DTW wishes you all a very Happy New Year and offers you another opportunity to test out your knowledge of all things automotive. Good luck and no Googling!
The answers will be published in a day or two.
- Find the name of the influential automotive engineer contained in the anagram:
Gin Socialises
- Identify this vehicle:
- Identify the automotive designer and the name given to his best-known style in this anagram:
Mechanics ruffling algebras
- Which manufacturer, having announced a new model numbering scheme for its vehicles, had to revise the scheme after a competitor threatened legal action? Which company threatened to sue?
- What is the number of the occupied car parking space below?
- Identify this car:
- What is an Iltis and what automotive legend did it make possible?
- Which auto maker manufactured an engine nicknamed ‘pancake’ and why was it so-called?
- Wartburg promoted its 353 model, sold as the Knight in the UK, on the basis of its two-stroke engine’s mechanical simplicity. How many moving parts did the engine have and what were they?
- What was the 1980 Dacia 2000 better known as?
- The car brand which uses the strapline “Let’s go there” won’t be going anywhere from 1 January 2021. Why?
- Zany, Bomb, Apex, Zobo. Which is the odd one out?
- Which model names link the following carmakers?
Austin and Buick
Honda and Plymouth
Proton and Toyota
Ford and Hansa
- Only one road vehicle with a V8 engine option has ever been offered by Honda. What was it?
- I hear, I roll, I have spoken. Who are – or were – they?
- Which British Leyland product was launched with the advertising slogan “Anything but average”?
- In which year was the last Ford Corsair built?
- Examples of which distinguished but rare post-WW2 British luxury car were owned by Carmen Miranda, Douglas Bader, Nicholas Parsons, and Prince Philip?
- The 1957-60 Ford Taunus P2 is often cited as an example of which snobbishly ridiculed German decorative style?
- “Big cat, small dog” is a cryptic reference to which currently produced engine?
- The car brands Asüna, Beaumont, Envoy, and Passport were only sold in which country?
- Which car manufacturer used the brand strapline “Isn’t Life Brilliant” from 2017?
- What is wrong with this? (The answer is not “It’s a Fiat”.)
- Who said this of the Rover K series in early 1990: “I just hope they build them to be reliable”?
HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Gerald Palmer
Hugh Montefiore, former Anglican Bishop of Birmingham
Lord Stokes
- What design detail is shared by the Chrysler Avenger and Mercedes-Benz CLC?
Driven To Write 
4. Volvo and Audi
11. Lets go there is Holden. Its going to be put out to pasture.
13. AUstin and plymouth : Cambridge
Toyota and Proton: tiara?
14. Honda legend?
18. Invicta?
19. Baroque
21. Canada! You’ve left out the wonderful names Acadian & Frontenac
25. Hockey stick taillamps?
To which (Andrew) I’ll add:
5. 87
12. Zany
and defer to you on 4. (for which Porsche & Peugeot were my first thought).
I’m still thinking about the rest…
CONTENT WARNING: ANSWERS BELOW
Hi Andrew.
Here you go:
4. Volvo and Audi – Correct
11. Lets go there is Holden. Its going to be put out to pasture. – Correct
13. AUstin and plymouth : Cambridge – Incorrect (you’ve mixed up two pairs)
Toyota and Proton: tiara? – Correct
14. Honda legend? – Incorrect
18. Invicta? – Incorrect
19. Baroque – Incorrect
21. Canada! You’ve left out the wonderful names Acadian & Frontenac – Correct
25. Hockey stick taillamps? – Incorrect
Hi JTC:
For you:
To which (Andrew) I’ll add:
5. 87 – Correct
12. Zany – Incorrect
and defer to you on 4. (for which Porsche & Peugeot were my first thought).
I’m still thinking about the rest… – Andrew is correct (The 901/911 was a single model, Volvo’s proposed scheme covered the complete range.)
7. could be the VW Iltis. This was a 4×4 off-road vehicle developed by Audi for the German armed forces. The vehicle was the basis for the Audi Quattro series.
