Car related trivia

[a griffin]

I host a gathering for car folks and have started writing random trivia questions on the disposable table covers. I don't get too technical as I want people to enjoy themselves arguing and thinking about the possible answers. At the last gathering, several people were consumed with roaming from table to table looking for the trivia and talking with the people at each table.

 

Examples

What's the firing order of a small block chevy?

The nailhead engine is typically attributed to which car brand?

Don Knotts was the face of what truck advertising in the 60s?

What type of car did Colombo drive?

What are the 3 P's of early automotive excellence?

In Smokey and the Bandit, what vehicle did Snowman drive?

and such.....

 

As I said, nothing too technical. Included with the trivia, I post copies of cars for sale ads from the 60s and 70s. One that caught my eye was a Prewar Rolls for 300.00. Several Stutz and Packard offerings were just as interesting.

 

With that said, what are some other trivia questions you can think of that could be added?

Edited July 14, 2022 by a griffin (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Kind of exotic but, Chrysler built cars with Ford engines at one time. Can you name the make and model? Ans. Sunbeam Tiger. Chrysler bought about 1/3 of Rootes Group in the mid sixties at the time they were making the Sunbeam Tiger, a sports car with a Ford 289 motor.

This was not the only time Chrysler made a car with a Ford V8. Hint: it was another foreign make  Ans. Simca Vedette, a French car made by Ford with a V8 60 flathead motor. The French Ford concern was bought by Simca which was bought by Chrysler. The Vedette ended up being sent to south America  where it was built into the seventies.

 

 

How about famous movie cars? Herbie the love bug - VW beetle. Bonnie and Clyde death car - 1934 Ford. Bullit - Mustang. Blade Trinity - Dodge Charger.

 

The WW2 Jeep was made by 2 different car companies, can you name them? Ans. Willys and Ford

 

Plymouth made 4 cylinder cars until 1932 then made only six and eight cylinder cars for the next 45 years. Can you name the new 4 cylinder model that came out in 1977? Ans. Plymouth Horizon.

 

Cadillac went even longer making only eight, twelve and sixteen cylinder cars.  Their last 4 cylinder model was 1913 until what new model in the eighties? Ans. Cadillac Cimarron 1982.

 

Engines with belt driven overhead cams are very popular these days, can you name the car that pioneered this design? Ans. 1966 Pontiac OHC six cylinder.

 

There are a few to be going on with. This is all from memory, you may want to check exact dates and spelling but I am sure I am not far wrong.

 

Bonus question: What king was famous for using an American car in the 1930s? Ans. King Edward VIII at the time of his abdication, had a 1936 Buick limousine. This was actually a Canadian made McLaughlin-Buick made in the GM Canada factory in Oshawa Ontario. His choice of this car over the British makes was very controversial at the time. He said that he tried to buy an English limousine but they would not sell him the kind of car he wanted, they would only sell him the kind of car they thought he ought to have. Anyone with much experience of the English car industry knows what he meant.

 

Edited July 14, 2022 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[oldcarfudd]

'14 Cadillac had 4 cylinders.

 

What two current American luxury brands were basically started by the same person?  Cadillac and Lincoln, by Henry Leland.

[John_S_in_Penna]

3 hours ago, a griffin said:

Examples

What's the firing order of a small block Chevy?...

I suggest making your questions easier.  On a school test,

an "A" may be 90%, and a passing grade 60% to 70%.

The questions should be easy enough that most car fans

will be able to get 70% to 90% of them correct.  And this is

supposed to be a fun time for your guests!

 

In our AACA regional newsletter, one member occasionally

wrote car quizzes.  On one of his first quizzes, a typical member

knew no answers!  Of your questions, my experience can answer

only one or two.  And provide a few "gimmes" so that even

a novice will gain some confidence!   

[Terry Bond]

I organized a party once for our son and included some auto trivia - we had two large poster-board games we made up.  For one, we cut sections from maps showing small back-roads and had people match the names of the nearest larger cities.  Of course that game wouldn't work well with today's GPS mentality.

