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'Car and Driver' Salutes 100 Years of Off-The-Wall Automotive History

12 November 1999

'Car and Driver' Salutes 100 Years of Off-The-Wall Automotive History

    ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 11 -- With the end of the century at
our feet, "best of" lists are hitting us square in the face.  Not to be
undone, "Car and Driver" editors have culled 100 of their own interesting but
generally unheralded automotive newsmakers of the 20th Century.
    "Knowing that everyone and their brother would be compiling a top list we
wanted to take a different approach, in traditional 'Car and Driver' fashion,
to highlight some of the weirder and more obscure events of the automotive
industry," said Csaba Csere, editor-in-chief.
    Dubbed the "Heavy 100," the magazine offers a wacky tribute to the
automotive century through the eyes of the ultimate car enthusiasts -- the
editors of "Car and Driver."  For car guys brave enough to test their
automotive IQ, here is a 10-question test based on their collection of
factoids:

     1.  Henry Ford was a teetotaler.  Nonetheless, he helped to develop a
product that wound up encouraging beer drinking in America.  What was it?
     2.  For people who complain that cars are polluters, "Car and Driver"
conducted extensive research to discover exactly how much horse manure was
deposited on American streets on a single day in 1902.  (Where else can you
get this stuff?)
     3.  Name the two seriously weird Americans who in 1929 drove from New
York to Los Angeles, and back -- 7180 in all -- in reverse?
     4.  True or false:  Rolls Royce luxury cars were at one time built in
America.
     5.  What was the first "girl car?"  (Hint:  It came with pink rain boots,
a pink shoulder bag, and a matching lipstick.)
     6.  In the 1950s, Kemmons Wilson and his wife stayed in a motel, where
they were charged $2 extra for each of his kids.  What did he do about it?
     7.  What noted stock-car driver drove eight races in 1953 accompanied by
a monkey?
     8.  What movie starring Burt Reynolds began as an idea for a feature
story in "Car and Driver"?
     9.  Who is the woman who made the list of 11 "Tough Guys" in racing?
    10.  What was the longest traffic jam in history?

    Answers:  (1) the charcoal briquet (2) 2 million pounds of dung and 60,000
gallons of urine (3) James Hargis and Charles Creighton (4) true (5) Dodge
LaFemme Model (6) created the Holiday Inn (7) Tim Flock (8) Cannonball Run (9)
Evel Knievel's ex-wife, (10) 50 miles long in Tokyo, Japan.

    Ninety other delights can be found in the 26-page special feature in the
December 1999 issue of "Car and Driver," now on newsstands.
    "Car and Driver" magazine, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., is the
world's largest circulation automotive magazine and the premier source of
information for automobile enthusiasts.  Content includes everything from new
car previews, road tests and features to industry news and automotive humor.