A Series of Useless Automotive Trivia

For us nerdiest of enthusiasts, it's the little things we find interesting about old cars - so here are ten niche and admittedly useless nuggets of car trivia.

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00:00 Introduction
00:19 The fastest car... in reverse
01:33 Alfa Romeo's Four-Wheel Drive
03:33 The slowest V8 Ferrari
05:03 Honda's Land Rover
06:20 Special order old cars
07:47 Automotive pass-the-parcel
09:06 Opel and Vauxhall's hidden sharks
10:16 The British-powered Saabs
11:36 The illegal BMW M Car
12:51 Making storage interesting
14:59 Conclusion

[danevans]

If you want to talk weird storage solutions on Alfa Romeo’s, the Alfa 90 had a removable briefcase as a glovebox

[vwestlife]

Chrysler regained their French connection long before Fiat-Chrysler merged with Peugeot to form Stellantis. In 1987, Chrysler bought out American Motors Corp., which by then was controlled by Renault and sold Renault cars at AMC dealers. After the Chrysler buyout, several of these Renault models were rebadged and sold by Chrysler under the Eagle name, including the Renault 25-based Eagle Premier. Renault/AMC engineer François Castaing also came over to Chrysler and used the Premier's Renault platform as the basis for Chrysler's highly successful "LH" cars.

[ap]

Smart ForTwo used to have three cup holders

[colinreid]

This was not useless automotive trivia, but it was interesting information and bringing back some memories.

[Bezart]

Glad to see you returning to YT! I always find your presentations excellent, informative, super-professional, engaging and entertaining. Keep 'em coming. You're good.

[GentilsGarage]

I absolutely love this car trivia. The shark motif on Vauxhalls for me is the most curious, but least useful one.

[drmoss_ca]

I bought a DAF 66 in 1981. The belts would break as soon as I tried to go over 50mph, and as a result I became very familiar with the AA Relay drivers along the M4. Being dropped off at the nearest Volvo dealer (in Leytonstone) at 3.30am, and then walking to home in West Ham was no fun, especially when on duty at Northwick Park at 8am! The Renault 5 engine in it was reliable though. Replaced the car with a BMW 2002 at the first opportunity.

[daoudfakhri]

When VW launched its new version of the Beetle in the late 90s, I recall that you could order an optional vase to be fitted to dashboard, just big enough to accommodate a single flower. I think this was supposed to hark back to the flower power associations of the original Beetle in the 60s.

[Leo-Crespi]

Fantastic content. Yes ashtrays were very common in cars, I wonder why people now are so surprised by that, after all in the 70s for instance you could smoke everywhere, including cinemas and airplanes.

[gangstagarf]

oh another of these someday. this and your 'debunking 4 automotive myths' are some of my favs from you

[stcenturyozman]

YAY! Good to see you back, Ed. Was wondering what had become of you. I thought perhaps the car-auctions work, or a return to studies. I was hoping it wasn't some personal disaster.

Welcome back!

[bokhans]

My Toyota iQ had a textil glove compartment in the form of flat bag hanging on the passenger side. It was connected by 4 steel buttons to the lover part of the dashboard and was very easy to disconnect, it was so easy it was missing in my car when I bought it! 😂

[amarhadzovic]

Some more useless car knowledge that is going to live rent free in my car-obsessed brain

[CaptHollister]

Here's a few others: In Canada and the US Honda sold a rebadged US-built Isuzu Rodeo as the Honda Passport, complete with a GM 3.2L V6. Over in Japan, Toyota agreed to import Chevrolet Cavaliers rebadged as Toyota Cavaliers. Returning to North America, we had both the SAAB 9-2x and the 9-7x. The former was a badge-engineered Subaru Impreza with a nicer interior and a SAAB front clip, the latter was a badge-engineered Chevrolet Trailblazer with a SAAB front clip and the ignition key on the center console, à la SAAB. It was also the only "SAAB" (I use the term loosely) to feature either an inline 6 engine or a V8, including an available 400hp 6.0L LS2, making it also the most powerful "SAAB" ever offered for sale.

[lrs]

Nice to see you back, great video as always!

[nakoma]

This was fun, i've missed your videos and story telling!

[flybycomet]

Thanks Ed. This video was FUN. Please send more ! I always wondered if the Mini was deliberately difficult to fit a radio into. Issigonis was eccentric alright, part of being a groundbreaking genius I suppose.

[MGBetts]

Good to see you back, I had wondered where you'd been.

[davidhinkson]

I admire your wealth of knowledge when it comes to older cars.

[thatcheapguy]

great to see you back Ed! like the idea of the soft opener 😀