Good morning, Fred, and Happy New Year. You are correct!
Hello everybody and happy new year,
A few I can add (I hope):
1) Alec Issigonis
2) Lynk&Co 01
4) Indeed Volvo/Audi because of the planned S4, and I have been told by someone from Volvo’s Dutch subsidiary that another problem arose in the chosen nomenclature for the sedans (S) and wagons, the latter originally to have the letter F instead of the eventual V – so originally it would have been S4 and F4 but Audi objected. Then it was to be changed to S40 and F40- waking up Maranello’s law office.
6) First I thought Toyota CH-R but it is the latest/last Lancia Ypsilon I believe.
8) Chevrolet Corvair
10) Renault 20
Oh, and 17) That was in Australia, sometime in the 1990’s if memory serves.
Hi Bruno. Here you go:
1) Alec Issigonis – Correct
2) Lynk&Co 01 – Correct
4) Indeed Volvo/Audi because of the planned S4, and I have been told by someone from Volvo’s Dutch subsidiary that another problem arose in the chosen nomenclature for the sedans (S) and wagons, the latter originally to have the letter F instead of the eventual V – so originally it would have been S4 and F4 but Audi objected. Then it was to be changed to S40 and F40- waking up Maranello’s law office. -Correct
6) First I thought Toyota CH-R but it is the latest/last Lancia Ypsilon I believe. – Correct
8) Chevrolet Corvair – Correct (There is another equally valid answer to this question.)
10) Renault 20 -Correct
17) That was in Australia, sometime in the 1990’s if memory serves. – Correct, but we need the exact year
Excellent work!
14: As the question says ‘road vehicle’ I wonder if it might be a motorbike.
25: Nasty post-facelift capping plates to cover where the rear lights used to go pre-facelift.
Hi Jonathan, here you go:
14: As the question says ‘road vehicle’ I wonder if it might be a motorbike. – Incorrect (much as I like the idea of a V8 engined motorbike, the vehicle in question definitely has four wheels)
25: Nasty post-facelift capping plates to cover where the rear lights used to go pre-facelift. – Correct
To add something new,
7-The legend that made possible the VW Iltis was Ferdinand Piech
13-Honda and Plymouth: the Breeze
14-Honda Passport (the Discovery V8 with Honda badges sold in Japan)
16-Leyland P76
Hi b234r. Here you go:
7-The legend that made possible the VW Iltis was Ferdinand Piech – Incorrect (I’m afraid that you have misread the question.)
13-Honda and Plymouth: the Breeze – Correct (There’s another equally valid answer.)
14-Honda Passport (the Discovery V8 with Honda badges sold in Japan) – Incorrect (You’ve got the right vehicle, but the wrong name for it!)
16-Leyland P76 – Correct!
3. “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles
13a. Austin and Buick – 8
Hi gooddog. Here you go:
3. “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles – Incorrect (Where do I start!!!)
13a. Austin and Buick – 8 – Correct (There’s another equally valid answer.)
Hi gooddog. Regarding Q3. NOW I get it, you’re too clever by half! Well done!
Question 9: Wartburg 353 had 7 moving parts: 3 pistons, 3 con rods and the crankshaft.
Correct!
Alternative answer to question 8: Subaru 1000 from 1966. Not sure about the model, but since this was their first boxer engine, I’m going for this one
Possibly, but I can’t find any reference to its boxer engine as ‘pancake’.
Maybe it’s the Tucker 48, since it’s a flat six like the Corvair
Question 14: Honda Crossroad
Correct!
Question 15: Audi, Volvo. Can’t figure out the last one.
Both correct! (The same train of thought should get you to the third answer!)
It has to be Dixi
Correct!
13 a. Austin and Buick – Somerset
13 b. Honda and Plymouth – Horizon
Both correct, Stumack. Nice work!
Question 23: The same valves (either inlet or exhaust) are open on cylinder number 2 and 3.
Question 13d: 500
Hmm…I’m going to say ‘Incorrect’ because the Ford was a ‘Five Hundred’ not a 500.
