VANTASTIC! It’s the “Name My Van” Contest.

UPDATE:

The "Name My Van" Contest has ended and the van now has a name. For the details and the new name go to Behold, "My McVansion" 

I have noticed, as I’ve read the posts of numerous different RV bloggers and RVing groups that many have named their homes on wheels, whether motorized or towed behind another vehicle. Over the years I played with the idea by having a name for some of my cars. I guess that goes back to when I was a kid and my father named his 1951 Chevy coupe that was my grandmother’s car until she suddenly died. The car was kind of a dull dark green. My father took it to an Earl Scheib Auto Paint place and had them do one of their $19.95 (I believe) paint jobs on it turning it into a light green car. Believe me, for $19.95, you didn’t expect nor did you get much of a paint job. He then officially named his car the “Ruptured Duck.” I was in the sixth grade and I recall it ever so well.

I affectionately called my 1996 Cadillac Seville the “Silver Bullet.” The official Cadillac color, as I recall, was platinum, but it still looked silver. It was a lean, mean and fast driving machine. I’d have to say it was the best driving, handling and performance car I’d ever had. I’d dearly love a Cadillac CTS-V. It put Mercedes and BMWs to shame on their own test tracks in Germany. But, in reality, I’m beyond my days of high performance cars. At this time both in my life and the economy, I’m more interested in economy and reliability.  But, I digress.

I’ve done two posts about the Ford van I recently acquired and I’m converting into my micro motor home. I’ve posted photos of it and plan to post more photos as I do the actual conversion. But, as I’ve been thinking about the future, I’m of the belief that this will be the first of a small number of future homes on wheels for me. I believe they should have names. 

 "Name My Van"

I’ve been kicking around a few names in my head, but none of them have really given me any warm fuzzies. I’m not going to reveal the names I’ve considered of my own because I am interested in your creativity and I don’t want to influence you. So, here’s the deal. While I’m in no hurry to make this decision, I would like to do so in about 90 days – or to be more definitive, I’ll say by April 30, 2012. That is a little more then 90-days. I will consider any and every suggested name that I receive between today, January 24, 2012, and April 30, 2012.

There is a prize for the person submitting the name I ultimately select. The winning submission will receive a $50.00 e-gift card from Amazon. You can use it to purchase any of the millions of items: books, electronics, clothes, household goods, etc. from the Amazon Store.

Here are the rules and parameters:

1. You may submit as many names as you like, but each must be submitted as a separate submission. In other words, don’t submit 2, 5, 12 or whatever in one email, blog comment, Living Free Facebook Fan Page comment or post on the Living Free and Happy Yahoo Group.

2. The name submitted should, in some way, be indicative of my mission, my lifestyle, my personality, as you perceive it through my blog and various social media and the nature of the vehicle. Read my profile and read back through the posts and that should help.

3. The name should be short and easy to say and remember. It may be more then one word, but I think more then three would be unwieldy. Ex. Vanagon,  Starship Enterprise, Santa Maria, Good Ship Lollipop (Puleeze don’t submit any of those or similar unless you’re trying to give me a good chuckle or check my gag response). By the way, if the name can lend itself to generations (meaning when I upgrade to the next generation of RV I can use the same name in some way) that could be a plus. Otherwise, I may just have to have another contest.

4. Please submit a one paragraph (minimum) to two paragraph (maximum) description/reason/justification of the name so I can understand why you think the name will fit the purpose intended.

5. I am the sole determining party in selecting the name from the submissions received and my decision is final. It’s also possible that I may not receive a name that suits me and I reserve the right to not use any of the names.

6. In the event that two or more people submit the same name and that is the name I select, I will award the prize to the submission dated the earliest.

7. You may submit your names and justifications to me via:

A Comment submitted on the Living Free blog (at the end of this blog

     post)

Joining my Living Free and Happy Yahoo Group (you can join by

     clicking the link on this page and submitting your name(s) there

Liking the new Living Free Facebook Fan Page (by clicking the “Like”

     button on this page) and submitting your names as comments there

Email to ed@edhelvey.com

Remember the sky is the limit. Submit as many names as you want to. And think of this like an Internet domain name. The name should be as short as possible while being as memorable and recognizable as possible – again, I use the Starship Enterprise as an example. The best thing is to not pre-judge any name as long as you can come up with an interesting and justifiable description and reason the name should be considered.

I was reading a blog of some other “technomads” earlier today and they just ran a similar naming contest for the 1961 GMC conversion bus they graduated to about seven months ago. They had named their previous two RV’s as well. In their case, when the dust finally settled there were several names they were torn between. They actually ended up selecting a name themselves from an event and something that had transportation roots, historical roots and some ethereal meaning. While they were searching for the vintage bus conversion of their dreams, precisely on the trip to see the bus they selected and on the day they selected it, they did some sightseeing and that’s where they discovered the name. However, they never even thought about it until they were down to trying to decide between the last few names they hadn’t eliminated from all the submissions they had received.

I don’t think that’s going to happen in my naming process. I’m really looking forward to all your creativity and submissions. And, of course, when I make the final selection, I will give the winner full credit and arrange to get the Amazon e-gift card forwarded to you. I should also mention that this is open to anyone anywhere in the world reading my blog as long as you have the capability of ordering from Amazon.

Most likely, I’ll have the name stenciled on the left and right doors of the van right below the windows. I might put it on the back, too, if there is a place where it can be seen. So have fun and enjoy playing “Name My Van.”  

Enthusiastically,

Ed