Woof! Here are nine cars named after dogs

Introduced in 1954, the original MkI Hillman Husky was a strange creation. Essentially it was a dinky two-door estate based on the Hillman Minx, but there was already a two-door Minx Estate with a longer wheelbase. The Husky was cheaper though, and had that excellent name.

“Don’t poodle about, better buy Beagle,” read the adverts for the Bedford Beagle in the 1960s. Unfortunately, not many people did buy a Beagle, chiefly because it was just a Bedford HA van with some windows and extra seats, so it was slow, uncomfortable and unrefined.

Len Terry joined Lotus in 1958, but was quickly fired by Colin Chapman after his second sports car – the brilliantly named Terrier Mk2 – completely dominated the 1959 1172 Championship in the hands of Brian Hart. Yep, beating all the Lotus entrants along the way. Chapman rehired Terry in late 1962.

It’s not just hypercar vapourware, a number of fantasy pickup truck ideas have come and gone too, although Alpha still reckons it’ll get to the stage of building its retro EV. Named after a wild canine, this thing looks like it’s straight from Back to the Future.

A racing greyhound can reach speeds of 45mph, so it’s perhaps a surprise that the moniker hasn’t been deployed on more sports cars. The AC Greyhound was a 2+2 tintopped version of the Ace, with a slightly longer wheelbase and a number of straight six engine options.

With a run of 15–20 cars planned and a theoretical top speed of 237mph, the angular AM Bulldog would have been the fastest production car in the world when it was unveiled in the late 1970s. Unfortunately, the concept only managed 191mph. It was rebuilt recently and smashed 200mph.

This droopy eared Civic was actually a high spec, AWD variant of the Civic Shuttle and was only available in Japan. It was based on the fourth gen Civic but, as a wagon/MPV thing, sales continued even after Honda unveiled the fifth gen hatch.

In the 1960s, German designer Luigi Colani created a svelte little kit that could turn a Volkswagen Beetle into a glorious open topped sports car. Kinda. Anyway, a second version with a Perspex roof and gullwing doors soon arrived, and this one was christened the Colani Whippet. Good boy!

Technically this land speed record car was named after a surface-to-air missile, but who cares about technicalities? We’re still laughing at the thought of a bloodhound’s wrinkly face at 628mph. It was originally designed to hit 1,000mph, but now the project needs more cash and a new driver.