 

For another one, we cut auto manufacturers logos out and eliminated any verbage that might give away the name.   Object was to guess to car make the logo appeared on.  Had about two dozen pasted on the poster board.  Some were pretty difficult to figure out.

 

Terry

[Glen Andrews]

Pretty sure that Colombo drove a Peugeot, convertible, don't know the model or series or year.

[Bloo]

403. I don't know the year, but that matters less in European cars that do not go through major styling and mechanical changes every year.

[CHuDWah]

24 minutes ago, Bloo said:

403. I don't know the year, but that matters less in European cars that do not go through major styling and mechanical changes every year.

 

1959

What Car did Columbo Drive and Where is It Now?

[nzcarnerd]

5 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Kind of exotic but, Chrysler built cars with Ford engines at one time. Can you name the make and model? Ans. Sunbeam Tiger. Chrysler bought about 1/3 of Rootes Group in the mid sixties at the time they were making the Sunbeam Tiger, a sports car with a Ford 289 motor.

 

And that was the reason for the demise of the Tiger. Once Chrysler bought into Rootes it became unacceptable for them to have car powered by a competitor engine.

 

More Chrysler/Rootes trivia. At the time of the Chrysler takeover Humber's large car was the Super Snipe which was nearing the end of its model life. The Snipe engine was a 3 litre six. Several Chrysler 318-powered prototypes were built - and understandably went very well. I am not exactly sure why the project didn't go through but about then Chrysler UK chose to source it large cars from Chrysler Australia - mostly Valiant variants.

 

On the subject of large British sedans, when Jaguar took over Daimler (circa 1960) Daimler's large sedan was the Majestic Major, dated style-wise but powered by Daimler's excellent 4.5 litre V8. Apparently some experimental Jaguar Mk Tens were fitted with the Daimler V8 and proved to be faster than the Jaguar powered variant but, again, the project didn't go ahead.

[Rusty_OToole]

Between 1955 and 1965 Ford brought out 5 new cars, four of them were hits but one was a famous flop. How many can you name? Ans. Thunderbird, Edsel, Falcon, Fairlane, Mustang. All were a big success except the Edsel.

 

 

[Pfeil]

2 hours ago, Glen Andrews said:

Pretty sure that Colombo drove a Peugeot, convertible, don't know the model or series or year.

403

Edited July 15, 2022 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[Pfeil]

14 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Between 1955 and 1965 Ford brought out 5 new cars, four of them were hits but one was a famous flop. How many can you name? Ans. Thunderbird, Edsel, Falcon, Fairlane, Mustang. All were a big success except the Edsel.

 

 

 How about ten? - retro Victoria, Skyliner, Starliner, Galaxie, LTD 

And Ford touted these cars as "all new" cars.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Victoria, Skyliner, Starliner, Galaxie and LTD were body styles of existing cars, they were not completely new cars like the Tbird, Edsel, Falcon, Fairlane and Mustang. I refer to the 1962 mid size Fairlane which was an all new body not the 1955 which was a deluxe Ford.

[oldford]

When Ford put the XL trim on the Galaxie and the Fairlane, as in 500XL, What did the XL stand for??   Extra Lively

 

Frank

[Pfeil]

12 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Victoria, Skyliner, Starliner, Galaxie and LTD were body styles of existing cars, they were not completely new cars like the Tbird, Edsel, Falcon, Fairlane and Mustang. I refer to the 1962 mid size Fairlane which was an all new body not the 1955 which was a deluxe Ford.

OK with that logic and going a step further, Mustang is a Falcon, Edsel is a Ford.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Mustang uses a different body from a Falcon and was sold as a different car. Edsel was also a different car from a Ford. By your logic, a 4 door Galaxie and a 2 door Galaxie are 2 different cars, they are not, they are different models or body styles of the same car. Hope this is clear.