Question 3: Chris Bangle – Surface Flaming
Correct!
Happy New Year fellow DTW devotees, and well done Daniel for setting another exceptional brain teaser.
Coming to this one rather late again, so most of the answers I knew have already been given. I don’t think Questions 16-18 have been correctly resolved as yet though, so here goes:
Q16: BL’s Princess 2
Q17: 1992 by Ford/Nissan Australia, a badge-engineered Nissan Pintara from Down Under
Q18: Lagonda
Hi Djetset. Thank you for your kind words, although most of the questions in this edition were set by Robertas. Regarding your answers:
Q16: BL’s Princess 2 – Incorrect (but I can see why you might have thought so from the advertisement below)
Q17: 1992 by Ford/Nissan Australia, a badge-engineered Nissan Pintara from Down Under – Correct
Q18: Lagonda – Incorrect
7. Having owned two Audi Quattros, the Iltis connection to the first one was well-known to me. It was mentioned over and over again upon the ur quattro’s introduction. Too bad AMC was far ahead with the Eagle and its viscous limited slip element about the centre differential introduced in 1977, but nobody remembered nor cared, including me, because AMC never tooted their own horn effectively at all on the matter, just on the Eagle perched high enough to straddle snowdrifts no sweat. Chrysler’s then New Process Gear Division was the designer and manufacturer of the AWD transfer case and centre-diff assembly.
8. The answer is the Corvair flat six. Whoever nicknamed it pancake (and it stuck) had no idea what a pancake engine actually is, confusing flat with pancakes which to be decent are a stack at least two thick.
9. The Wartburg had 7 moving parts, 3 pistons, three connecting rods and a crankshaft, just like the DKW and Saab 3 cylinder two-stroke engines, and probably many outboard engines if you discount reed valves on Evinrudes and Johnsons.
15. I have owned an “I roll” and several “I hear”s, but the “I have spoken” must have been a quiet one.
21. Canada. Honda and isuzu have sold Passports all over the place, though. Not just that lot you list, but all Meteors for decades were a Canada-only purchase, being Ford full-size derivatives sold at Mercury dealers. Meteor Montcalm was a good one. Then you have Frontenac, Acadian, Envoy Epic (Viva HA, HB), the HC was renamed Firenza after a bit because the engines blew up and rebranding was needed upon supposed rectification during the class-action lawsuit. Astre was a Canada only Pontiac version of the Vega, until GM started to sell them from US Pontiac dealers later. Fargo pickup trucks were Dodges at Plymouth dealers.
It was all to do with dealer franchising laws. If Chevrolet had a car model for its dealers, then Pontiac had to have the same one lightly disguised at their dealers. Corvair was the exception. Chevy dealers sold Buicks. Pontiac dealers sold Oldsmobiles. Same sort of deal with Ford and Mercury, but the Meteors totally diluted the true Mercury sales. Dodge and Plymouth sold a mutant Valiant at both Canadian dealerships that was unlike any US model, using the front of the Valiant and the rear of the Dodge Dart . Not only that, engines were different sometimes in all three companies from US issue because Canada then had its own foundries prior to 1965. No Canadian really cared about any of it, it was all part of the background noise. The Asuna was a bit much though — a work colleague had one because he could get it for less than the Impulse at the other dealer.
23. The engine as illustrated actually has five main bearings and does not have fully siamesed cylinders; only one and two then three and four are siamesed.
Having had a dekko at some answers, seeing how the first quiz went afterwards, I see I knew enough of the other questions to get a just passing grade including the Lancia upon which DTW has lavished much attention, and GM’s retreating into its shell from every market it can’t wrest a high profit margin from, like Australia following Europe, then Thailand and India. GM is now not an up and at ’em company any more.
My suggestion for next time, if there is one, is that the authors do not confirm or deny answers prematurely but allow Googling, because that’ll happen regardless I think.
On a beautiful day preceding a snowstorm, I couldn’t get into the word and number puzzles at all! Good fun though and many thanks for the effort put into these two quizzes by Robertas and Daniel. Above and beyond, and indeed unique.
