Because of the sliding doors which enclosed the motorman's vestibules from the rest of the car compartment, the cars were nicknamed Merry Widows. Early on, they were also known as Battleships, a reference to their second paint scheme where the siding was painted Battleship Grey. However, the nickname did not stick and was later given to the Deck Roof Hi-V cars, which were painted the same color. Today, references to the "Battleships" are generally assumed to be in reference to the Deck Roof cars, as opposed to the Gibbs cars.