Truck Trivia
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99 free Truck trivia questions with answers — technology quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
41 free Truck trivia questions with answers. Truck trivia covers more ground than most vehicle quizzes, because a truck can be anything from a ute with a tailgate to a three-trailer road train crossing the Northern Territory. This quiz takes in all of it. There is a history round - where the word truck came from in 1611, why the British say lorry, who was building one-ton trucks in Pontiac in 1902 - and a records round built on the Ford F-Series, which has been the best-selling vehicle in America since 1981. Then the specialists: the modified F-250 that became the first monster truck, the bush mechanic who invented the modern road train, the dolly that lets a rigid truck pull a semi-trailer, and the difference between a European cab-over and an American conventional. Every answer was written against an encyclopaedic source and carries the sentence that proves it. Good for a garage quiz, a long drive, or anyone who has strong opinions about tailgates.
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Q 01What is a truck called in British English?
A lorry
A lorry is what British English calls a truck; the heaviest are licensed as HGVs, heavy goods vehicles, while a coach is a long-distance bus.
Q 02The word 'truck' was first used in 1611 to mean what?
Small wheels on gun carriages
Small wheels on gun carriages: in 1611 'truck' meant the solid little wheels under a ship's cannon carriage; the sense of a cart for heavy loads followed in 1771.
Q 03From which language does the root of the word 'truck' come?
Greek
Greek is the root: trokhos, meaning wheel, from trekhein, to run; English picked it up through Latin trochus, an iron hoop, before 'truck' meant any cart.
Q 04Where does the British word 'lorry' probably come from?
The railway industry
It shows up in 1838 for a large flat goods wagon, possibly from the old verb 'lurry', to drag along.
Q 05What are pickups called in Australia and New Zealand?
Utes
Utes is the Australian and New Zealand word, short for utility vehicle; it covers car-based coupe utilities such as the Holden Ute as well as true pickups.
Q 06What defines a pickup's cargo bed?
Three low walls and no roof
Three low walls and no roof define a pickup's cargo bed; the hinged tailgate closes the fourth side, and a tonneau cover is an optional extra rather than part of the definition.
Q 07Which company built one-ton trucks in Pontiac, Michigan from 1902?
Rapid Motor Vehicle
Rapid Motor Vehicle, founded by Max Grabowsky in 1902, built one-ton trucks in Pontiac; General Motors bought the firm in 1909 and folded it into what became GMC.
Q 08Which Chevrolet pickup became a separate full-size model line for the 1999 model year?
Silverado
Silverado became Chevrolet's full-size pickup model for 1999, replacing the C/K line; the name had been a C/K trim level since 1975.
Q 09Dodge marketed its 1939 truck range under which slogan?
Job-Rated
Job-Rated was Dodge's 1939 slogan, promising a truck rated for each job; the badge stayed on Dodge trucks through the postwar B-series and into the 1950s.
Q 10Since which model year has Ford built the F-Series?
1948
1948 was the first model year of the Ford F-Series, launched in January 1948 as the 'Bonus-Built' range running from the F-1 half-ton to the F-8.
Q 11In which year did the F-Series begin its run as America's best-selling pickup line?
1977
1977 is the year the F-Series took over as the best-selling pickup line in the United States, a lead it then held for more than four decades.
Q 12Which metal replaced steel in the body panels of the 2015 Ford F-150?
Aluminium
Aluminium alloy body panels arrived on the thirteenth-generation F-150 for 2015, trimming up to about 700 pounds from the truck; the frame stayed high-strength steel.
Q 13Which high-performance off-road F-150 trim arrived for 2010?
The Raptor
The Raptor, launched as the F-150 SVT Raptor for the 2010 model year, was built by Ford's Special Vehicle Team with long-travel suspension for high-speed desert driving.
Q 21Who is recognised as the inventor of the modern road train?
Kurt Johannsen
Kurt Johannsen, a bush mechanic from Alice Springs, is credited with the modern road train: challenged to haul 100 head of cattle instead of 20, he built self-tracking trailers behind a surplus Diamond T truck.
