There have been many "urban legends" involving the motor car. The first I'd heard of was the infamous 100 mpg carburetor in which Detroit's "Big Three" (or the oil industry) had paid the inventor millions of dollars to shut him up and thus keep the mystery carb hidden in a basement. "Classic Motor News" tells of another tale where "a group of former General Motors employees continued to produce 1957 Chevrolets for a full 10 years after the car was discontinued by GM. This one can be chalked up to the 1957 Chevy's popularity combined with a bit of wishful thinking." "Classic Motor News" also relates the Chevrolet tale in which "Nova" supposedly means "doesn't go" in Spanish and therefore flopped in Spanish-speaking countries. Not true. "No va" – which does mean "doesn't go" – is a completely different word than nova in Spanish and the Chevrolet Nova did well wherever it was sold. I've heard dozens of tales that were untrue as I'm sure you have, too. Please use the comments box below to tell us about your automotive urban (and suburban) legends.
I first heard about this from a Spanish-speaking native of Costa Rica over 10 years ago. He was helping me learn Spanish at a university. So I have assumed the story was true for 10 years. But this article is short and doesn’t get to the topic until half-way into the paragraph. I think further documentation and mentions of other research should be included.
February 5, 2010 @ 8:37 am