Hi Bill. Thank you for your (very expansive!) answers. Here goes:
Q7, Q8 and Q9 – correct.
Q15 – I’m sure you know two of the answers, but you haven’t actually given them!
Q21 – Correct.
Q23 – Correct, I think,but I’ll leave Robertas to confirm as it’s one of his questions and I wouldn’t know a siamised cylinder from a tin of pilchards.
Regarding people using Google the answers, doesn’t that rather defeat the fun aspect of the quiz? Anyway, Happy New Year to you!
Q23 – is it that 2 pistons are in exactly the same position?
Nope, but it’s one of Robertas’ questions and rest assured that I wouldn’t have been able to answer it either!
Oh, silly me! Q18 should be Alvis.
Which one?
An Alvis TD21 (Drophead, of which Prince Philip’s example had a uniquely taller windscreen and folding roof for additional headroom and forward visibility)
Correct!
The questions not yet answered correctly/fully are nos. 12, 13, 16, 19, 20, 22, 24.
To help keep this rolling along, some more possible partial answers, where known:
Q12: Car project development code names; Zany ??, Bomb = Triumph Spitfire, Apex = Hillman Imp, Zobo = Triumph Herald
Q13: Honda and Plymouth: Breeze
Q15: I have spoken: Dixi in Latin
Q16: Leyland P76
Q22: Vauxhall
Thanks everybody for your answers so far, and to Daniel for moderating.
Q13. Numbers such as ‘8 ‘and ‘500’ are too generic.
Congratulations to Stumack for coming up with Honda and Plymouth Breezes which is a correct answer, although Horizon was the one I had in mind. The Honda one is a rebadged Isuzu Trooper.
Still no correct answer to the Ford and Hansa question.
Q16. b234r is correct – it’s the Leyland P76.
Q18. Alvis 3 Litre was what I’m looking for. The famous owners had different variants, some of them had more than one.
Q21. I’ve now discovered that the Beaumont was sold in Puerto Rico, Chile, and South Africa. Psalms 51:3.
Q23. Bill is correct. The long section drawing clearly shows five main bearings and the block has a water passage between cylinders two and three. Only one and two, then three and four are siamesed.
These are the things I was looking for, but there is one other statement in the caption which is questionable. The illustration and description comes from “Motor” of 19 March 1977, which may or may not help.
Good luck with 12, 13 (part 4), 15 (part 3), 19, 20, 22, and 24.
From which we can remove Q22 and Q15. Djetset is correct with both Dixi and Vauxhall.
Well, I beat Djetset by a couple of hours by about two hours
13 d. Ford and Hansa – Merkur.
Question 19: Barock has been suggested a couple of times here, but ‘Gelsenkirchener Barock’ seems to be the complete term used for the Taunus P2.
Which is the right answer to Q19.
As for 13d, the Hansa Merkur was a truck, and for Ford, Merkur was a sub-brand.
There have not been many attempts at number 24. Let’s try Hugh Montefiore. He would have been in roughly the right place at roughly the right time!
Hi Jeremy. Sadly, not!
I couldn’t get any of these (well, I knew Audi and Volvo, and /should/ have thought of Dixi) but I’m entranced by seeing Carmen Miranda and Douglas Bader in the same sentence!
18 was my favourite question too – I was still trying to make my mind up between Alvis and Lagonda 3-litre when the right answer appeared. But I have a feeling that the Mountbatten boy might well be the right answer to 24? It’s just the sort of comment he would make….
hi
2. Lynk&co 02
4. Peugeot / Porsche
5. 87
6. Toyota Ch-R
7. VW Thing
8. Subaru flat four?
11. Holden, “retired” (sadly)
12. Zobo
16. Leyland P76
17. 1992 by Ford Aust (actually built by Nissan Aust who closed the factory)
18. Daimler Double Six?
21. Canada
22. Honda?
23. never built, or it was sold to the USSR / Lada
24. Lord Stokes
25. RWD?