Crash Symbols Trivia Quiz

Answer: The A-Team

Probably the hardest thing to identify here is, which was the greater pop culture icon - the A-Team van or Mr T., who played the role of BA Baracas in the show. On second look, it probably would have been Mr T. but only by a narrow margin.

The show, which first surfaced in 1983 and ran for five seasons until 1987, centres on four Special Forces soldiers, the aforementioned BA Baracas, Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard), Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Dirk Benedict), and "Howling Mad" Murdock (Dwight Schultz), serving time in a military prison for a crime they did not commit, escaping custody to Los Angeles, where they continue to find work as mercenaries while dodging the law.

It appears that they would not be as successful as they are without their trusty van. Totally inconspicuous (sarcasm abounds) with its shiny black and grey paint job, complete with a brilliant red strip and black and red mag wheels, it has a cornucopia of goodies in the back. These include disguises for Hannibal, a locker for storing guns and ammunition, various surveillance devices and it even has a mini printing press.

If you have seen the series and had eagle eyes, you may have noted that the GMC label, after the first season, was blacked out, with the sponsor receiving its due acknowledgement in the final credits. You may also have noticed the van in Steven Spielberg's 2018 film "Ready Player One". It crashes (off-screen) in one of the races where it also competes with iconic vehicles such as the DeLorean ("Back to the Future" series), the V8 Interceptor ("Mad Max" series) and the Mach 5 ("Speed Racer" series).

Answer: Get Smart

Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) drove a number of cars during the series, which ran for five seasons from 1965, but the most iconic is the red Sunbeam Tiger that is seen in the opening credits for seasons one and two. The car was equipped with a range of "James Bond" style gadgets such as machine guns, smoke screens, rotating license plates, radar tracking capabilities and the ejector seat. Here's the thing, the Tiger you see isn't a real Tiger. The real one had a great big V8 engine, which meant that they couldn't fit all the gadgets to it that they needed. So they got a Sunbeam Alpine, which had a four cylinder engine and then built a model body of the Tiger to place over the top.

The other cars that Max drove included a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT PF Spider Cabriolet, which he drove in the pilot episode, a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, which was used in the opening credits (but not in the show) during seasons three and four when Volkswagen became the show's sponsor, and a Buick Opel GT was used in the last season, once again due to a sponsor change.

Don Adams was given the Sunbeam at the end of the show's run as part of his contract and, as if he'd known the title of this quiz, he managed to crash it and have it rebuilt several times. The vehicle's current whereabouts are not known.

Answer: The Dukes of Hazzard

If there was a museum set up for iconic inanimate objects from television shows (and there probably is), then there would be two items that would make the cut from "The Dukes of Hazzard" (1979-85); the Dodge Charger known as the General Lee and Daisy Duke's shorts. However, we're not here to talk about those shorts.

Those Duke boys, cousins Bo Duke (John Schneider) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat), would constantly find their way into some sort of trouble but they always managed to drive their way out of it... thanks to the General Lee. You certainly couldn't miss it. The Charger was bright orange in colour, had the Confederate flag painted on its roof and a big 01 painted on both doors. And if that didn't make it stand out, the finishing touch was the raucous "Dixie" horn. Legend has it that the horn was not part of the original design, however, the producers heard one peel off as they were on location in Atlanta, chased the driver down and, after some strong negotiations, purchased it off him. Imagine their chagrin when they found out it was a novelty item and could have been purchased from most auto parts stores. That said, the horn was only used for the first five episodes. After that, it was dubbed in during post-production.

This vehicle certainly fits in with the title of this quiz as the General Lee was wrecked on numerous occasions, utilizing somewhere between 250-300 cars. This, most likely, provided the producers with a massive headache as Dodge stopped making the model, well before the series ended.

