So, you think you know your superchargers from your turbos? You know your spinners from your rims? Well, you’ve got another thing coming - here is an attempt at collecting a stupid amount of British Automotive Slang (BAS), courtesy of the gang over at PistonHeads forums.
British motoring slang is an amazing mess of slang-words, mostly derogatory. But that’s why we love it. So get your teeth into it, learn some of these, and impress everybody who gets in your way (really!). If you know of any that haven’t been added yet, drop us an e-mail on carslang@kamps.org, and I’ll sort it out!
- Bakery - Where petrol is sold. “Just popping down to the bakery for some rolls”.
- Beamer - A BMW Motorbike
- Beater - Mechanically fine but scruffy-appearing car.
- Beatle - Car with badly dented body work. “more hits than the Beatles”
- Beemer - A BMW Motorbike
- Bent 8 - V8
- Bib - Traffic police
- Bidet - a rear wash wipe
- Bimmer - A BMW car
- Blower - a supercharger (also: Turbocharger)
- Blown - supercharged engine
- Boosted - Super- or Turbo-charged car
- Boots - Tyres
- Britain’s Finest - Traffic police
- Bull Car - Lamborghini car
- Bullfighter - Lamborghini car
- Caddy - Cadillac car
- Carbage - A rubbish car
- Chav Chariot - Small hatchback with lots of modifications
- Chelsea Tractor - 4×4 or SUV
- Circus wagon - a multi-colored car, usually from Japan
- Clacker - Diesel-engined car
- Clocked - caught by speed camera or police
- Cossie - Any car powered by a Cosworth engine
- Cossie - any Cosworth powered car
- Cow Catcher - front bull-bars, esp on a 4×4 or a pick-up truck
- Coxter - Porsche Cayman
- Crotch rocket - Fast motorcycle
- Cunto - A Fiat Punto driven by a idiot.
- Diseasel - Diesel
- Dizzy Hat - Distributor Cap
- Dizzy Top - Distributor Cap
- Dizzy - Distributor
- Doing a ton - Driving at 100 mph
- Dub Deuces - 22″ rims
- Dubs - 20″ rims (as in double dime)
- Duke - Ducati
- Dyno queen - a car specifically configured to give the highest feasible horsepower figure.
- ECCY - Ford Ecorts
- Eccy - Ford Escort
- Eurobox - European car
- Fanny tax - the concept that women pay more for cars than men
- Fezza - Ferrari car
- Filth - Traffic police
- Gay wheel drive - Left hand drive car.
- Gayman - the Porsche Cayman
- Hairdresser’s car - anything that is style over substance
- Halfords Catalogue - A Max Power car / fully pimped-out car
- Happy Day - Hyundai car
- Henry - A Ford car, named after Henry Ford
- Hydros - hydraulic suspension.
- Jesus handles - interior handles: you are normally screaming ‘Jesus’ when grabbing them.
- Johnnys - Tyres (from the slang for condoms)
- Juice - Petrol
- Juiced up - Has NOS (Nitrous Oxide injection for performance)
- Kamikazi - A fast kawasaki motorcycle driven recklessly
- Kerbside adornment - Pretty car that doesn’t work
- Kiss - A low speed accident that didnt cause any damage.
- Kwak - Kawasaki motorcycle
- Landy - Land Rover car
- Laugher - A car that has NOS, also known as laughing gas.
- Left Hooker - Left hand drive car.
- Lincoln Locker - a locked differential via welding.
- Meats - (oversized) Tyres (on a car)
- MJ’s - 23″ rims, as in Michael Jordan who always had the number 23
- Moggy - Morgan or Morris Minor
- Motion Lotion - Petrol
- Mud-plugger - 4×4
- Mumpty - A middle-aged female who drives badly
- Numpty - A clumsy driver
- Oiler - Car with a Diesel engine
- Owned - beaten in a race
- Passenger Brake - Passenger who constantly moans about high speed
- Picnic Table - boot spoilers as sported by Evos, Subarus et al
- Pig - Traffic police
- Plod - Traffic Police
- Porker - Porsche
- Porker - Porsche car
- Pov spec - see Poverty Specification
- Poverty Specification - the basic variant of a car model, with no frills whatsoever
- Prancing Horse - Ferrari Logo
- Pug - Peugeot
- Pumped - raised suspension
- Pwned - Power-owned, or just “Owned”: Being the victim of a crash, or being beaten in a race
- Rag Top - Convertible car
- Rari - Ferrari
- Rice Wagon - Japanese car
- Ricer - Japanese car driver
- Right Wheel Drive - Rear wheel drive car.
- Ringer - A car, usually stolen, which has its chassis plates and log book faked to make it look like another, legit, car.
- Roller - Rolls Royce car
- Rolls - Petrol.
- Rubber Hankies - windscreen wipers
- Rubber - Tyres
- Ruby - Car tax (rhyming slang: Ruby Wax)
- Scamera - speed camera (used to ’scam’ motorists)
- Scrabbler - front wheel drive.
- Shed - Old car, barely driving
- Shoes - Car wheels
- Shopping trolley - Small hatchback
- Skin - Leather seats
- Sky - Air (’putting some sky in my tyres’)
- Slammed - lowered (very)
- Slammed - lowered suspension
- Sleeping cop - Speed hump
- Slush Box - Automatic Transmission
- Smoker - Diesel-engined car
- Snotter - an old banger
- Spanner monkey - Auto Mechanic
- Speed Units - A multiple of 100 miles per hour. ‘Clocked up 1.4 speed units down the M1′
- Stack - To crash a car. “I stacked it into the car in front”
- Stick - Manual Transmission
- Stuttgart Taxi - Mercedes car
- Sushi sledge - Japanese sports car
- Tar - Diesel
- Ticket - MOT test / MOT Test certificate
- Tin top - Folding metal roof
- Tiv - TVR car
- Toilet Roll - middle lane hogger
- Ton - 100 miles per hour.
- Trailer Queen - A car built for shows and not to use
- Trev - TVR car
- Trick Diff - locked differential (for 4×4 / racing / offroading)
- Wanker Magnets - The small components fitted by the manufacturer that seem to attract wankers
- Weapon - Very fast car
- Whip - A Car (”You can have your daily whip, your family whip and your street whip”)
- Wind - Air Conditioning
- Wrong wheel drive - Front wheel drive car.
- Zondy - Pagani Zonda Supercar
- Zorst - Exhaust.
Can’t get enough? Try the Pistonheads forums or Sniff Petrol for more mad motoring fun