E N D L E S S R O A D
Road Chatter XLI Historic Savage Mill
8600 Foundry Street Savage, MD 20763 Shop: 301-497-0369 FAX: 301-497-3690 snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
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- Car Trivia Questions
- Give Away
- Formula 1
- Bits and Pieces
- Car Trivia Answers
- 10% Off Purchases For Your Trivia Questions
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Car Trivia (answers are later in this email)
1) The first speed limit was established in England in 1903. How fast was it?
2) We haven't had a Henry Ford question lately. Thanks to our friend, Jeff, we have a new one. In the early days of the automobile, the four-cylinder engine was the common choice of most manufacturers. However, some up-market manufacturers opted for the more complex six-cylinder. Even Henry Ford had a brief flirtation with the bigger engine but rather quickly went back to the four. What technical explanation did Henry give for this decision?
3) The Jeep is a true American creation, known the world over, a major force in our halting Germany in its campaign to take over the world. It was declared by General George C. Marshal as "America's greatest contribution to modern warfare." It is elegant in its purposeful simplicity and has earned its place in history and in the hearts of Americans. When the US Army put out a request for a lightweight military machine, Bantam Automobile Company responded. The Jeep was conceived, and a prototype was produced in 49 days. But, who owns Jeep?
4) What fabric was used on car seats for the first time in the 1973 Gremlin?
5) There is a cab driver that was instrumental in Michael Schumacher getting his start in Formula One. Care to make a guess how?
--- Retreads --- These next three questions are from over two years ago. If you remember them from before, consider this a memory test.
6) What car was the inspiration for the first Corvette body style?
7) There was the Corbin Sparrow, that three-wheeled wonder that folded in
2003. Maybe you saw Jay Leno driving his on Speed Channel. There was also Morgan's original car, a three-wheeler. And, the British Riley had a three-wheeler, but not for long. But, all these were two wheels in the front and one in the back. The vehicle considered to be the first car ever was the
1886 Benz three-wheeler, with one wheel in the front and two in the back. Why did Mr. Benz decide to make his car in that layout?
8) Dan Gurney has appeared in three movies. Can you name them?
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- Give Away
Our regulars know that last month, we were giving away a $30 Gift Certificate from Endless Road. We are happy to say the winner was our friend and customer, Julianne. Nice to have a lady Car Guy.
Again this month, for every purchase our regular Road Chatter recipients make, we will put their names in our drawing, and the person whose name is drawn will receive a $30 Gift Certificate from Endless Road.
Good Luck.
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Formula 1
In our last Chatter, we spoke of the possibility of a new team, Super Aguri. The team has been unanimously accepted by the other teams, a necessity for entry into F1 (That and an obscene amount of money). This will make 11 teams, the first time since Arrows dropped out in 2002. They have not yet named their drivers, but Takuma Sato is the assumed number one driver. A larger field will add to the interest in the races, much needed right now.
2006 Schedule
March 12 Bahrain March 19 Malaysia April 2 Australia April 23 San Marino May 7 Nurburgring May 14 Barcelona May 28 Monaco June 11 Great Britain June 25 Montreal July 2 Indianapolis July 16 France July 30 Germany August 6 Hungary August 27 Turkey Sept. 10 Italy Sept. 17 Belgium Oct. 1 China Oct. 8 Japan Oct. 22 Brazil
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- Bits and Pieces
Racing has lost a great man.
Keith Duckworth was half of the Cosworth Engineering team that brought competitive engines to so many corners of our Car-Guy world. Some of those to benefit from Cosworth are: Ford DFV (double four-valve) F1 engine, Champ Cars, Ford Focus SVT, Audi, Aston Martin's V12 engines, and scores of other F1 teams. And who could forget the Cosworth Vega?
Duckworth met Mike Costin while they were both working for Lotus. They founded Cosworth in 1958 in Shaftsbury Mews, London, England. The creation of their DFV F1 engine, personally designed by Duckworth, put Cosworth on the map. The engine won its first race in 1967. And, versions of that engine went on to win 155 Grands Prix races. Their DFX engine, a stroked version of their DFV, scored ten Indy 500 wins and ten open-wheel championship titles.
A few quotes by Mr. Duckworth show that he was a guy we would love to share a few pints with:
"We thought it must be possible to make an interesting living messing about with racing cars and engines." "In engineering there is an answer to everything. It's just that we're usually too ignorant or too dim to see it." "Turbochargers are for people who can't build engines," he allegedly said in the early 80's.
Mr. Duckworth passed away December 18 at the age of 72. Our sport is so much the better from his involvement.
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Don't get rid of your VHS machines; there are many great racing videos that are available on VCR tape and not scheduled to be put on DVD.
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The last few months, we have had a MY FAVORITE CAR story here. They were well received, and we want to continue. If you have fond memories of one of your fine machines and want to tell about it, send us your story, and, if we use it, you will have your pick of any one item we have on our web.
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This isn't a FAVORITE CAR story, but our friend, Warren, sent this and we liked it.