Answer: The Munsters

"The Munsters" was a US sit-com that aired for two seasons (70 episodes), commencing in 1964. It centred around an American-Transylvanian family of monsters who thought they were the typical American family. Fred Gwynne was the Frankenstein like Herman Munster, the head of the family, and was ably supported by Yvonne de Carlo as Lily, his vampire wife, Al Lewis as Grandpa, an aging Count Dracula, Butch Patrick as their son Eddie, a half vampire, half werewolf creature and, for contrast, their stunning daughter, Marilyn, who was played by Beverley Owen (initially) and Pat Priest.

However, one of the stars of the show was the Munster's car. Affectionately known as the Koach, it was painted in glossy pearl black and had a blood red lined interior. The dimensions of the vehicle were enormous. It had a 133 inch frame that took 500 hours to mould, and the body was created using the bodies of three Model T Fords. It was also fitted with a 289 cubic inch Ford Cobra engine from a 1966 Mustang GT, had ten chrome plated Carter carburettors and a set of Bobby Barr racing manifold headers. Total cost was a staggering $18,000. Remember, that was in 1964. Thanks to Savings.org, that equates to roughly $172,000 in 2023. Oh, one other thing... it had a skull radiator cap... but only in its second season.

Answer: That 70's Show

The "Aztec Gold" Vista Cruiser was once voted the third most iconic car on television. The keys to the Vista are handed to Eric Forman (Topher Grace) in the pilot episode, which aired on August 23, 1998. This is the main source of transport for the gang, whether they're merely going down the road to Fatso's Burgers or crossing international borders to Canada to buy beer ("Canada Road Trip" - season 3, episode 23, May 8, 2001).

You would see the vehicle in the opening credits of each episode for the first seven seasons but, most of the time, it is parked in the Forman garage where it becomes the setting or the inspiration for a range of dialogue. Some of the vehicle's most memorable moments include Eric's first kiss with Donna (Laura Prepon) in the pilot episode and Red (Kurtwood Smith) accidentally selling the car after eating one of Hyde's "special" brownies" ("Garage Sale" - episode 1, season 2, September 28, 1999).

At the end of the show's run, the vehicle was purchased by Wilmer Valderrama, who played Fez on the show.

Answer: The Avengers

"The Avengers" debuted in 1961 and introduced the world to Patrick MacNee's John Steed, a secret agent that was television's answer to the big screen's James Bond. Steed continually saved the world from diabolical schemes conducted by even more diabolical villains. During the six seasons of the show Steed would have a series of assistants. These were highly intelligent, extremely stylish, and very assertive young women. Foremost, for this author, was Diana Rigg's Emma Peel.

Emma Peel would appear in series 4 (1965) and series 5 (1967). She was a genius, particularly at chemistry, was a formidable fencer and a skilled martial artist. Above that, she was a fashion icon. Initially known for her tight black leather catsuit, her wardrobe branched out to incorporate black and white op-art mod clothing and miniskirts. Equally as stylish as her clothing was her choice of motor car. Her Lotus Elan, which was first made in 1962, was a lightweight sportscar that was prized for its incredible steering and handling and would become a major influence in the motoring world. Emma Peel's use of the car would elevate it to being a cult classic, so much so, that the vehicle was gifted to Rigg after she'd left the series.

Answer: Starsky and Hutch

If Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky) or David Soul (Hutch) thought that they were stars of this iconic television series, that launched in 1975 and ran through till 1979, then they had another thing coming. The real star was Starsky's Ford Torino. With its distinctive bright red colouring and thick white wedge shaped stripe down the side, it stood out like the proverbial rest-room in the desert. And these guys were supposed to be undercover police officers. That said, they nearly got away with it except that every now and then the opening of the driver's side door would accidentally trip off the car horn and draw unwanted attention to them.

