we do this a lot, actually.

[kaigou]

Odetta, the great dane mix grande dame, was a Sherman Tank: she didn't go very fast, but she could take out entire bushes and small trees to get there. Saimhain, the beagle-mix with only two braincells, was an old Army Jeep: could get up pretty fast when must needs (preferably if also going downhill with a tailwind, in a hurricane), but then she'd come to a complete and sudden stop and need at least eight hours of rebuild time before she got going again.

Me: I'm not sure what Balto would be.
CP: Something big, not too fast, but happy.
Me: Drawing a blank.
CP: I'm thinking a VW bus.
Me: That works. A real trooper, and when he does break down, it doesn't take much to make him happy again.
CP: All he needs are the flowers painted on the side.
Me: He's a happy boy.
CP: And sort of round, too, just like a bus.

I think we ended up deciding Sachiko might be an old Peugot coupe, an Austin-Healey, maybe a Triumph Herald (coupe). Something, as CP put it, "with British electronics". The kind of vehicle that's cute and trying for elegant, although as a mongrel she's a little on the discount side -- but not quite as low-class as a Pinto. One that's fun, but don't breathe wrong or it'll stop working and simply refuse to do anything unless coddled for at least an hour.

Me: She's a flakey girl, after all. She'd be a flakey car.
CP: Just think Lucas wiring.