The scariest car names ever

The scariest car names

A Phantom looms out of the darkness. Like every Rolls-Royce, this V12-powered flagship even has a ghostly figure named the Spirit of Ecstasy atop its backlit grille. Spot this apparition in your rear-view mirror at night and it’s probably best to pull over.

However, while a Phantom can be frightening, plenty of car names are scarier still. We’ve rounded up the best cars for driving this Halloween. Can you think of any we have missed?

Hennessey Camaro ‘Exorcist’

What do you call a Chevrolet Camaro with 1,000hp and 883lb ft of torque? Well, ‘Exorcist’ seems about right. Built by legendary Texas-based tuner Hennessey, this tyre-smokin’ muscle car can hit 60mph in 2.1 seconds and a top speed of 217mph. Scary stuff.

Lamborghini Murcielago

This bedroom-wall hero from the early 2000s carries the name of a famous fighting bull. Murcielago means ‘bat’ in Spanish. We’re pretty sure it doesn’t transform into a vampire, but we’ll gladly take an LP640 in pumpkin orange, for maximum Halloween appeal.

DF Goblin

From the supercar establishment to a barn-door kit car. The DF Goblin is an Ariel Atom-esque roadster. DF describes it as a ‘street-legal go-kart for grown-ups’. The Goblin sounds scary, but we bet it’s a lot of fun.

Reliant Scimitar GTE

How can a Reliant Scimitar be scary? After all, Princess Anne owned one (or several of them, in fact). Well, a scimitar is a curved sword used in the Middle East since the ninth century. Not just a fibreglass estate car made in Tamworth, then.

Dodge Challenger SRT Demon

Less spooky, more dangerous – that’s how we’d describe the Dodge Challenger Demon. With up to 1,039hp from its Hemi V8 in SRT 170 spec, the Demon is every tyre’s worst nightmare. It’s also the world’s only production car that can pull a wheelie. Yeee-haw!

Spectre R42

What could be spookier than something named ‘Spectre’? Lotus Esprit meets Noble meets Jaguar XJ220 in a largely forgotten 1990s supercar. Buy one of the 23 examples built… if you dare.

Ford Probe

A car called Probe has more X-Files connotations than Halloween or Paranormal Activity. Nevertheless, if you’re one for the more cosmic side of spooks and mysteries, this 1990s Ford coupe is for you.

Ford Ranger Raptor

The Ford Ranger Raptor pickup is powerful and relentless over tough terrain, much like its dinosaur namesake. Made famous by the Jurassic Park movies, the velociraptor (or ‘raptor’ for short) was actually a fairly small creature, but serrated teeth and clawed feet made it a fierce predator.

Plymouth Prowler

Everything on this list so far has, more or less, been a car with a spooky name. The Prowler, however, does it properly. Just look at it! It screams machete-wielding maniac.

Alfa Romeo Spider

Now we’re onto good old-fashioned phobias. Find yourself inside one of these pretty Alfas and the last thing you’ll feel is arachnophobia. The classic roadster, best known for its role in The Graduate, is a scary Spider in name alone.

Lamborghini Diablo

The Diablo was the forerunner to the Murcielago we featured earlier. It’s arguably a scarier name, with obvious demonic connotations. It’s certainly a scarier drive, too – as our Diablo SV review on the Motoring Research website reveals. Pop up the doors for added horns.

Hillman Imp

As magical creatures go, imps aren’t generally considered terrifying. Nor indeed is the car to which they lend their name. The Hillman Imp was once a mainstay of British motoring.

Pontiac Banshee

The Pontiac Banshee, like the mythical spirit that shares its name, never came to anything beyond the speculative. Four Banshee concepts appeared over the course of more than 20 years.

AMC Gremlin

There aren’t many movies that are more quintessentially ‘Halloween’ than Gremlins. So, naturally, the AMC Gremlin had to make this list. This 1970s American subcompact was no looker, resembling its namesake in a number of ways.

Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge

Here’s one Ghost we’d be happy to encounter on Halloween. The delectable Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge swaps brightwork for black chrome and carbon fibre. Its 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12 also gains a small power boost and a throatier exhaust note. Naughty, but nice.

Volkswagen ‘Thing’

The Volkswagen Type 181 was a Beetle-based military vehicle that was adapted for civilian use. In the United States and Canada, it was known simply as the Thing, a name subsequently used for a sci-fi horror movie released in 1982. Clearly, the Thing was hard to describe, and what could be scarier than the unknown?