It has always been customary to personify certain inanimate objects and attribute to them characteristics peculiar to living creatures. Thus, things without life are often spoken of as having a sex. Some objects are regarded as masculine -- the sun, winter, and death are often personified in this way. Others are regarded as feminine, especially those things that are dear to us. The earth, as "Mother Earth," is regarded as the common maternal parent of all life. In languages that use gender for common nouns, boats, ships, and other vehicles almost invariably use a feminine form. Likewise, early seafarers spoke of their ships in the feminine gender for the close dependence they had on their ships for life and sustenance.\n\nAnother point of view: Early seafarers spoke of their ships in the feminine gender and in those ages, all seafarers were male. (In fact, having a female in the ship were considered as bad luck.) Since those men think that they own the ship, they may call their ships as they call all other females. In my opinion, this tradition of calling vehicles has passed from ships to cars.