OK, You Lead-Footed Car Buffs, Let’s See You Race to the Mailbox
Car shows are to the design and selling of automobiles precisely what Paris unveilings are to haute couture. Both set world vogues, display the latest wares and measure public wants while poking around corners into our futures.
Car racing is a similar crucible. Next to climbing Mt. Everest in a T-shirt and sneakers, it represents the ultimate in fatal competition. Yet, racing also is a laboratory of performance and safety, mechanical efficiency and automotive technology. Disc brakes, fuel injection, carbon-fiber bodies, turbochargers, crumple zones, traction controls and engine-management systems were birthed on circuits at Indianapolis and Goodwood long before they became routine equipment on cars on the streets of San Francisco and Dallas.
But how both arenas have changed.
At the turn of the century, there were no barricades and only an arm’s length separated spectators from race cars running at 100 mph. At finish lines, fans were hosed off the track to make sure they lived to cheer a winner.
Now some Formula 1 drivers earn $20 million a year, motor racing in all its forms is the world’s most popular spectator sport, and 250-mph cars must be heavily governed to prevent them becoming airborne.
Car shows have evolved just as dramatically.
At the turn of the century they were all-industry affairs and social events called “salons.” Henry Ford and Walter Chrysler and the Vanderbilts attended in tuxedos, drank champagne and ate caviar. Chauffeurs of this carriage trade attended on preview days because they, after all, determined their masters’ choices from Duesenberg, Cadillac, Bugatti and Packard.
Now the industry is global, and so are its shows: Tokyo, Detroit, Frankfurt, Geneva and London. Millions of ordinary people cram these perennials, and car builders spend tens of millions of dollars on these annual product promotions. Especially on creating show and concept cars that quietly form show goers into an international focus group for future vehicles.
This month’s quiz focuses on both events: auto shows as our hidden persuaders and car races exposing us to gladiators who make us wonder if we could have been.
Rules are the same. Grading is on the honor system, with 10 points for each correct answer. Score 60 to 50, and you probably emerge from an auto show with 65 pounds of brochures to be added to the 4 tons already in your garage; 40 to 30 points, and you know that Michael Andretti is not a pasta heir; 30 or lower, and you probably think going to Le Mans means a course in natural childbirth.
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1. One of the nation’s first automobile salons was held in 1904 in New York. Exactly where?
2. At this month’s Geneva International Motor Show, Ferrari unveiled the successor to its F355 sports car. Ferrari typically titles its cars for engine size and a city important to its heritage. What is the designation of the new car?
3. In 1955, Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes-Benz 300SLR crashed into the crowd at Le Mans, killing more than 80 spectators. What was the immediate result of the tragedy?
4. The hit of General Motors’ Motorama 1953 was a show car that bulged in the front, had chicken wire over its grille and headlights and featured taillights on stalks. Experts later said that never has a design gone from prototype to production with so few changes. What was this breakthrough car?
5. An American dream car that didn’t make it was a 1953 Dodge Storm Z-250 with wild Italian styling by Bertone. Where is it?
6. By this time next year, there will be a new racetrack inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the fabled Brickyard and dowager home of the Indy 500. What form of racing will be at this new circuit?
And here’s the contest:
Please, no responses by e-mail, fax, FedEx, empty wine bottle or carrier pigeon. Snail mail only please, to keep Uncle Samuel in the communications business. Address responses to: Highway 1 Quiz, P.O. Box 7702, Burbank, CA 91501-7702.
Entries are due by July 8. Highway 1 commuter mugs go to the first 25 readers who mail correct answers. And don’t dally: Our most recent quiz prompted 300-plus entries, 297 of which were correct. You do not have to be 18 or older to enter, nor purchase a subscription to Teen Idols. Multiple answers, air-mail postcards and entries in crayon will be declared null and spoiled. Requests to have your prize delivered by Ed McMahon will be ignored.
OK, all you automotive Mensa wannabes:
At this year’s Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, there were predictions of home runs for this truck. And when the Lincoln Blackwood sport-utility concept drove onto the dais, a real heavy hitter emerged. Who? We’ll reveal the answer next month.
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Answers and entry blank for bonus question appear on W6.
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Quiz Answers (From W6)
1. Top floor of Macy’s.
2. F360 Modena.
3. Mercedes withdrew from racing.
4. Chevrolet Corvette.
5. In Los Angeles, at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
6. Formula 1 racing.
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Paul Dean can be reached via e-mail at paul.dean@latimes.com.