Q 22What did the Australian government's AEC Roadtrain replace in the Northern Territory?
Afghan camel trains
Afghan camel trains, which had carried outback freight since the 1860s, were replaced by the government's AEC Roadtrain, an eight-wheel-drive British truck delivered in 1934 with two trailers.
Q 23At which 1903 event was Captain Charles Renard's road train displayed?
The Paris Salon
Q 14Which F-Series model was the entry-level pickup from 1953 to 1983?
The F-100
The F-100 was the half-ton base model from 1953, when Ford renamed the F-1, until 1983; the F-150, added in 1975, then became the entry-level truck.
Q 15Which pickup did Bob Chandler start modifying in 1975 to create Bigfoot?
A Ford F-250
A Ford F-250, a 1974 model, is what Chandler began modifying in 1975 in St. Louis, Missouri; with ever-larger tyres and axles it became Bigfoot, regarded as the first monster truck.
Q 16How big were the tyres on Bigfoot by 1979?
48 inches
48 inches was the tyre size Bigfoot wore by 1979, on military axles with four-wheel steering; the truck later moved up to 66-inch tyres taken from an Alaskan tundra vehicle.
Q 17Which monster truck did Dennis Anderson build in 1982, later Monster Jam's signature machine?
Grave Digger
Grave Digger began in 1982 when Dennis Anderson rebuilt a 1957 Chevrolet panel wagon as a mud-bogging truck in North Carolina; its ghost-and-graveyard paint later made it Monster Jam's signature machine.
Q 18What were monster trucks originally used for at motorsport events?
Car-crushing side acts
Car-crushing side acts were the original role: early monster trucks drove over junk cars as a sideshow at mud-bogging and tractor-pulling meets before racing and freestyle made them the main event.
Q 19Why did promoters stop putting motor homes and school buses on freestyle courses?
Flying debris injured spectators
Flying debris injured spectators when crushed motor homes and school buses shed parts into the crowd, so freestyle courses switched to dirt mounds and ramps, which are safer and quicker to rebuild.
Q 20What is a road train?
Two or more trailers behind one prime mover
Two or more trailers behind one prime mover make a road train; in outback Australia quad combinations over 50 metres long haul cattle and fuel where no railway reaches.
The Paris Salon of 1903 is where Renard showed his road train, a tractor driving the wheels of its trailers; Daimler bought the rights after his 1905 death and four reached Queensland before the First World War ended production.
Q 24Where did the first identified road trains operate in the mid-19th century?
South Australia's Flinders Ranges
South Australia's Flinders Ranges saw the first identified road trains: steam traction engines hauling wagons of ore from the mines down to the coast until railways took over.
Q 25How do continental tractor units differ from North American ones?
The engine sits under the cab
The engine sits under the cab in European cab-over tractors, giving them a flat front; North American trucks mostly keep a conventional bonnet because their overall-length rules are looser.
Q 26How many wheels does the most common European semi combination have?
Twelve
Twelve wheels: a two-axle tractor with twin tyres on its drive axle, six wheels, plus a three-axle semi-trailer on single wide tyres, another six; one trailer axle is often a lift axle.
Q 27What piece of equipment lets a rigid truck pull a semi-trailer?
A dolly
A dolly, or converter dolly, carries its own fifth wheel and hitches to a pintle hook or drawbar coupling on the rigid truck, turning the semi-trailer into a full trailer.
Q 28Peterbilt was created in 1939 by buying which company?
Fageol Truck and Motor
Fageol Truck and Motor, a failed Oakland, California truck builder, was what Tacoma lumberman T. A. 'Al' Peterman bought in 1939, renaming the trucks Peterbilt after himself.
Q 29How much did Peterman pay for the Oakland truck plant that became Peterbilt in 1939?
$50,000
$50,000 bought Peterman the whole operation in 1939: a 13.5-acre plant in Oakland, California, together with its tooling and parts inventory.
Q 30Which group acquired Peterbilt in 1958?
PACCAR
PACCAR, then Pacific Car and Foundry, bought Peterbilt in 1958, thirteen years after it had bought Kenworth, which made the two rival badges sister divisions.