Buckle Up for This Quiz on Classic Cars

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster was produced from 1957 to 1963 and remains one of the most sought-after classic cars in the world. In 2014, Mario fans were given a chance to drive the 300 SL Roadster for themselves as downloadable bonus content for Mario Kart 8. Game courses such as Bowser’s Castle and Rainbow Road really put the performance capabilities of the 300 SL to the test.

Porsche’s logo features a stallion with the word “Stuttgart” printed above it. Stuttgart is the German city where Porsche is headquartered, and the company’s logo is based on the city’s coat of arms, which features a similar stallion.

The 1973 film “American Graffiti” depicts the youth-oriented car culture of 1960s California. One character is a drag racer named John Milner, who drives a yellow Ford Deuce Coupe. The film was directed by George Lucas, four years before “Star Wars” launched him to international fame. The license plate of Milner’s deuce coupe says “THX 138,” a reference to Lucas’ 1970 debut film “THX-1388.”

“Blinded By the Light” first appeared on Bruce Springsteen’s 1973 debut album “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.” In the song’s chorus, the singer says he’s been “cut loose like a deuce,” a reference to the Ford Deuce Coupe, a classic hot rod. A cover by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977, altered the lyric to the (often misheard) “revved up like a deuce.”

“Rocket 88” was written and recorded by Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner in 1951. The song celebrates the Oldsmobile 88, commonly called the “Rocket 88,” which many people consider to be the world’s first muscle car. The song itself was a first: In 1991, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame officially recognized “Rocket 88” as the first rock ’n’ roll song ever recorded.

James Bond has driven dozens of cars over the years, but the most iconic — and the one that has appeared in the most Bond films — is the Aston Martin DB5. The DB5 first appeared in the 1964 film “Goldfinger,” and has since become one of the most recognizable cars in the history of cinema. It has even appeared in several 21st-century Bond films, such as “Spectre” (2015) and “No Time to Die” (2021).

The Pontiac GTO was born when three auto engineers, John DeLorean, Bill Collins, and Russ Gee, experimented with putting a high-powered V8 engine inside a small Pontiac Tempest. This combination of a large, powerful engine inside of a small, compact car helped set the standard for muscle cars for decades, and made the GTO one of the most iconic classic cars of the 1960s.

When BMW was founded in 1916, it produced and maintained airplanes for the German air force in World War I. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the company became widely known as a commercial car manufacturer. BMW’s origins as an aircraft company led to a popular myth that its logo is a stylized propeller, though it’s actually a pattern based on the coat of arms of Bavaria, where BMW was founded.

Automotive engineer Lee Iacocca developed the Ford Mustang in 1964. The Mustang combined the high-powered performance of a muscle car with an affordable price tag that made it accessible to young baby boomers at the time. It has since become one of the most iconic classic cars in history, and Iacocca achieved legendary status in the automotive industry.

Now in its third generation, the Dodge Challenger has been one of the most popular muscle cars since it first appeared in 1959. Modern Challenger models still earn acclaim among muscle car aficionados. Perhaps the most iconic Challenger model in recent years is the Hellcat, which has been widely praised for continuing the tradition of the classic Challenger models into the 21st century.

In the 1992 comedy “My Cousin Vinny,” car expert Mona Lisa Vito (played by Marisa Tomei) testifies in court about the differences between the 1964 Buick Skylark and the 1963 Pontiac Tempest. Her testimony leads to the acquittal of two young men on trial for a murder they didn’t commit. Tomei’s performance in the film earned her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1922, race car driver Noel Bullock won an auto race in a Ford Model T whose ramshackle appearance had earned it the nickname “Tin Lizzie.” Bullock’s victory established the Model T’s reputation as a high-quality and reliable car, and the nickname “Tin Lizzie” was soon used to refer to all Model T cars.

In the classic Beach Boys song “Fun, Fun, Fun,” a rebellious girl goes on a series of adventures in her dad’s Ford Thunderbird. In the chorus of the song, the Beach Boys sing that the girl will have “fun, fun, fun till her daddy takes the T-bird away,” implying that her joyride will continue until her father realizes she didn’t take the car to the library like she promised.

In the 1985 film “Back to the Future,” Marty McFly travels to the past inside a time-traveling DMC DeLorean. The DMC was the only car ever produced by the DeLorean Motor Company, which had already been out of business for three years when the film was released. Though the company was short-lived, the DeLorean’s appearance in “Back to the Future” earned it a cult following that still exists today.

The term “muscle car” became popular in the 1960s to describe a variety of two-door sports cars like the Chevrolet Corvette. These cars typically had rear-wheel-drive and powerful V8 engines designed for high performance and high speeds. In the 1970s, carmakers began switching to more fuel-efficient (though less powerful) V6 engines, so most classic muscle cars were produced in the 1950s and ’60s.