Q 01/05

The 1949 Rocket 88, seen by some as the first muscle car, was built by which GM division?

A) Oldsmobile

B) Chevrolet

C) Buick

D) Pontiac

Answer · why

A) Oldsmobile

Its small, light body and new overhead-valve V8 made it a sensation on the early NASCAR circuit, where it won six of nine late-model races in 1949.

Q 02/05

'Rocket 88' (1951), often called the first rock and roll record, was cut in whose Memphis studio?

A) Berry Gordy

B) Sam Phillips

C) Leonard Chess

D) Ahmet Ertegun

Answer · why

B) Sam Phillips

Credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, the band was really Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, and it featured the first distorted guitar on record...

Q 03/05

The Pontiac GTO's name was borrowed from a 250 GTO built by which carmaker?

A) Lamborghini

B) Alfa Romeo

C) Ferrari

D) Maserati

Answer · why

C) Ferrari

Purists were outraged that a Detroit intermediate had lifted the Gran Turismo Omologato badge from a homologated Italian racing car.

Q 04/05

In 1964 the GTO was not a standalone car but an option package on which Pontiac model?

A) Grand Prix

B) Bonneville

C) Catalina

D) LeMans

Answer · why

D) LeMans

Offering the big engine as an option was a loophole around GM's policy against large engines in intermediate cars.

Q 05/05

What was the displacement, in cubic inches, of the V8 in the original 1964 GTO?

A) 389

B) 348

C) 326

D) 383

Answer · why

A) 389

Rated at 325 horsepower, the 389 turned a Tempest-based coupe into the car that lit off the muscle car era.