AUTOMOBILES

from Fancyclopedia 2

As fans reached the age where they could earn money, many of them bought second-hand cars to make visits and trips to fan gatherings in, and gave them appropriate names such as Panzerkampfwagen, FooFoo Special, Stfnash, The Hop Bitters, or The Ay-rab Steed. Some of these have been painted all over like the vehicles comic strips supply for teenagers, while others are dignified bourgeois conveyances, but most all are second hand. Fen show a real attachment to them, and often personalize them, especially in describing their ills: a flat tire is a sprained ankle, the headlights are eyes; if the gas tank runs dry you may have to take the top off the carburetor and feed it intravenously to get the motor going again; etc. Metaphors are mixed; the front fenders may be either shoulders or knees as the situation makes convenient, usw.

[ADDITION: Westcoasters are strong followers of the custom of naming cars, etc.. Sneary's '50 Chevy is Grossvogel; old Outlander Bill Elias has a motor scooter that was named Aristotle, because it only had two cylinders.]