Little Known Secrets of the Automotive World Quiz

Answer: The Lola GT

The Lola GT6, whose chassis and general form were acquired by Ford after a frustrated attempt to purchase Ferrari, was turned into the Ford GT40 in 1965. The "40" stood for its height, and it was a car that pretty much owned every European and American race track it contended on, except Nurburgring, where it ran its first race, and the Targa Florio. Ferrari played second fiddle to the machine for something like three years before the Porsche 908 forced its Mk. IV version into retirement.

Answer: Jim Hall

The Chaparral was a Chevy-powered racer of the early sixties, raced by Jim Hall, that did a lot for the prestige of "Detroit Iron" in professional auto-racing. This was a car that won races hand over fist with small-block Chevrolet V-8s. Jim Hall raced them and eventually hired others to.

Answer: The Sabra

Sabra models were made by Autocars, Ltd., headquartered in Haifa. The fit and finish of the bodies left a lot to be desired. The company was started in the 50s and ceased production somewhat later. Bodies were made of fiberglass.

Answer: Five

The MG-TA, TB, TC, TD and TF were all developed and produced between the beginning of World War II and 1955, the TF being the most elegant of the five models. There apparently was no "TE".

MG, which sprang from the Morris Motor Car Company, was formed in 1924. It became part of Morris Motors, and subsequently BMC and British Leyland. They then, after BL's troubles in the 70s, became part of Jaguar/Rover/Triumph and then the Austin-Rover Group, then MG-Rover.

Answer: The Monza Spyder

Yep! Factory installed and raring to go! The tiny Corvair, which weighed less than just about every domestic model at the time, had the innovative opposed and turbocharged six cylinder engine.

Comparisons were made to Porsche constantly throughout the production run of this unique American import fighter. Near the end of its run as a model, the high-performance 140, 150 and 180hp engines were terminated, and the Corvair gave way to the Camaro, a car that disintegrated before your very eyes.

Answer: no

Nope. For some reason, GM has never seen fit to make the Corvette body out of anything but fiberglass reinforced plastic. This seems to be a theme for GM: Whenever they come out with a "breakthrough" model, such as the Fiero or the Saturn ...one of the main features always seems to be a plastic body.

Aluminum, a new stainless....come on, GM...! Use your imagination! You've only got the resources of the GNPs of most of Northern Europe to work with...!

Answer: The Chrysler and De Soto Airflows

In 1934, Chrysler decided to be daring and introduced two cars that would eventually revolutionize automotive design: The Chrysler and De Soto "Airflow" models. What followed was a marketing disaster of the first water! First year quality control was abysmal, resulting in some gruesome horror stories. The public, also, was not ready for the iconoclastic styling, which would eventually travel all over the automotive industry by the end of the forties. By 1936, the "streamlined look" had pretty much had a major influence on domestic automobiles.

The Airflow debacle, however, proved awfully detrimental for Chrysler Corp. during the bad old days of the Depression, and you had to question their wisdom in producing such a striking new idea during those stringent days to begin with.

Answer: Renault

In a desperate effort to save itself, the smallest of American automotive companies merged with French automaker Regie Renault to produce the Alliance and Encore subcompacts. This was after introducing the AWD Eagle, (essentially rebadged and re-engineered Concords and Spirits/Gremlins,) to keep the public's interest in what it was doing.

Many of AMC's ventures in the 70s were two-edged swords that helped to both keep it alive and to presage its doom: The introduction of the Hornet and Gremlin did well for it, but the introduction of the outrageous Matador coupe, which looked like it was half freehand-drawn rather than drafted (especially the roof) the bad re-styling of the Javelin and the introduction of the quirky Pacer subcompact left the little company more strapped than it probably could recover from on its own. Retooling was supposedly expensive during the 70s, but somehow, AMC managed to do it several times. Majorly.

Supposedly, before it was bought out by Chrysler in 1987, AMC sold fewer cars, company-wide, than Chevrolet sold Corvettes, and the venerable 'Vette has 'always' been a marginal seller for that division! Nonetheless, the company left the market having surprised everybody with how clever they were for such a small company. There were some goofs, (like the restyled Javelin,) and near the end, some major quality control glitches forced it to rely on fleet sales for a semblance of a healthy existence.

Answer: Studebaker

During a time between the late 50s and early 60s, when Mercedes-Benzes looked suspiciously like American Motors' Ramblers, Studebaker-Packard distributed Daimler-Benz automobiles to the American public. This was a time when Benzes had an enviable level of quality control, reliability and fit and finish, something the company is woefully lacking in today.

Answer: The Mercedes Benz SSK

The truly elegant, opulent Mercedes SSK is perhaps the marques most venerated model, more so than the 600 limousine, the 300 SL or the present day SLR supercar. Just one look at this work of art on wheels, developed supposedly by Ferdinand Porsche, the founder of Volkswagen, (though I don't believe it!) and you'll see why. Latter editions of this model, produced from the early 20s to the late 30s, were truly fabulous looking and worthy of the esteem.

The Excalibur Motorcar Company is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and started prducing its retro-models in 1963. It was one of the the first companies of its kind in the last six decades!