Here are nine cars named after birds

The Humber Hawk was a four door, four cylinder Brit that was produced in various guises between 1945 and 1967. The MkI and MkII were actually rebadged prewar Hillman 14s, but giving a car the name of a bird of prey instantly makes it 100 per cent better.

The Aspark Owl shot to fame with a video of it launching from 0–62mph in the car park of a small industrial estate. We’re told it got its name because owls are considered good luck in Japan, and it was lucky that the driver managed to get it stopped in time after its initial run.

Buick first used the Skylark name on a glorious limited run convertible version of the Roadmaster in 1953. The Skylark cost over $5,000 – just over $60,000 in today’s money – but did also feature the excellently named Buick Fireball V8.

Was it a car? Was it a tricycle? Was it an overinflated jellybean as the popular nickname suggested? Whatever it was, the Corbin Sparrow was ahead of its time as a lightweight, three wheeled electric commuter pod. Doesn’t look too dissimilar to the bird it shares its name with, either.

In 2016, Ford Australia finally retired the Falcon nameplate after seven generations and 56 years of continual production. Ford only secured the title for its new car in the US by submitting it 20 minutes before Chrysler. Apparently neither knew the other company planned to use the Falcon name.

When Reliant needed a new name for its Regal replacement in the 1970s, it couldn’t exactly pick a bird of prey to christen its 750cc three wheeler. The little redbreasted robin was perfect, and the name is now often wrongly applied to all Reliant three wheelers.

A development of the excellent prototype ‘Geoff’, the Eagle i-Thrust was equipped with a diesel generator to supplement its milk float sourced electric drive system. Built to rival the G-Wiz, it was the world’s first car sporting a moustache.

You know Hans Christian Andersen’s story of The Ugly Duckling, don’t you? Well, sadly Aston’s restyled Toyota iQ never did grow up to be a beautiful swan. Should have called it the ‘Aston Martin Cy-nical Attempt to Reduce Average Fleet Emissions’.

The Road Runner first appeared in a Looney Tunes cartoon with Wile E. Coyote in 1949, and it was this character Plymouth licensed for use on its 1968 muscle car. The manufacturer paid $50k to Warner Bros for the privilege.