaguar V12 that powered the E-Type.

It’s low-hanging fruit, but the Ford Probe has to feature whenever dodgy automotive names enter the conversation. Originally intended to become the fourth-generation Mustang, ‘Stang fans threw their toys out of the cot before it came to market. Ford listened and rebranded the car as the Probe. Co-developed with Mazda (it was a sister car to the Mazda MX-6), the Probe was actually a great car and proved to be an impressive seller for the brand. It stuck around for two generations (from 1988-1992 and 1993-1997), selling just shy of 700,000 cars. A third generation was planned, but in the same way that the Probe came into being as a car planned to be something else, the third-gen Probe became the Mercury Cougar to try and bolster Mercury sales. It failed.

Now, the Probe lives on in our minds, first and foremost for its name.