---
title: "“Screamin’ Chicken” and 13 (More) Perfect Automotive Nicknames"
description: "Rev up the Deuce Coupe and unleash the Widowmaker."
date: "2015-10-20"
modified: "2015-10-20"
authors:
  - name: "Brendan McAleer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/brendan-mcaleer"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/564/screamin-chicken-and-13-more-perfect-automotive-nicknames"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "Racing"
---

# “Screamin’ Chicken” and 13 (More) Perfect Automotive Nicknames

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_tn_0.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

![titleslide\_rambolambo\_again.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/titleslide_rambolambo_again.jpg>)

![“Yellowbird”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_rufctryellowbird_ss.jpg>)
*While Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche battled for production-car top speed records, this yellow guy put them all to shame. Built by specialty manufacturer RUF, the narrow-bodied CTR had smoothed, lightweight aerodynamics. Oh, and a 469-horsepower twin-turbo engine. Result? Two hundred eleven [miles per hour](<https://www.thedrive.com/>)., *Wikimedia Commons**

![“Sharknose”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_80sbmw635_ss.jpg>)
*The average BMW front-end is now a mess of squashed kidney grilles and creepy LED swathes. Once, though, it was far easier to spot Bavaria's apex predator: look for the sloped forward prow. The M6 was the one to have in the mid-Eighties, with a big-hearted six and a taste for blood., *Wikimedia Commons**

![“Pink Pig”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_porschepinkpig_ss.jpg>)
*Porsche’s 917/20 race car returned from French aerodynamics expert SERA much longer and wider, and some critics took to calling it a pig. We think of Germans as a humorless lot, all “efficiency” and “dynamism,” but Porsche ran with it and painted the car up like a butcher's diagram. They dubbed it *Der Truffeljäger von Zuffenhausen*. We just call it the Pink Pig.*

![“Frog Eye”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_austinhealeysprite_ss.jpg>)
*Possibly the happiest car in the world, the “Frog Eye” or “Bug Eye” Austin-Healey Sprite is a scrappy little English sports car. It also looks like a character from Wallace and Gromit. The Sprite’s little, but it dearly loves to be flung down some windy, little leaf-strewn backroad. Happy times., *Wikimedia Commons**

![“Black Widow”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_1957chevynascar_ss.jpg>)
*The pioneering days of NASCAR were all about outlaws, and the machines they ran were no exception. Black-and-white 1957 Chevys took national wins and became national heroes… until the government blacklisted them. Congress pressured major manufacturer to stop endorsing auto racing; GM founded an “outside firm,” called SEDCO, and built racing ’57 Chevys there., *ISC Archives via Getty Images**

![“Deuce Coupe”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_1932fordcoupehotrod_ss.jpg>)
*The ’32 Ford: Cheap, readily available, and ready to have some big-cubes stuffed under the hood. The Duece was immortalized by the Beach Boys (“I get pushed out of shape and it's hard to steer, when I get rubber in all four gears.”) and remains the quintessential hot rod., *Rolland/The Enthusiast Network/Getty Images**

![“Silver Arrows”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_mercedesf1_ss.jpg>)
*The British get racing green, the French get an azure blue. Germany's motorsport efforts were silver. With state funding and a mandate to win, the racing Mercedes-Benzes became legend. Rumor has it the color choice was actually accidental: looking to drop weight, the cars were left in unpainted metal, polished for sheen., *GP Library/UIG via Getty Images**

![“Clown Shoe”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_bmwmcoupe_ss.jpg>)
*You could drive anything you wanted if you worked at M-division, but everybody fought over the keys for this little oddly-shaped, straight-six terrier. Laugh if you'd like, but it's on the books: The hunchy little M Coupe was the most signed-out car at BMW skunkworks., *Wikimedia Commons**

![“Bug”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_vwbeetle_ss.jpg>)
*Perhaps the best-known nickname for a car, the humble little German people's car with the carapace-like shape got its name almost immediately. If you lived in Germany, you called it the käfer, if you lived in the states, it was the Bug or Beetle., *National Motor Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images**

![“Screamin' Chicken”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_pontiacfirebirdtransam_ss.jpg>)
*Big hat, big moustache, big Burt, big bird. The Pontiac Trans-Am's hood decal is an icon for the ages, but both fans and detractors like to rib the car a little. Big-screen hijinks or no, later cars were a bit strangled by emissions controls. No worries. A bit of tuning would make 'em scream again.*

![“Red Pig”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_mercedesbenz300amg_ss_0.jpg>)
*These days, AMG is an official flavor in the Mercedes lineup, a fully integrated part of the manufacturing process. Once, though, they were just a band of lunatics, turning mega-engine behemoths into unlikely race cars. This one, the 300SEL 6.3, showed up with a 300-hp V8, and promptly rubbed its feet all over lighter sportscar rivals., *Wikimedia Commons**

![“Terminator”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_2004fordmustang_ss.jpg>)
*When the supercharged Mustang SVT Cobra showed up in 2003, it offered both huge out-of-the-box power *and* excellent tunability. Add: sticky tires, exhaust, supercharger pulley and a tune. Hasta la vista, Camaro SS.*

![“Le Monstre”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_1950cadillacracecar_ss.jpg>)
*The ugliest Cadillac ever, and one of the fastest. American racing impresario Briggs Cunningham cobbled together this slab-sided, streamlined racing special for the Le Mans in 1950. The French crowd, who admired its roaring massive presence but not the looks, dubbed it Le Montstre., *Klemantaski Collection/Getty Images**

![“Little Bastard”](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/carnicknames_pt2_porsche550spyder_ssnew.jpg>)
*James Dean died crashing this Porsche 550 Spyder on Sept. 30, 1955. The “Little Bastard” moniker came from Bill Hickman, a stunt driver at Warner Bros; after Dean’s wreck, several other Porsches that received spare parts from the 550 were mysteriously involved in fatalities and crashes. Hence, the curse of the Little Bastard., *Wikimedia Commons**

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