How Stuff Works recently advertised a quiz about vehicles from the 1970s (Tyler, 2018). The promo stated that “no one is getting a perfect score . . . and it’s driving the Internet crazy!”
I usually avoid such clickbait, but it was about cars so I took the test . . . and aced it! Where’s my prize? How about a lifetime subscription to Collectible Automobile magazine?
In all honesty, I didn’t get a totally perfect score because How Stuff Works had an error in one of its test questions. Quiz author Robin Tyler asked readers to identify the above-shown car. The closest choice offered was a 1971 AMC Gremlin. Small problem: That’s a 1976 model.
The 1971 AMC Gremlin had smaller bumpers and rectangular turn signals (Old Car Brochures).
It seems odd that How Stuff Works would make such a basic mistake. The website’s automotive content is produced by the auto editors of Consumer Guide. These are the same folks who have published the likes of the Encyclopedia of American Cars (1993, 2006), Over 100 Years: The American Auto (2010) and Cars of the Sensational 70s (Flammang, 2000). In other words, they are the General Motors of American automotive history books. Is Consumer Guide following in GM’s footsteps by getting complacent in its quality control?
Putting aside this error, I imagine that anyone who was alive in the 1970s and had a basic familiarity with the vehicles sold in the U.S. could get a perfect score. That’s because this quiz was pretty dumbed down. Actually, hilariously dumbed down.
As a case in point, consider the photo below. Your choices are: 1974 Volkswagen Golf, 1971 AMC Gremlin, 1972 Chevrolet Brookwood and 1976 Jeep CJ-7.
Stumped? Just click on the “hint” box. After intently watching an informative commercial, the hint is bestowed: “The makers name rhymes with ballet.” (Note: The apostrophe in “maker’s” was removed by How Stuff Works in order to accurately reflect the much lower publishing standards back in the 1970s.)
I won’t spoil any more of your fun, but this goes on for 40 questions. Once in a while you are asked to identify a vehicle not sold in the United States. Even if you are clueless you can potentially get the right answer through a process of elimination. That’s because most of the choices are obviously not a match. For example, you aren’t likely to confuse a Jeep or a Volkswagen Golf with an exotic European racing car.
All in all, this quiz is a waste of time for anyone who regularly reads auto history books and magazines. Perhaps a more high-brow publisher such as Curbside Classic could do a real one.
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