STAN FREBERG HERE...How Cars Are Named (Well, One Car...) Stan Freberg here. Ever wonder how car companies name their cars? In a minute, a true but amazing story about how Ford once named a famous car. [:60 SPOT BREAK] Freberg here. Ah, marketing! A few decades back, the Ford Motor Company hired the poet Marianne Moore, and asked her to come up with a "poetic" name for their new car. She submitted list after list of names. The "Cloud," the "Cumulus," the "Rainbow." No good. The "Seahorse," the "Aquatic," the "Dolphin." Ford said, "Keep trying." She went to stones. The "Turquoise," the "Emerald," the "Diamond"; then, Native American names: the "Iriquois," the "Navajo," the "Cherokee." The Jeep people
must've seen that list and snatched that one. Meanwhile, after having close to a hundred names rejected, Marianne Moore one day got a letter from the Ford Motor Company. It said, "Dear Miss Moore - Thanks for all your help, but we've decided to name it 'The EDSEL'." True story. Stan Freberg here. Copyright ©1998, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.