Automobile history trivia quiz

 

Test your knowledge of auto history - 1900-1966

 

    

1. First US carmaker to mass-produce cars with standardized parts:

2. This model of car had no options, not even the color. "You can have any color, as long as it is black!" said the company owner.

3. "Come along with me, ______, In my merry Oldsmobile."

4. In 1903, two automobile executives raced their own cars; Ransom E. Olds in his "Pirate" and Alexander Winton in his "Bullet." That race was held on this beach:

5. In 1908, William C. Durant offered to sell stock in a new venture called General Motors; then used the cash and stock to buy 4 existing automakers. The brand name of those first four GM cars:

6. A car was named for this French adventurer who in 1701, founded the city of Detroit:

7. The fifth car company to be acquired by General Motors (1911) was named for this Swiss-born race car driver:

8. Charles Kettering’s invention was one of the most important advancements the auto industry has ever known. It first appeared on Cadillacs in 1912. Cars equipped with his invention sold like crazy. His company: Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. What was his invention?

9. Following a dispute with stockholders, Ransom E. Olds quit Oldsmobile even before it was bought by General Motors. He then built cars and trucks under this brand name:

10. What do the initials A.C. stand for in A.C. Spark Plug, ?

11. This man was a chief engineer for General Motors. He quit, bought the Maxwell automobile works, and changed the car name to his own:

12. The German automaker Diamler named a car for the daughter of one of his employees. The girl’s name?

13. Adolf Hitler supervised the engineering of this "peoples’ car" and personally approved the blueprints before it went into production:

14. The designer of the above car would later use much of the engine and chassis parts to build a sports car which would bear his name:

15. Which American company designed the Jeep, and who built the Jeep? The answer surprised me, and it may surprise you, too.

16. What is the origin of the name Jeep?

17. This small, inexpensive car was named for the chairman of Kaiser Motors:

18. These brothers sold their company to Chrysler in 1928:

19. Ford named a line of cars for the son of Henry Ford I. The son’s name?

20. This South Bend, Indiana company began as a wagon builder in 1852, and built cars and trucks from 1901 until 1966.

 

21. When this GM president was kicked out of office, he bought the Jefferey car plant in Wisconsin, changed the car to his name, and merged with Kelvinator refrigerators: . 

22. This president of Ford Motor Company was fired by Henry Ford II. He later would be named chairman of Chrysler, and rescue it from bankruptcy:

23. Some of America’s most expensive cars in the 1930s were built in Auburn, Indiana, by the Auburn Company, which built Auburn cars, but also a luxury sports car, and a stately, huge luxury car. The names of those two cars:

24. Carl Graham Fisher, owner of auto headlamp company Pres-To-Lite, and partner in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, headed a group which would build a "Coast-to-coast rock highway." The name of the highway which would be named for an American President:

25. The first and still the only highway connecting Alaska with the lower 48 states was completed in this year:

26. While most of that Alcan Highway lies in Canada, construction was supervised by this organization:

27. America’s Interstate Highway System was established by this US president:

28. Once a high-volume mid-priced car, Chrysler dropped it in 1961 following slumping sales:

29. In the 1930s, General Motors offered this brand of car, priced between Buick and Cadillac:

30. In the 1950s, this new smaller car was such a success for American Motors, they soon dropped the big Nash and Hudson cars:

31. At one time it was a big luxurious car. But after it merged with Studebaker in 1954, sales were so slow it was forced to become a Studebaker lookalike with only minor trim changes:

32. The Yellow Coach Company would eventually become this brand of trucks:

33. This brand of vehicle took Abraham Lincoln to Ford Theater the night he was fatally shot:

34. John F. Kennedy was riding in this brand of vehicle in Dallas when he was fatally shot:

35. This one-time general manager of Pontiac Division tried to begin a sports carr building enterprise:

36. This car sponsored the TV show, "You bet your life" with Groucho Marx:

37. This car sponsored Dinah Shore’s TV show:

38. The Beverly Hillbillies’ truck was actually a cut-down car of this make:

39. The Beach Boys "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" drove this brand of car:

40. He called the Corvair "Unsafe at any speed."

Automobile trivia quiz - answers

 

1. Oldsmobile

2. Model T Ford

3. Lucille

4. Ormond Beach. (Also give yourself a correct answer if you said Daytona Beach.)

5. Buick, Cadillac, Oakland (later called Pontiac) and Oldsmobile. Give yourself credit if you named Pontiac instead of Oakland.

6. Cadillac, or Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.

7. Chevrolet, or Louis Chevrolet

8. The electric starter. (His company, Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co, better known as DELCO, would become part of General Motors.)

9. R.E.O. (The initials of Ransom E. Olds.)

10. Albert Champion (as in A.C.’s competitor, Champion Spark Plug!)

11. Chrysler, or Walter P. Chrysler

12. Mercedes

13. Volkswagen.

14. Porsche, or Dr. Ferdinand Porsche.

15. Short answer: The first prototype was built by Bantam Car Company, best known for their midget cars.
Long answer: But the American military feared that Bantam could not produce enough of them, so Jeeps were built only by Willys and by Ford, in equal numbers and using standardized parts. After the war, production went to Willys; which eventually became Kaiser-Jeep, which was later acquired by American Motors and then all of that company taken over by Chrysler, which is now part of Diamler-Chrysler.

16. The name came from saying aloud the Army’s name of "G.P.," or "general purpose" vehicle.

17. The Henry J. car, named for the company founder, Henry J. Kaiser.

18. The Dodge Brothers, or John F. Dodge and Horace E. Dodge.
 

19. Edsel, or Edsel Ford.

20. Studebaker.

21. Nash, or Charles Nash.

22. Lee Iocacca.

23. Cord and Duesenberg.

24. The Lincoln Highway.

25. 1942

26. US Army Corps of Engineers

27. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

28. DeSoto

29. LaSalle

30. Rambler

31. Packard

32. GMC.

33. Studebaker (horse-drawn carriage)

34. Lincoln Continental

35. DeLorean or John Z. DeLorean

36. DeSoto (or DeSoto/Plymouth Division.)

37. Chevrolet. "See the USA, in your Chevrolet!"

38. Oldsmobile

39. Dodge. "Shiny red super-stock Dodge."

40. Ralph Nader