1. Chevrolet
   Ford
2. Buick
   Dodge

An easy way to remember this is that it was the name of a movie in the early 90s -- "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane." This was a star vehicle (no pun intended) for briefly-hot comedian Andrew Dice Clay. The actual car was a full-size, tail-finned car of the 50s.

1. the Gremlin
   the Pinto
2. the Corsair
   the Vega

The AMC Gremlin was a subcompact car meant to appeal to buyers as gas prices rose in the 1970s. However, its slogan "the first American-made import car" must have had buyers scratching their heads.

1. Javelin
   Impala
2. Gremlin
   Pacer

The Impala name might have been chosen for its suggestion of speed. The impala is a grazing animal, similar to an antelope.

1. Duster
   Pinnace
2. Mako
   Stingray

The Stingray was one of the most coveted cars of the late '60s and early '70s. Rich girl Cherry Valance drives one in "The Outsiders."

1. the Chevy Corvair
   the Dodge Dart
2. the Ford Mustang
   the Rambler

Nader titled one chapter in his book "The Sporty Corvair: The One-Car Accident." It was a black eye for Chevrolet, though the book criticized the automotive industry in general for being reluctant to make cars safer.

1. a 1957 Chevy
   a 1971 Chevelle
2. a 1964-1/2 Ford Mustang
   a 1966 Ford Thunderbird

Oh, stop complaining about spoilers! You've had nearly 30 years to see this movie, people!

1. Buick
   Chevrolet
2. Ford
   Hudson

The Bel Air is the kind of car people think of when they think of classic 50s cars: big, sometimes two-toned, in pastel colors reminiscent of South Florida motels. Fun fact: Some Bel Airs came with fuel injection, long before this was the industry standard.

1. AMC
   Dodge
2. Ford
   Cadillac

Though AMC didn't survive as a company, the Matador was popular in its day. The LAPD ordered a number for use as police cruisers.

1. Duesenberg
   Holden
2. Tesla
   Tucker

The Tucker 48 was the dream of designer Preston Tucker. Production was shut down during a scandal about Tucker's capital-raising methods, which some people suggest was just a smear campaign by the Big Three. If you want to learn more, check out the film "Tucker: The Man and His Dream," (though it's admittedly slanted, as Francis Ford Coppola is a proud Tucker 48 owner).

1. dagmars
   Dynaflow transmission
2. a mid-engine layout
   cruise control

Dynaflow was Buick's patented form of automatic transmission. It was said to be smoother than competitors' automatic transmissions.

1. a Chevy Corvette
   a Dodge Challenger
2. a Buick Roadmaster
   a Ford Thunderbird

"Vanishing Point" is a classic movie about Vietnam-era disillusionment. A veteran and ex-cop takes a Dodge Challenger on a high-speed road trip, earning the ire of the Highway Patrol and the admiration of average Americans.

1. 1953
   1959
2. 1963
   1966

The Corvette has been around for longer than many people realize. Its early incarnations looked a lot like the small, light European cars of the 1950s.

1. a Mercedes 300SL
   a Ford Mustang
2. a Jaguar Mark I
   a Porsche 911 Targa

That's right, the prized car in the 1974 film is a piece of classic American rolling steel. The theft of a yellow 1973 Mustang proves strangely difficult for the "hero," Maindrian.

1. Lincoln Continental
   Cadillac Eldorado
2. Buick Riviera
   Chrysler Imperial

The city of El Dorado was rumored to be somewhere in northern South America. European expeditions in search of it caused much of the Amazon river and basin to be mapped. And, later, a car to be named!

1. Walter P. Chrysler
   Edsel Ford
2. Lee Iacocca
   Preston Tucker

Iacocca was an icon in the 1980s for revitalizing Chrysler. But it was during his term at Ford that he backed the Mustang, in an attempt to help the company recover from its misstep with the Ford Edsel.

1. AMC
   Renault
2. Volvo
   Volkswagen

The beautiful P1800 looks nothing like the heavy-bodied cars Volvo began making in the 1970s. Fun fact: A P1800 is said to be the longest-serving passenger car, racking up three million miles for its owner.

1. Karl Benz
   Ed Cole
2. Ferdinand Porsche
   Gian Paolo Dallara

Of course, he's better known for the sports cars that bear his name. But Porsche was a part of the German war effort, and he was lead designer on Germany's "people's car."

