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Trivia thread

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2M views 17K replies 198 participants last post by  boothboy 
#1 ·
We started a trivia thread over at another forum and it has been a lot of fun.

Here are the ground rules. It starts with one question. The first reply with the right answer gets the floor for a new question. It continues like that unless, A) the person who has the floor doesn't ask a new question, or B) no one gets the correct answer. In that case, the person with the floor asks a new question. No more than one question on the floor at a time, and discussion/clarification is welcome until the floor is taken over by a new question.

See this thread for an example of how it goes: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/trivia/1454/page1/

First question: In the 1952 Indy 500, what type of fuel was burned in the record-setting pole-position #28 car? Hint: it won pole position by a full 4 mph over the second-place Ferrari
 
#527 ·
Joe G said:
Sometimes I wonder about Wikipedia......


Thanks for the insight, Brian. Steering geometry is a complicated subject, and I still have a lot to learn about it. :thumbup:


..............................................................................................
Next question:

When disconnecting a battery on a vehicle with a negative ground electrical system, Why is it safer to disconnect the negative battery cable first and re-connect it last?
To avoid a short from the hot post to any surrounding metal. If you take the negative off first you don't have to worry about bumping the wrench to the fire wall or core support or anything else when you remove the cable off the positive post.
 
#529 ·
Chris Kemp said:
I learned about Ackerman many years ago fooling around with dirt cars. It can actually cause the inside tire to drag when the car is going through a turn. So I learned to heat the steering knuckle up and reshape them to remove Ackerman. Sounds crazy but it worked great. It was introduced so that the front tires would not squeal when you were making a tight slow turn on an asphalt parking lot. You guys amaze me.
That's kinda like custom paint, taking a screwup to work for you! It adds drag, makes sense to do that to the inside wheel to "pull it" into and thru the corners.

Brian
 
#531 · (Edited)
MARTINSR said:
That's kinda like custom paint, taking a screwup to work for you! It adds drag, makes sense to do that to the inside wheel to "pull it" into and thru the corners.

Brian
Actually you did not want it to drag because that could make the car have over steer or be considered loose in the rear end. We would heat the knuckles and reshape them to remove Ackerman so that the front end would roll through the turns. We would shift the added weight, adjust the springs or change the rear geometry to tighten or loosen the car in the turns.

But yeah you're right about screw ups in paint becoming custom paint. Two that I can think of are cob-webbing and the bowling ball, you can probably come up with more.
 
#532 ·
Chris Kemp said:
In this picture we have a car with an unusual type of doors.
What was the name that was originally given to them?
Who was the automobile designer that created them?
What car and car manufacture were they first installed on?
And what year was it?

Again, the multiple questions! Which one gets me the brownie button?

1. Beetle wings?
2. Marcello Gandini
3. Lamborghini Carabo
4. 1966

This is all out of a Lamborghini Countach book I have. It doesn't say they were the first, but I am thinking that they were.

Brian
 
#533 · (Edited)
MARTINSR said:
Again, the multiple questions! Which one gets me the brownie button?

1. Beetle wings?
2. Marcello Gandini
3. Lamborghini Carabo
4. 1966

This is all out of a Lamborghini Countach book I have. It doesn't say they were the first, but I am thinking that they were.

Brian
We may have mixed info. But thats ok cause you got the designer right and you didn't say the obvious which would have been "Lambo doors, Lamborghini Countach".
According to Wiki you got the name of the car but the manufacture was Alfa Romeo Carabo Concept: http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/2287/Alfa-Romeo-Carabo-Concept.html Be sure to check out the images because it sure was a wicked looking thing!

Wiki calls these doors: Scissor doors, beetle-wing doors, jack-knife doors, and switchblade doors. Check it out, a very interesting read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scissor_doors

Brian you now have the floor!
 
#534 ·
I guess he was working for Bertone at the time and in my book they put a few Lambos and the Carabo in the same sentence only saying "Alfa Romeo chassis". That's funny because I know that car very well from a "Dream car" book I have had for years but I didn't know the name of it. It is striking isn't it?

You know how much I love Small block Chevys :D, what is regarded by many as the very first small block chevy engine swap?