[Pfeil]

12 minutes ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Mustang uses a different body from a Falcon and was sold as a different car. Edsel was also a different car from a Ford. By your logic, a 4 door Galaxie and a 2 door Galaxie are 2 different cars, they are not, they are different models or body styles of the same car. Hope this is clear.

I was just saying you could do a step further. Mustang is built on the same platform as Falcon.

[Marty Roth]

17 hours ago, Glen Andrews said:

Pretty sure that Colombo drove a Peugeot, convertible, don't know the model or series or year.

Columbo's car was an intentionally ratty-appearing Peugeot 403 Cabriolet, sometimes guarded by his adopted dog

[Marty Roth]

1 hour ago, Pfeil said:

OK with that logic and going a step further, Mustang is a Falcon, Edsel is a Ford.

Edsel Ranger and Pacer were Ford-based,

but Edsel Citation and Corsair were Mercury-based

[Rusty_OToole]

Who makes the most popular car in the world? Ans. Toyota Corolla. VW Golf and Beetle are #2 and #3.

[a griffin]

To all who are participating in this post, thanks.

 

These are the "debates" that are had amongst people at my event. Very informative and it just adds more conversation to "bench racing"

 

I have a family member that, very recently, became interested in the historics of the automobile. I asked her what were the three P's of early automotive excellence and after a few moments thought she answered, "Pierce, Packard, Peerless." I've taught her well.........

 

A few more examples of my trivia questions

 

"Christine" is what year, make and model of car?

What is the umbrella name for Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler?

John Deloreon designed the Deloreon of the 80's. What popular 60's car was he associated with?

Edited July 15, 2022 by a griffin (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Fury, painted a color not offered on that model. In today's world it would be painted murdered-out black monochrome.🙄

 

Chrysler Corporation has gone through so many iterations I have no idea what DPC group was or is called!😄

 

DeLorean was the power behind the 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix. Also involved with 1964 GTO but Wangers got most of the credit there.

 

###

 

Here's a couple: which automaker introduced the "modern" wide bed pickup truck, in 1957? Which introduced the "crew cab" pickup concept, again in 1957?

 

Yah, the new Collectible Automobile came yesterday!😏

[wayne sheldon]

r-t, I may be wrong, that era is a bit out of my wheelhouse. However I think Chevrolet's (and GMC's) Cameo pickups from 1955 and 1956 were followed by a "modern" steel wide pickup? The Cameos had fiberglass outer boxes.

And both Dodge and International were famous for their "odd duck" crew cab pickups in the mid to late 1950s. But I seem to recall that Dodge was first? (May be wrong?) (But sometimes I like to stimulate conversation.)

[28 Chrysler]

On 7/15/2022 at 10:05 AM, Rusty_OToole said:

Who makes the most popular car in the world? Ans. Toyota Corolla. VW Golf and Beetle are #2 and #3.

# 1 was the Little Tikes' Cozy Coupe a red & yellow kids car.

[Pfeil]

7 hours ago, rocketraider said:

Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Fury, painted a color not offered on that model. In today's world it would be painted murdered-out black monochrome.🙄

 

Chrysler Corporation has gone through so many iterations I have no idea what DPC group was or is called!😄

 

DeLorean was the power behind the 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix. Also involved with 1964 GTO but Wangers got most of the credit there.

 

###

 

Here's a couple: which automaker introduced the "modern" wide bed pickup truck, in 1957? Which introduced the "crew cab" pickup concept, again in 1957?

 

Yah, the new Collectible Automobile came yesterday!😏

Here's one for you. Yes, DeLorean was the father of the GTO but his boss (Pontiac General Manager) Pete Estes was the guy that let this option fly (options didn't need 14th floor corporate approval and that's why GTO's are an option on the 1964-65 LeMans) which could have ruined his career at General Motors. BTW, Estes became President of G.M. later....but in the interim Estes became General Manager of Chevrolet and DeLorean took his place at Pontiac as General Manager. As you all know the 68 Pontiac Grand Prix had become a huge car and not really worthy of such a name and so DeLorean wanted to make a new car to fit the Grand Prix name. Problem was Pontiac division didn't have enough money to develop a whole new car model line, so he went to his old boss now at Chevrolet and he and Estes worked out a deal to make this car happen for Pontiac and also a new car for Chevrolet. Since Pontiac had the idea it would be released first in 1969 (that one year exclusivity clause), and the next year 1970 as the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Thus, the new "G" body was born.