1. 1973 - 1977
   1981 - 1983
2. 1988 - 1994
   The 911 has been in continuous production.

The 911 is one of the most successful sports cars ever made. About one million have been sold since 1963; a solid number for a car with a high price tag.

1. the Camaro
   the Corvette
2. the Impala
   the Volt

It might have surprised people, but this popular car was discontinued from 2003 to 2009. It's available again today.

1. Golf
   Jetta
2. Squareback
   Thing

"Thing" is an appropriate name, given that you're almost not sure it should be called a car. A Thing is a convertible with straight-line military styling, akin to a Jeep.

1. Brougham
   Biarritz
2. Seville
   Skylark

The Eldorado was a luxury car, and the previous three names reflect that. Biarritz, for example, is an exclusive European resort town. The Skylark was a Buick product.

1. the side mirrors
   the front bumper
2. the rear fender
   the steering wheel

Dagmars were cone-shaped projections on the front bumper of full-sized 1950s cars. They were named for a full-figured TV hostess of the time.

1. Cadillac
   Ferrari
2. Lamborghini
   Hudson

The GTO stands for "Gran Turismo Omologato." The first to have this acronym was the Ferrari 250 GTO.

1. 1977
   1981
2. 1985
   1988

We say "reach the market" because the prototype car had been designed some time earlier. The DeLorean never really took off, partly because of an economic slump in the early '80s, and partly because going up against the Big Three was never going to be an easy task.

1. beautiful woman
   a bird of prey
2. a warship
   no one knows

A corvette is a quick, light warship. It's Camaro that doesn't translate into anything that anyone's heard of.

1. a Ferrari 250 GTO
   a Lotus Elan
2. a Lamborghini Miura
   a gull-wing Mercedes

Diana Rigg played Emma Peel on the sexy spy show, "The Avengers." Her cars, both Lotus Elan convertibles, underscored her free-spiritedness.

1. a VW Beetle
   a Ford Galaxie
2. a Ford Fairlane
   a Lotus Elan

The same green Beetle is seen several times because the director and editor spliced together repetitive footage to create the chase scene. Well, at least the car was appropriate for the year, 1968. If McQueen had repeatedly passed a prewar Packard, it would have been a lot more noticeable.

1. the 1957 Chevy Bel Air
   the 1964-1/2 Mustang
2. the Dodge Charger
   the Oldsmobile Rocket 88

It might look big and inefficient to modern eyes, but 1949's Rocket 88 had an overhead valve high-compression V8 in a relatively light body. For this reason, it's considered the first muscle car.

1. the Bugatti 57SC
   the Pontiac GTO
2. the Lamborghini Miura
   the gull-wing Mercedes 300SL

A miura is a type of Italian bull, with surprisingly good foot speed. The Miura car introduced the rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive setup that other supercars would follow.

1. the 1970s
   the 1980s
2. the 1990s
   the 2000s

The second generation of Mustangs were considered unattractive and too slow for Mustang fans. To this day, you'll hear people calling the second-generation Mustang a "Farrah Fawcett car" because her character, Jill Munroe, drove one on "Charlie's Angels."

1. a light-up bust of John DeLorean as a hood ornament
   gull-wing doors
2. a stainless-steel body
   both #2 and #3

Don't laugh about the light-up bust! Some DeSotos actually had this, except they were of explorer Hernando DeSoto.

1. the Miura
   the Corsair
2. the LeSabre
   the Roadmaster

This compact (for the time) car was a Chevrolet product. Its name is a combination of "Corvette" and "Bel Air."

1. the Volkswagen squareback
   the Pontiac GTO
2. the Volvo 240
   the Ford Thunderbird

These were supposed to have rolled out in the mid-1960s. Because the Thunderbirds of that era were heavy-bodied for their engines, the rumor of a 427 cid engine would naturally have caused excitement.

1. the Cobra
   the Espada
2. the Mustang
   either #1 or #3

Shelby, who died in 2012, was a legend in the world of high-performance cars. He is associated with both the Cobra, a British import he outfitted with a V8 engine, and Ford's Shelby Mustangs.

1. a McLaren
   a Roush
2. a Shelby
   a Saleen

Thomas Harris, who is very particular about what consumer products he refers to in his books, gives Starling a Roush Mustang in "Hannibal." Starling is said to have bought it cheaply at a law-enforcement auction.