Deluxe-random thought
A super-random thought about car naming.... or is it a custom-random or deluxe-random thought?

Overall there have been four types of designation for trim levels or series within one make.

> Exclusive names like Bel Air or Plaza belonged to one make. When you saw Plaza, you could fill in Plymouth without any doubt. This class of names became famous for trickling down, often called the Bel Air Effect. Through the '50s and '60s most low-priced cars pulled the same trickle-down trick. Bel Air, Belvedere and Fairlane started as special editions, gradually moved down to the stripper level, and finally dropped off the stack as new names pushed onto the top.

> Letters were the first commonly used designation. In the pre-1910 era most cars were Model A or Model C or whatever. Letters disappeared after Ford's T and A froze the technique. Killer apps. Letters never had a chance to percolate up or down, mainly because a Model D was not necessarily better than a Model C, it was just newer.

> Generic names like Deluxe and Custom and Super were movable, but it didn't matter much. You couldn't tell from year to year whether Super was better or worse than Deluxe. Custom was a partial exception when used as a prefix. You knew that Custom Royal was better than Royal, but double names quickly got tiresome and faded in the '50s.

> Numbers were especially common in the '30s.

Packard had 110, 120, 160 and 180, each acquiring a distinct 'feel' for car buyers and car fanciers.

GM perfected the technique with memorable two-digit numbers for Olds, Buick and Cadillac. Buick always used tens: 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 at various times. The zero was so firm that variations had to be done with an added letter, as in 40A. Cadillac allowed the second digit to vary arbitrarily. At various times Caddy used 60, 61, 62, 63, 67, 72, 75, 86 and 90. Olds made the second digit 6 or 8 to match the engine. After 1951 when Olds stopped making sixes, the 88/98 distinction settled down and stayed there.

You'd think that brand-exclusive names would be the least movable and completely abstract numbers would be the most, but it's the other way around. Number designations never percolated. 98 always remained the top Olds, and 180 remained the top Packard until Packard stupidly switched to Custom and Super.
  ¶ 7:02 AM