Autocar's 2021 Christmas quiz

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5 mins read

25 December 2021

We've been busy in the office compiling some of the most obscure bits of car trivia we can remember and turning them into a fifty-question quiz. If you want to see how many you got right, or if you want to simply cheat, the answers can be found after each round of ten questions.

Questions

01) BMW's Dingolfing factory was originally the HQ of which now-defunct manufacturer?

02) Which is the only other make other than Mercedes to have offered AMG-badged models?

03) Why is the emblem of Abarth a scorpion?

04) When was the 'priority to the right' rule for roundabouts introduced in the UK?

05) Who was the first British driver to win a grand prix?

06) Who had an agreement to save Sunbeam from liquidation but was beaten to it by Rootes?

07) At launch, how much was the leather interior on a Polestar 2?

08) Where is the highest paved road in Europe?

09) What was the original chassis numbering system for the Jaguar D-Type?

10) Which Bentley "Blower" was the only one to win a race in period?

Answers 1) Glas 2) Mitsubishi 3) Founder Carlo Abarth’s zodiac sign was Scorpio 4) 1966 5) Dario Resta for Peugeot in the 1916 American Grand Prix. Half-points for Selwyn Francis Edge, who won the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup (kind of a GP); and Charles Rolls, who won the 1906 Tourist Trophy (widely accepted as the first GP season) 6) Jaguar (then known as SS Cars) 7) £4000 8) Sierra Nevada mountains 9) XKC 401 - XKC 405, XKD 406 0) Chassis UU 5871 - the Birkin Single-Seater

11) Where and in what year did TIm Birkin record his only crash in a Bentley?

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12) What was the first car in the line of fast, four-wheel-drive, special performance Volkswagen Golf hatchbacks that lead to the R?

13) What was the first body component designed by ex-Jaguar design boss Ian Callum, and what vehicle was it for?

14) The Ferrari SF90 Stradale became the first car to go under five seconds from rest to 100mph in an Autocar road test this year. Only one other car has ever come close. What was it, and exactly how close did it come?

15) How many cars was Nicholas Cage tasked with stealing in Gone In 60 Seconds?

16) What was the Aston Martin Victor’s development code name?

17) Out of 28 cars built, how many McLaren F1 GTRs were never raced in period?

18) What was the name of Penelope Pitstop’s car in Wacky Races?

19) How did the underweight Porsche 935 “Baby” meet the DRM championship’s minimum weight requirements without alerting its competitors to its lightness?

20) What was the first Ferrari road car to feature independent rear suspension?

Answers 11) 1930 TT at Ards 12) VW Rallye Golf 13) Door mirror for 1986 Ford Transit mkII 14) Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, 5.0sec 15) Fifty 16) Muncher 17) Two 18) The Compact Pussycat 19) The hollow aluminium chassis was filled with molten lead 20) Ferrari 275 series

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21) Which American importer was responsible for the creation of the Mercedes 300SL, BMW 507 and Porsche 356 Speedster?

22) What are the only parts of the new Ruf CTR to be sourced from Porsche?

23) Steve McQueen drove a Ford Mustang through San Francisco in Bullitt - but what car was chasing him?

24) What car does the Lamborghini Huracan Performante’s bronze engine cover pay tribute to?

25) Which Japanese brand actually developed the Toyota 88C Group C car?

26) What is the only car to be legally recognised as art in Italy?

27) Why does the McLaren P1 have a metal rear number plate?

28) What car was the star of 1998 French action comedy Taxi?

29) What prize did the winners of the first two rounds of the Jaguar XJR-15-only Intercontinental Challenge receive?

30) How many times has Aston Martin gone bankrupt?

Answers 21) Max Hoffman 22) The windscreen and the door glass 23) Dodge Charger 24) Lamborghini Diablo SE30 25) Dome 26) Ferrari 250 GTO 27) Plastic ones are melted by the heat 28) Peugeot 406 29) A JaguarSport XJR-S 30) Seven

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31) Mad Max drove “The Interceptor” - but what make of car was it really?

32) How many Porsche 930s were finished in Olive Green?

33) In Marvel’s Iron Man and Avengers films, Tony Stark was most often seen driving which German firm’s cars?

34) Before he was Bond, Roger Moore was The Saint. What car did he drive?

35) What does the “C” in the McLaren MP4-12C’s name stand for?

36) Which sci-fi action film threequel holds the record for most cars destroyed during production?

37) Who is the only F1 driver to fall into a river during a race?

38) True or False: Vin Diesel has appeared in every Fast and Furious movie to date

39) What was the first mid-engined production road car?

40) A 1986 Fleetwood Bounder RV and Pontiac Aztec were the unlikely star cars of which TV drama?

Answers 31) 1974 Ford Falcon XB GT 32) Two 33) Audi 34) Volvo P1800 35) Carbon fibre 36) Transformers: Dark of the Moon, 532 cars destroyed 37) Pedro de la Rosa 38) False 39) Matra Djet 40) Breaking Bad

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41) What were three badge engineered electric city cars produced by Peugeot, Citroen and Mitsubishi a decade ago called?

42) Carlos Ghosn currently resides in which country after escaping Japan in a box last Christmas?

43) Which city did Munich take over the hosting of the biennial IAA motor show from this year?

44) Ineos will build its new Ineos Grenadier 4x4 in which car factory?

45) In what year did Formula 1's V10 engine era end?

46) Which cars are currently made in Jaguar's Castle Bromwich factory?

47) Jaguar Land Rover's CEO Thierry Bollore was head of which car company in his most recent position before JLR?

48) Which of these cars was not produced with a manual gearbox? 2nd-generation Porsche Cayenne, VW Phaeton, F12 BMW M6, Bentley S1 (1950s), D3 Audi A8, current-generation Mercedes-Benz E-Class

49) Which driving technique is called ’talon-pointe’ in French?

50) The TVR Chimaera shares its rear lights with which car?

Answers 41) iOn, C-Zero and iMiev 42) Lebanon 43) Frankfurt 44) Smart's Hambach facility in France 45) 2005 46) XE, XF and F-Type 47) Renault 48) Audi A8 D3 49) Heel-and-toe 50) Ford Fiesta