“Sam Barer’s Sound Classics’ Classically-Tough Trivia Quiz” went live on my column found on CarDomain’s site. While the original article said the deadline is Jan 3rd, I’m keeping it open until I post the answers around January 9th.
Here’s the quiz as posted on blogs.CarDomain.com:
Sound Classics Classically-Tough Triva Quiz 2008
Back in 2002 Sound Classics started an annual New Years tradition: “The Classically-Tough Trivia Quiz.” While it used to run primarily in Sound Classics’ newspaper outlets and only find its way online via enthusiastic readers, this year I’m proud to bring it directly to the CarDomain community.
What sets The Classically-Tough Trivia Quiz apart from other tests of useless automotive factoid regurgitation is that just about everyone will find a couple questions no-brainers, a few hard and the rest more agonizing than the extra credit question on a graduate-level biochemistry final. Which questions fall into each category, however, changes based on your area of passion. Furthermore, the Sound Classics team goes to great lengths to make most of the questions unGoogleable.
And I should probably mention that like in the previous six editions, this one features questions that are trickier than heel-toe downshifting a DeTomaso Pantera with clown shoes and a hook for a right hand.
Forget cash or prizes, (c’mon the stuff other outlets award is simply regifted junk the auto manufacturers send to journalists in hopes of getting more positive coverage), the Classically-Tough Trivia Quiz is all about bragging rights. If you think you have the answers, email sc@apexstrategy.com by January 3rd. Readers with the top scores will be honored, lauded, glorified, praised, and made famous in a follow-up column.
Now let the frustration begin –without further adieu: The Classically-Tough Trivia Quiz 2008.
1. Name the first make and model of car certified by the US Government as compliant with 1975 model-year regulations contained in the Clean Air Act. What was the company’s name for the technology and why was it unique? (4 pts total)
2. It was this brand of car that was most frequently advertised on the back cover of Road & Track from the magazine’s inception through 1960. (1 pt)
3. Name all the Ferrari model name designations that corresponded to specific races. (1 pt each)
4. It is the builder of high performance race-proven cars that started in 1898, ended in 1925… then started again in 2000. While its first car was Benz powered, its current cars feature Audi V8 and W12 powerplants. (1 pt)
5. This model in its base form reached its heaviest in 1978 at 3,572 pounds and delivered its worst base power-to-weight ratio in 1975. (1 pt)
6. Name the last year, production model and displacement of the final carbureted air-cooled six-cylinder Porsche. (1 pt)
7. What serves to store engine vacuum on a Lotus Elan 1600 Series 1 for the purpose of raising the headlights? (1 pt)
8. List every 1958 make/model that came with more factory-rated horsepower in the standard (non-optional) engine than an Edsel Citation. (1 pt each)
9. This auto company contracted Yamaha and stylist Albrecht von Goertz in 1963 to create a two seat sports car. (1 pt)
10. Which American automaker went the most consecutive number of years offering all its models with over 100 advertised horsepower? (1 pt)
11. It’s the automaker which used a swastika as its emblem. (1 pt)
12. This automaker tested cars on a track built on the roof of its five-story manufacturing plant. (1 pt)
13. A car of this make always is the first to start the La Festa Mille Miglia? (1 pt)
14. This brand in 1969 sold models named for three famous races (including one event and two separate race series) in which these specific cars had never participated. (1 pt)
15. Before it was released as its own 1963 model, Buick used the Riviera name to denote this? (1 pt)
16. This car was initially only available in 15 colors: Raven Black, Caspian Blue, Skylight Blue, Guardsman Blue, Poppy Red, Rangoon Red, Dynasty Green, Pagoda Green, Cascade Green, Chantilly Beige, Prairie Bronze, Sunlight Yellow, Vintage Burgundy, Wimbledon White, and Silversmoke Gray. (1 pt)
17. In 1986, which American convertible offered the highest ratio of horsepower to cubic inches? (1 pt)
18. Legendary automotive journalist Tom McCahill described this car in a 1951 road test with the following gems: “Cornered like a porpoise with heartburn”, styled “like a bride’s first cake: taken out of the oven too soon”, and “I didn’t know whether to spray it with an aerosol bomb or pat it on the flank.” (1 pt)
19. Which company has offered in its production cars the most number of engines with different cylinder counts (meaning 4 cyl, 6 cyl, 8 cyl, 10 cyl…)? (1 pt)
20. Everyone knows that Ferrucio Lamborghini’s meeting with Enzo Ferrari to complain about his Ferrari’s reliability sparked the formation of Lamborghini’s automotive business. James Ward Packard, however, had a similar less-than-helpful meeting six decades earlier to complain about the reliability issues of his personal car with the President of another auto manufacturer that also led to the formation of Packard’s own auto company. Name the car or company with which Packard took umbrage. (1 pt)
21. The tie-breaker: Identify the car in the picture at the top of the post. (1 pt)
Good luck…and have a happy 2009!
Sam Barer\'s Four Wheel Drift 