1968 Pontiac Grand Prix "B" body

 

 

 

1969 Pontiac Grand Prix

    

> 1970 Monte Carlo   

Edited July 18, 2022 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[carbking]

I guess I can't play; not a single trivia question on a carburetor  

 

But going with the movie theme, what 3 cars full of rangers did the bandits shoot up in John Wayne's "Big Jake"? Reos.

 

Another personal favorite is what year is the Mustang in "Love on the Sidelines"? The writers of the show brag about paying attention to details, but state this Mustang is a 1965. It has the body style introduced in 1967, but looks like a 1968 to me.

 

Jon

 

 

[Pfeil]

The new "A" body 1964-65 GTOs are LeMans with the GTO option. Since LeMans is its own series, it's not called Tempest LeMans. GTO is not called Tempest GTO, just LeMans GTO.

Did you know that the new Oldsmobile "A" body 442 option could be ordered on either a F-85 or a Cutlass?

Question for Rocketrader or Joe Padavano;

Since the Oldsmobile price structure is above Pontiac was it possible to get a F-85 442 cheaper than a LeMans GTO?

 

[rocketraider]

I'm gonna say yes. If one ordered a base 1964 F85 club coupe with no options other than 442 at $136, Standard Catalog of American Cars shows such a car would sell for $2468. Adding 442 to same bodystyle Cutlass with no options would cost $2799.

 

The LeMans 2 door post car with GTO sold for $2852 and then you had to buy the 4-speed at $189. Four speed was included in 442 option as were redline tires.

 

Hard to say if this is an apples to apples comparison since GTO was based on the most expensive Tempest trim level whereas Olds would install 442 on any F85 series car except station wagons.

 

But, unless someone was going after strictly the lightest, most powerful car they could order, it's doubtful any 442 or GTO went out the door optionless.

 

That said, there are several 64-66 442 four door sedans known in Oldsworld, including one 66 still in the hands of its original California owner.

 

There are, strangely, a few  base F85 1966 442 club coupes known to have been delivered with a 3-speed column shift. Everyone said it couldn't happen but noted 442 expert Curt Anderson and Olds Division historian Helen Earley validated at least two of them.

[Pfeil]

Trivia question.

1964-1966 Pontiac GTOs automatic transmission is the ST300

1964-1966 Oldsmobile F-85 or Cutlass 442s automatic transmission is the ST300

What's the difference?  

 

[John_S_in_Penna]

I think that some of the questions being proposed here

are far too arcane for a trivia game, even among enthusiasts.

It's not the Jeopardy game show where a question is to

weed out even the best and brightest.

 

As stated earlier--and based on car quizzes we put in our

AACA regional newsletter, meant to be an enjoyable challenge--

an average car fan should be able to achieve a score of 70% to

90%, not 10%.

[Rusty_OToole]

What car was sold as the last American convertible and became an instant collector's item? Ans. 1976 Cadillac Eldorado.

 

There were other convertibles made since but you can still buy low mile Eldorados that were put away when new.

 

I try to come up with questions that are interesting and if not easy, at least within reach of the  well informed. For example avoid the real early stuff and the nit picky details.

[carbking]

Anyone remember Jack Benny's Maxwell?

 

Jon

[Bloo]

Just now, carbking said:

Anyone remember Jack Benny's Maxwell?