It was early October of 1960, and my dad, mom and I were returning home from an early Sunday morning church service and crossing a very narrow and curved bridge. My dad was driving his new bright red 1960 Impala convertible with the top down. My mom was in the middle, and I was on the right (what seat belts?). Just as we were crossing the bridge, a flat bed 18-wheeler was approaching from the opposite direction, loaded with 3-inch by 20-foot steel pipes. Apparently, the pipes had worked themselves loose. As we were side-by-side, one of the pipes rolled off and struck the top of the left front fender of the Impala, with such a horrific 'bang' we all thought we were dead. It then careened upwards and through the windshield, leaving an oval hole in the windshield three inches wide and six inches high. The pipe then somersaulted over the top of the car. With glass fragments everywhere, my dad quickly stopped the car on the shoulder of the road. We were surprised to see we were all ok. The truck driver continued on his way.
I jumped into the car driving behind the truck (a Studebaker if my memory serves me), we caught up with the truck driver and told him what had just happened. He said he was not responsible and was not going back. I then informed him that I already had his tag number, so that was his decision. The truck driver did return and was later charged with two violations.
Upon closer examination, it was with great shock to learn that when the pipe came through the windshield of the Impala, it had actually 'caught' on the edge of the center of the steering wheel before it flipped over the car. When the Impala was repaired, we learned that even the steering column was bent! By barely a fraction of an inch, my dad's life was definitely spared from being impaled by the 20-foot pipe.
My dad passed away in 1996, and, at the funeral, my best friend said to me, "You know, I think he got an extra 36 years of life," and I knew exactly what he was referring to. I often look at those pictures of the car and still wonder how he survived.
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Every Car Guy loves a good Car Chase movie, and we all have our opinion of the 'Best'.
We compared quite a few TEN BEST CAR CHASE MOVIE LISTS from various web sites and came up with the following ten movies that appeared on the most lists:
Bullitt (appeared on every list!)
Gone in 60 Seconds I
French Connection
Ronin
Gone in 60 Seconds II
Smokey and the Bandit
Vanishing Point
The Fast and The Furious
Thunder Road
Cannonball Run
Those are the ten that appeared the most. But, there are some great movies that hardly got listed at all. For example, the two Italian Job movies only appeared on two lists each. On our web-site
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Two of our favorite license tags this month:
Miata driver that knows what a sports car is for: SUNLIT
A VW for a true Beetles fan: WHNIM64
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Car Trivia Answers
1) The first posted speed limit was 20 Miles Per Hour.
(Thanks to our friend, Tim P, the Webmaster for Maryland Automobile Modelers Association, MAMA
2) Henry's excuse for not keeping a four-cylinder in his line-up was, in all his wisdom, "a car does not need any more cylinders than a cow has teats."
(From The V12 Engine by Karl Ludvigsen, thanks for our friend, Jeff for this.)
3) Bantam could not produce enough Jeeps to meet the US Army's demands. Ford and Willys-Overland produced the great majority of the originals. Willys ended up with the Jeep name. Willys merged with Kaiser in 1953, which, two years later, moved to Argentina. The Jeep line ended up in American Motors, which was bought by the French company, Renault. Renault sold it all to Chrysler. Chrysler has been taken over by the German company, Daimler. Germany owns Jeep.
4) In 1973, AMCs Gremlin was the first to cover their seats in Denim. And, to my recollection, it was the last time it was used.
5) In 1995, team owner Eddie Jordan's driver, Bertrand Gachot, got in a fight with a cab driver and was locked up. Jordan needed a driver and took Schumacher.
(Thank to our friend, Jeff, for this.)
--- Retreads ---
6) The inspiration for the first Corvette body style was the Cisitalia 202 of 1947, one of which is in the permanent collection of the MOMA in New York. This is not officially documented but is Dave McLellan's opinion, for which he makes a good case.
(From 'Corvette From The Inside' by Dave McLellan, Corvette chief engineer. Thanks again to our friend, Jeff M.)
7) Mr. Benz made his first car with a single wheel in front because he could not figure out how to turn two front wheels.
(Thanks to Car and Driver's 'Car a Day' calendar. Hey, I gotta get these questions where-ever I can find them!)
8) What three movies did Dan Gurney appear in? To Quote the All American Racer's web site: Gurney has appeared in such motor racing films as 'Winning', 'A Man and a Woman', and 'Grand Prix'. His win of the 'Cannonball Run' across the United States in 1971 inspired his friend and co-pilot, Brock Yates, to write the screenplay for the 'Cannonball' movies.
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10% Off Purchases For Your Trivia Questions
To Tim P and Jeff, thanks for the trivia questions. Remember, you two will each receive 10% discounts on your next order.
Send us an interesting fact on just about anything on wheels: cars, trucks, F1, Drags, Muscle Cars, weird obsolete car thingies, whatever, and, if we use it, then you get 10% off all purchases on everything on your next order.
*** Thanks, Dave Payne