Brian
 
#535 · (Edited)
Dream Truck

The "Dream Truck" the creation of the persistent leadership of Spencer Murray the first editor of Rod & Custom magazine was the first vehicle to receive a documented small-block Chevy engine swap. The project started with custom modifications, performed by a who's who of customizers, on a factory-fresh 1954 Chevy truck cab. Sam Gates chopped the top 3-3/8 inches and sectioned the body 5-1/3 inches. Neil Emory and Clay Jensen of Valley Custom finished the chop and sectioning work, and hand-formed the beautiful dashboard. Curly Davis finished the dashboard, integrated it into the door design, and widened the rear window. After Gene Winfield radiused the front-wheel cutouts and sectioned the hood, Barris Kustom added quad headlights, scoops to the roof and hood, and front and rear grille openings formed by molding together '54 Stude�baker front pans. Bob Hirohata added the clear front and translucent red rear turn-signal lights. Later, Bob Metz formed the wild scratch-built canted fins. Each of these craftsmen proved integral in the development of the truck.

I know all of this because I helped on the restoration of it in 1980.
Here's an old picture of it that I scanned into the computer.
 

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#536 ·
Chris Kemp said:
I know all of this because I helped on the restoration of it in 1980.
Here's an old picture of it that I scanned into the computer.
Very cool, and right on the money! My brother rebuilt the carbs on it during that rebuild. That truck meant a lot to me, being I have one. I got it when I was 15 and chopped the top four months into my 16th year using the "little pages" article on chopping the Dream Truck. When that truck was first shown after the rebuilt at the SF Roadster show I was so excited to see it and took a number of photos.

It is a work of art.

It is your floor Chris!

Brian
 
#537 ·
Brian, I was just yanking your chain so to speak about having worked on the restoration of it. I wasn't there LOL. I wasn't born until 1957 but I do remember seeing pictures of it from old magazines in the sixties. But I was not aware that it was the first documented sbc swap and thanks for that info. A couple of weeks ago I had read an old post that you had put up about it and today I did a search on it. I found a good web site about it, snipped a picture and then made it look old and faded in photoshop LOL. Check the link out good reading: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/dream-truck-custom-car.htm

I have to get ready for work so give me a couple of hours and when I get everything under control at the shop, I will up-load another question.
 
#541 ·
First successful exhibition driver

OK here's one:

An exhibition driver is a type of driver that is used by race track promoters to draw more spectators during a racing event. What drag racing king of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s thru the unforeseen characteristic of a newly designed drag car became the exhibition king of the late 1960’s, 1970’s and early 1980’s? What was his birth name, his show name, the name of the car that he did the exhibition driving in and the special characteristics of that car?
 
#542 ·
1. Bill Golden
2. "Maverick"
3. "Little Red Wagon"
4.


There could be a number of others I assume, but I this was the first that popped into my head. I had to do a search for his real name though. :)

Brian
 
#543 · (Edited)
Bill Golden is his real name. It was a strange twist that took place while testing the factory built Lil Red Wagon. They found out that they couldn't keep the front end on the ground. It turned out to be real attraction and crowd pleaser so he went from professional drag racer to professional exhibition driver and the rest is history.

You now have the floor.
 
#544 ·
Keeping on the same subject of drag exibition cars……. :D

What has been called the most successful exhibition car in drag racing? It went thru a number of owners running for years! It’s first owner was reported to have said that the front tires was all he wore out!

Bonus question, what was the owner/builders nick name and why?

Brian
 
#545 ·
Chris Kemp said:
Bill Golden is his real name. It was a strange twist that took place while testing the factory built Lil Red Wagon. They found out that they couldn't keep the front end on the ground. It turned out to be real attraction and crowd pleaser so he went from professional drag racer to professional exhibition driver and the rest is history.

You now have the floor.
I didn't know that the truck wasn't originally built to be a wheelie puller! Very cool story.

Brian
 
#547 ·
MARTINSR said:
Keeping on the same subject of drag exibition cars……. :D

What has been called the most successful exhibition car in drag racing? It went thru a number of owners running for years! It’s first owner was reported to have said that the front tires was all he wore out!

Bonus question, what was the owner/builders nick name and why?

Brian
Tommy Ivo's "Showboat"

 
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