70s Cars
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50 free 70s Cars trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The 1970s opened with the loudest, fastest street machines Detroit had ever built and closed with small imports parked in driveways across America. In between came fuel shortages, new clean-air and safety rules, and some of the strangest shapes ever to wear a licence plate. This 70s car quiz covers the whole decade: American muscle and its sudden decline, the economy models that replaced it, wedge-shaped European exotics, British oddities, the first wave of Japanese favourites, and the cars that became stars on film and television. A few questions deal with the laws, executives and engineering ideas that changed what people drove. It is written for anyone who grew up in the back seat of one of these cars, as well as for enthusiasts who can tell a model year by its grille. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will pick up a story or two even on the ones you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which black Pontiac did Burt Reynolds drive as the Bandit in the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit?
Trans Am
Trans Am sales almost doubled within two years of the film's release. Director Hal Needham picked the car after seeing an advertisement for the not-yet-launched 1977 model.
Q 02Which red Ford with a white stripe carried the detectives of 1970s TV's Starsky & Hutch?
Gran Torino
Gran Torino coupes were picked from Ford's lease stock, then given the white stripe by the studio's transport chief. Star Paul Michael Glaser thought the result looked like a tomato.
Q 03Which Volkswagen overtook the Ford Model T in 1972 as the most-produced car in history?
Beetle
Beetle number 15,007,034 broke the record on 17 February 1972. The original stayed in production until July 2003, when the last one was built in Puebla, Mexico.
Q 04Which British sports car turns into a submarine in the 1977 Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me?
Lotus Esprit
Lotus Esprit bodyshells showed each stage of the change, but only one was a real submarine, nicknamed Wet Nellie. Elon Musk later bought it.
Q 05Which Lamborghini with scissor doors was first shown as a prototype at the 1971 Geneva Motor Show?
Countach
Countach comes from an exclamation of astonishment in the Piedmontese language. The wedge-shaped supercar stayed in production from 1974 until 1990.
Q 06Which Ford subcompact was recalled in 1978 over fuel tanks that could catch fire in rear crashes?
Pinto
Pinto owners were covered by a recall of 1.5 million cars, the largest in automotive history at the time. Ford acted days before regulators were due to order it.
Q 07Which chopped-tail AMC subcompact went on sale on April Fools' Day in 1970?
Gremlin
Gremlin designer Dick Teague said he sketched the idea on an air sickness bag during a flight. The production car was AMC's existing compact with a shorter wheelbase and the tail chopped off.
Q 08Which Hollywood star played a Porsche 917 driver in the 1971 racing film Le Mans?
Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen had hoped to enter the real race with Jackie Stewart, but their Porsche entry was turned down. His main 917 from the film was later sold and raced through the 1970s.
Q 09Which safety option on big 1974 Cadillacs and Buicks was dropped by 1977 for lack of buyer interest?
Front airbags
Front airbags, sold by GM as the Air Cushion Restraint System, first went into a fleet of 1973 Chevrolets bought by the government. Cars with the system had lap belts but no shoulder belts.
Q 10Which US president signed the first national 55 mph speed limit into law in January 1974?
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon had first proposed 50 mph for cars as an emergency answer to the 1973 oil crisis, then approved the higher figure. The national limit was not repealed until 1995.
Q 11Which bubble-shaped AMC compact of 1975 later became the Mirthmobile in the film Wayne's World?
Pacer
Pacer bodywork was 37 percent glass, which led Car and Driver to dub it a flying fishbowl. AMC pitched it as a small car as wide as a full-size one.
Q 12Under which name was the first Volkswagen Golf sold to drivers in the United States?
Rabbit
Rabbit assembly moved to America in 1978, when Volkswagen opened its Westmoreland plant in Pennsylvania. In Mexico the same car was called the Caribe.
Q 13Which exhaust device did most new American cars gain for 1975 to meet emissions rules?
Catalytic converter
Catalytic converter surfaces are contaminated by lead, so cars fitted with one can run only on unleaded fuel. The same clean-air rules pushed lead out of American gasoline.
Q 21Which 1971 film follows a driver named Kowalski racing a white Dodge Challenger to San Francisco?
Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point's stunt coordinator Carey Loftin asked for the Challenger because of its sturdy torsion bar suspension and its horsepower. The story starts in Denver late on a Friday night.