The car also proved to be a vehicle for humour. One stand-out quote from the second episode, season one "Longhorn, Texas" (September 17, 1975) had Captain Dobey (Bernie Hamilton) berating a bewildered Starsky; "Starsky, about this report, it reads like a comic book! 'The fiery red Torino fishtails to a halt. Me and Hutch spill out onto the street ready for action.'" On first sight Paul Michael Glaser christened the vehicle the "Striped Tomato" and this was later used by the writers in the episode "Snowstorm", season one, episode 4 (October 1, 1975).

Ford cashed in on the popularity of the series, creating a Starsky & Hutch Edition of the vehicle in 1976. They built 1,100 vehicles with the red paint, white wedge stripe, a 5.7 litre V8 engine and an 8-track stereo player. They sold like hot-cakes.

Answer: The Simpsons

This is Homer Simpson's vehicle and, whilst he's averse to wearing a pink shirt, he obviously doesn't have the same hang-up about driving a pink car. We first get to see the vehicle in their opening episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (December 17, 1989), though on that occasion it wasn't pink, and it took until 2017 (28 seasons later) that the show's creators finally let us in on the make and model of the car. Until then, most observers believed it to be a Plymouth Reliant as it had the same shape.

The car is wrecked regularly on the programme but it returns the following week in the same or similar state that it was in the week before. Whenever Homer takes it to his mechanic, Junior, to get it repaired he demands "I only want genuine GM parts". Junior continually informs him that this is not possible because his car was made in Croatia from parts salvaged from a Soviet tank. Among its many oddities, the car has an eternally damaged front fender, a bent radio aerial, a driver's side airbag and an 8 track radio player.

Answer: The Saint

Roger Moore would play the role of Simon Templar, who earned the nickname "The Saint" for his propensity to take from the powerful to assist those that were powerless, for six seasons from 1962 to 1969. Ironically, his actions were seen to be outside of the law and, as a consequence, his constant nemesis during the series was Chief Inspector Claude Eustace Teal, originally played by Ivor Dean.

Initially, the car chosen for the character was a white E-Type Jaguar. The vehicle had been launched at the Geneva Motor Show the previous year and had proven to be so popular that the producers approached the company for the loan of one. Jaguar turned them down because (a) they were struggling to keep up with demand for the vehicle and (b) they could not see how the show could improve on the vehicles popularity. Big mistake.

It was Roger Moore's idea to look at the Volvo P1800 and Volvo jumped at the chance. They had a white one delivered to the set within a week, bearing the number plate 71DXC, which was changed for filming purposes to ST1. Roger Moore made the Volvo look cool and the company was ecstatic at the public's response to it.

Ironically, in 1978, a new season of "The Saint" was created, called "Return of the Saint" with Ian Ogilvy in the title role, and, this time, Jaguar were quick to respond, providing the set with a white XJ-S within days of the request.

Answer: Miami Vice

"Miami Vice" (1984-89) followed the adventures of two Miami-Dade undercover police detectives in "Sonny" Crockett (Don Johnson) and "Rico" Tubbs (Phillip Michael Thomas). Along with its popular storylines it was a TV series that portrayed both the excesses and the New Wave culture of the 1980s. Popular contemporary music was woven into the storylines while the main actors were attired in highly fashionable labels such as Hugo Boss & Versace and sporting Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses.

This image extended to their choices in cars, in particular the 1986 Ferrari Testarossa, which the pair sported whilst strutting out their "t-shirt under the Armani jacket" look... I'm sure they were on the take. Two vehicles were supplied to the producers by Ferrari. "Supplied" is not quite right, the vehicles were donated by Ferrari and this proved to be quite an astute move by the company because, for a time, the Testarossa was the most popular vehicle on television in the 1980s. These were both black in colour which were then re-painted by the studio to white.

That said, the studio still used a De Tomaso Pantera stunt car during the action sequences... losing a $180,000 vehicle would take a lot of explaining. In addition, the Testarossa had an issue in that it continually stalled in high-speed spins. As a footnote, one of the original Ferraris in the show was listed for sale on eBay in 2014 for $1.75 million.