A quiz on automobiles

Smooth ride

1. The three cars that dominated Indian roads till the arrival of the Maruti 800 were the Ambassador, the Premier Padmini and the Standard Herald. If the Ambassador was a Morris design and the Premier derived from the Fiat 1100, which manufacturer, better known today for motorcycles, originally manufactured the Herald?

2. James Bond has had many cars, but perhaps the most iconic is the machine-gun equipped vehicle that first debuted in

Goldfinger and sold for a staggering $4.6 million in an auction in 2010. Name the manufacturer.

3. According to a study done by

Business Week in 2004, the sales of a particular car increased 22 per cent over the previous year with the release of an action film, a remake of a 1969 classic. Name the film or the car.

4. Which car manufacturer’s name honours the great French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, who founded Detroit, Michigan in 1701?

5. Which is the only model of car currently orbiting the sun as a satellite?

6. Many cars have had huge production numbers, but in 1916, 55 per cent of all cars manufactured in the world were the same model, a number unlikely to ever be equalled. What was the car?

7. With patent number 743,801, what was invented by Mary Anderson after being inspired during a visit to New York in 1902?

8. In which manufacturer’s logo will you see the name of a city, the former capital of Württemberg?

9. Which was the first car manufactured in India to be exported around the world? This vehicle was primarily exported to Europe and Africa between 1994 and 2004.

10. Which part of a modern car gets its name from the piece of wood attached to the front of a horse-drawn carriage that prevented mud from splattering on the carriage driver?

Answers

1. Triumph Motors in the UK.

2. Aston Martin. It was the DB5 model.

3. The Italian Job , the Mini Cooper.

4. Cadillac, his title was Sieur de Cadillac.

5. The Tesla Roadster, sent up by Elon Musk as the payload for the test flight of the Falcon rocket. ‘Starman’, a mannequin, occupies the driver’s seat.

6. The Ford Model T, the first car to be produced on an assembly line.

7. The windshield wiper. She noticed that the streetcar drivers had to keep getting off and cleaning the windshield during a snowfall.

8. Porsche, the city is Stuttgart, and the logo is based on the coat of arms.

9. The Maruti Zen, based on the Suzuki Cervo.

10. The dashboard.

 

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster;

Twitter: @joybhattacharj