Style guides are essential for magazines, newspapers, websites and anywhere else where text is regularly published. The idea of the style guide is to record commonly mis-spelled words and names, notes on usage of words and phrases, spelling and punctuation choices and so on. Often there is more than one way of spelling a word or presenting, say, an abbreviation or trade name, so the style guide gives guidance on the style the publication prefers.
Most of the style guides available online – like the well-known Guardian Style – are for newspapers and magazines with a wide-ranging remit. For specialist titles it's useful to have a style guide which concentrates on specialist words, so what follows is an automotive style guide which I'll add to and update from time to time. If you have any additions or corrections please let me know.
A
abbreviations
as a general rule, use capitals if the letters are pronounced separately (BMW, EBD) but not if the abbreviation is pronounced as a word (Avus, Vtec)
ABS
a Bosch trade name, but its use as a generic for anti-lock braking system is now so widespread there is little point distinguishing between Bosch and non-Bosch systems
Airikkala, Pentti
(1945-2009) British Rally Champion 1979 and left-foot braking evangelist
Alfa Romeo
no hyphen, except for very early cars Aston Martin no hyphen, except in its very earliest days
Austin-Healey
hyphenated
Avus
German race track
B
Bilstein
dampers
Blydenstein, Bill
(-2007) Vauxhall tuning expert and former racing driver
brake, braking
when referring to vehicle retardation
Brawn, Ross
motorsport engineer and team principal
Button, Jenson
not Jensen; 2009 F1 World Champion
C
caliper
not calliper
carburettor
but note the SU company always used 'carburetter'
Carello
lamp manufacturer
Carillo
con-rod manufacturer
Citroën
not Citreon, and note the position of the umlaut
concours
a competition where old cars are judged for condition and originality
concourse
part of a railway station
Cortina Lotus
the Lotus-engined Mk2 Cortina - see Lotus Cortina
D
DaimlerChrysler
damper
do not use 'shock absorber', because the term is misleading - they don't absorb shock, they damp spring movement
Dell'Orto
Italian carburettors
Donington Park
note single n; do not refer to the circuit as Castle Donington, which is the village nearby
F
fascia
not facia
Fiat X1/9
Fibreglass
is a trade name and should not be used as a generic - use GFRP or glass fibre
front-wheel drive
G
GFRP
glass fibre reinforced plastic, commonly (but imprecisely) called glass fibre
glass fibre
two words
Goodrich
tyre manufacturer; BF Goodrich is part of the Michelin group
Goodridge
reinforced hose manufacturer
Grand Prix
GTi
for Golfs before September 1993
GTI
for Golfs September 1993 onwards
H
hybrid engine
is nonsense. A hybrid is something made up of two or more things, and the point about a hybrid vehicle is that it has two or more 'engines' - usually a petrol or diesel engine and an electric motor.
I
Isky
valve spring manufacturer
Issigonis, Alec
(1906-1988) not Alex; BMC chief engineer, responsible for the Mini
J
Jensen
West Bromwich car and coachwork company; compare with Button, Jenson
Jensen-Healey
Jubliee clip
trade name
K
Kevlar
is a trade name
L
Land Rover, Land-Rover
early models carried a hyphen, but for consistency refer to the company and all its products without one
Lotus Cortina
Mk1 Lotus-engined Cortina; see Cortina Lotus
M
MacPherson strut
suspension system named after Earle MacPherson. Consists of a strut and a wishbone, so don't say 'MacPherson strut and wishbone'.
Mercedes-Benz
hyphenated; note that the parent company is Daimler-Benz, so use this name with care
Michelotti, Giovanni
(1921-80) Italian car designer
Mikuni
carburettors
Mini
not MINI, even for the BMW Minis
Minilite
note not all Minilite-style wheels are made by this company
model names
The general rule is to use what the manufacturer used, but this is complicated if the manufacturer was itself inconsistent – Jaguar, for example, has used E-type, E Type and 'E' type across its advertising, brochures and car badges. So there's a norm among enthusiasts of the marque/model, use that. If not, choose the simplest form that clearly identifies the car.
O
Odor, Jan
founder of Janspeed
Odor, Kieth
(1962-95) son of Jan, racing driver killed in a touring car race at Avus
R
Range Rover
no hypen
Rolls-Royce
always hyphenated. Claude Johnson, managing director of the company 1906-1926, has been called 'the hyphen in Rolls-Royce'.
Rover SD1
for 'Special Development number 1', not SDI
Rose joint
trade name
S
Schanche, Martin
rallycross driver
Schreyer, Peter
Kia designer
Serck Marston
T
Toivonen, Henri
(1956-86) rally driver
V
veteran car
built up to the end of December 1904
vintage car
built 1918 to 1930