Product names

[Hasty]

Twilight Fenrir's comments about silly names (Comfortron and Twilight Sentinal) in another thread sent my mind spinning about similar things I've often wondered about. Why do they pick names and advertise them.

I've had several Buick's with Twilight Sentinel, GM must have used that name for all divisions. I had a 1976 Thunderbird that had a similar system (and would also dim the lights for oncoming traffic), but I don't remember what Ford called it.

A somewhat different observation, Pontiac sedans from about 10 years ago (Bonneville, Grand Prix) had "ABS" written on the wheel covers, why? GM vans had an "ABS" tag on the rear doors, too.

I had a Buick Lesabre in the mid 90's that said "Dynaride" on the dashboard. Is this an advertisement for the suspension system, viewable only to those that get inside?

I had a 1973 Pontiac Catalina that had a plaque on the dash that said "Radial Tuned Suspension".

I had a 1973 Buick Estate Wagon that had traction control, only instead of calling it that, the switch was labeled "Max Trac". The Buick also had "Comortron" HVAC controls, as did my 1980 Olds 98. They used that name for years. (Or did the 1980 say Climatic or Climitron?

Just interesting observations. I'm interested to hear what other product names or advertisements you've run across over the years in your cars.

[Twilight Fenrir]

Well... ABS is Anti-Lock Brake System. Almost all new cars have them now. But they were a big deal up until recently. IIRC, a Toronado was one of the first cars to have the system...

Another, really awesome system, was in the '89-92 Toronado's, called the VIC. Visual Information Center. It had a cathode-ray touch-screen in the m iddle of the dash that basically controlled everything. You could run diagnostics with it, control the radio, check mileage, view engine statistics.... it even had a programmable callandar, and a 'navigation' system. (Just a glorified compass) Was also setup for a car phone.

Everything in the olden days had names... The engines in Olds were Rockets, Super Rockets, etc.... if you ever see an old oldsmobile badge, it's actually a rocket ship The power steering system had a name like Torque-master or something IIRC...

Transmissions as well, there were the powerglides, and one of the most interesting transmissions of all times, the turboglide. The turbo glide was an automatic transmission, that did not shift. It kind of had one continuous 'gear' as it had a series of turbines on the same axle. As the fluid passed through them it spun the first, then it started to spin the second, and third... giving a smooth accelleration, and putting no extra strain ont he motor, for great fuel economy...