Q 22Which 1974 Dodge sedan with a police package serves as the Bluesmobile in The Blues Brothers?
Monaco
Monaco squad cars were, in co-writer Dan Aykroyd's view, the hottest cars used by police during the 1970s. The film's example carries the big 440 Magnum engine.
Q 23Which winged 1970 Plymouth, built for NASCAR, had a horn that beeped like a Looney Tunes character?
Superbird
Q 14Which small Honda arrived in 1972, just before the oil crisis sent buyers hunting for economy cars?
Civic
Civic buyers in California could only get the cleaner-burning CVCC engine, because of the state's stricter emissions standards. The first generation stayed in production until 1979.
Q 15Which Chevrolet subcompact was designed to be shipped nose-down, thirty to a special railcar?
Vega
Vega shipments used Vert-A-Pac railcars designed with Southern Pacific, which held 30 cars against 18 on an ordinary three-level carrier. Motor Trend named it 1971 Car of the Year.
Q 16Which Chevrolet marked its 25th anniversary in 1978 by pacing the Indianapolis 500?
Corvette
Corvette buyers could order a black-and-silver replica of the pace car, and 6,502 were built. Every 1978 model also wore silver anniversary emblems.
Q 17Which late-1970s film features a supercharged black Ford Falcon called the Pursuit Special?
Mad Max
Mad Max hands Mel Gibson's patrolman the car as an incentive to stay on the force. It began as a white 1973 Falcon XB GT hardtop before a Melbourne customiser reworked it.
Q 18Which Cadillac's 1976 soft-top was marketed as the final convertible America would ever build?
Eldorado
Eldorado convertibles came back in 1984, eight years after the supposed farewell. The 1970 model had introduced Cadillac's enormous 8.2-litre V8.
Q 19Which Ford president, fired in 1978 after clashing with Henry Ford II, went on to rescue Chrysler?
Lee Iacocca
Lee Iacocca was dismissed even though Ford posted a $2 billion profit that year. At Chrysler he won the federal loan guarantee that kept the company in business.
Q 20Which gadget became a mid-1970s craze as truckers used it to warn each other of speed traps?
CB radio
CB radio also helped drivers find service stations with fuel during the shortages that followed the 1973 oil crisis. The novelty song Convoy took the craze to number one in January 1976.
Superbird engineers mounted the huge rear wing on tall struts so that it sat in less disturbed air. On the street, the nose cone and wing made hardly any difference to performance.
Q 24Which executive behind the Pontiac GTO left GM in 1973 and went on to build his own sports car?
John DeLorean
John DeLorean had been the youngest division chief in General Motors history. His DMC sports car later found fame in the 1985 film Back to the Future.
Q 25Which singer bought the very first Stutz Blackhawk sold in 1970, beating Frank Sinatra to the car?
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley paid $26,500 for it in October 1970, then had George Barris customise it. Sinatra had turned the car down rather than pose for the distributor's publicity photos.
Q 26Which actor was the long-running advertising spokesman for the Chrysler Cordoba?
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Montalbán took over from the car's first spokesman, Richard Basehart. His eloquent praise of the leather interior became a notable part of the commercials.
Q 27Which Kalamazoo company built the boxy sedans that served as New York's classic taxicabs?
Checker
Checker sold the same car to private buyers as the Marathon from 1960 to 1982 and, from 1964, fitted it with Chevrolet sixes and small-block V8s.
Q 28Which upmarket 4x4, launched in 1970, was built only as a two-door for its first eleven years?
Range Rover
Range Rover engineers gave it permanent four-wheel drive and disc brakes on every wheel, with a top speed of around 100 mph. A four-door did not arrive until 1981.
Q 29Which three-wheeled Reliant arrived in 1973 as the replacement for the Regal?
Robin
Robin fame spread far beyond Britain when Jeremy Clarkson tipped a specially side-weighted one over at least six times on Top Gear. He later admitted the car had been modified to make that easy.
Q 30Which celebrated Jaguar sports car bowed out in 1974, to be replaced by the XJ-S grand tourer?
E-Type
E-Type production closed with a final roadster in June 1974. Its successor was a radical departure, a grand tourer that at first offered no convertible roof at all.