 

Jon

Yes. Unfortunately it was just a gag voiced by Mel Blanc and was not ever real. Too bad, because that makes it impossible to nail down the model and year. There are at least 2 scenes on film where Jack was filmed with a Maxwell, and if I remember correctly both of those cars were late 1920s "Good Maxwell" model 25 touring cars. I have read that someone gave Jack a brass-era Maxwell, but that was later in his career. Since it is impossible to determine, I vote for the "Good Maxwell".

 

[Pfeil]

On 7/15/2022 at 9:56 AM, Marty Roth said:

Columbo's car was an intentionally ratty-appearing Peugeot 403 Cabriolet, sometimes guarded by his adopted dog

Why was Columbo intentionally ratty-appearing?

[wayne sheldon]

William (Bill) Harrah had his restoration shop completely restore a Maxwell with the intention of giving it to Jack Benny as a gift (they were good friends). One day (somewhat before the car was ready), Jack and Bill were having lunch together. Bill H made a few comments about the Maxwell (probably fishing for an opportunity?), and Jack went on to say something along the line of "Oh I would NEVER want to have a real Maxwell, they're so - - - - -". The story (legend???) goes that the car never was given to Jack, and that Bill H kept it for some years in case Jack changed his mind.

I was told this story years ago by a couple different people that knew Bill Harrah.

[joe_padavano]

8 hours ago, Pfeil said:

Trivia question.

1964-1966 Pontiac GTOs automatic transmission is the ST300

1964-1966 Oldsmobile F-85 or Cutlass 442s automatic transmission is the ST300

What's the difference?  

 

That's an easy one. The Olds ST300 (along with Buick) used a switch pitch torque converter. Pontiac did not.

 

Now for a hard one. In what year was the Indy 500 pace car not the same model year as the year of the race?

[lump]

An easy one I have used in the past is: "What do the letters "M" and "G" stand for re the MG automobile? This one is good for the very casual car person, but too easy for most of us. 

 

Another would be: What year did Chevrolet first offer a V8 engine? This one is good because many folks will confidently state "1955!" only to be shocked when told this is incorrect. 

 

For folks with a strong Chevrolet background, I like to ask them: What makes a 1955 Chevrolet engine block totally different from all 1956-and-up Chevy V8 engine blocks? Chevy guys know immediately, but others are not always aware. 

 

Finally, whenever I find myself confronted with young, tech-savvy motorheads who find it humorous that I am bewildered by modern computerized automotive systems, I like to say something like: Yeah, well if you're so sharp about automobiles, there are 3 pedals on the floorboard of a Model T Ford. NONE of them are the accelerator, and NONE of them are a clutch. So, what are these pedals, and please explain how you would drive a Model T Ford? (This always leaves them wide-eyed and a little less cocky. 

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by lump (see edit history)

[Pfeil]

1 hour ago, lump said:

An easy one I have used in the past is: "What do the letters "M" and "G" stand for re the MG automobile? This one is good for the very casual car person, but too easy for most of us. 

 

Another would be: What year did Chevrolet first offer a V8 engine? This one is good because many folks will confidently state "1955!" only to be shocked when told this is incorrect. 

 

For folks with a strong Chevrolet background, I like to ask them: What makes a 1955 Chevrolet engine block totally different from all 1956-and-up Chevy V8 engine blocks? Chevy guys know immediately, but others are not always aware. 

 

Finally, whenever I find myself confronted with young, tech-savvy motorheads who find it humorous that I am bewildered by modern computerized automotive systems, I like to say something like: Yeah, well if you're so sharp about automobiles, there are 3 pedals on the floorboard of a Model T Ford. NONE of them are the accelerator, and NONE of them are a clutch. So, what are these pedals, and please explain how you would drive a Model T Ford? (This always leaves them wide-eyed and a little less cocky. 

 

 

 

These questions are too arcane, but I'll give it a try.

Morris Garage

1917

No provision for full flow oil filter on block

rt=brake, reverse middle, left= shift hi-low

 

[Pfeil]

Pontiac came out with a new V-8 engine in 1963 for the Pontiac Tempest. How many Cu. Inches?

[Ozstatman]

326?