Well Volvo has the new C70...so the C on Volvo can't stand for corvette huh? Speaking of military & G ranking, Pontiac has the G6 which were fixing to order for daughter, wonder what that stands for?

 

"C5" and "C4" etc are just nicknames, not product names, picked by chevy and the sports community as shortcuts::: it is much easier to say "C4" than "fourth generation of the corvette" and everyone generally knows what people are talking about.

And of course anyone can use any letters they want in a car model designation. Volvo picked the "C" in "C70" for god-knows why as the designator for that line, but they and lots of other manufacturers use "C" -- the C series Mercedes (I had a 280C about 15 years ago). And C, as in "C350" is also the designation of certain models of Ford commercial trucks (such as the 350 series with bare frame for conversion to garbage trucks, etc.).

By the way, there is a wonderful editorial about letter designations of car models in this months Car and Driver magazine, makes fun of the whole thing.

A more difficult to trace question about common nicknames is: how did the terms "mouse" and "rat" come into common use as nicknames for the Chevy small-block and big-block V8s?

 

There's a question that has lingered in my mind for years now...

Chev has always been famous with their labelling of things. I love the Camaro Z/28 as a perfect example. In 1967 when they introduced the Camaro, they had a Z28 option code which of course included beefed up horsepower and suspensions goodies. The package became so popular with enthusiasts, they elected to badge the car as a Z/28. And a legend was born.

I am not sure myself on how these names come to light, but like you all find it utterly fascinating. Great thread!