Quiz Archive

What is it ? # 29 (UPDATE)

Thank you all for your answers. You presented us with a tough job. Many good answers & great fiction stories came in. One good answer was by Bob Swanson: "This is a Bugatti-King Aero engine built in Elizabeth New Jersey during World War I. This was a 16 cylinder engine that had two 8 cylinder straight eight engines geared together on a common crankcase. This twin crankshaft design was called a "U" 16. The engines never saw use during WWI. There is a nice chapter in the H.G.Conway book "Bugatti" that gives a nice overview of this engine. One is on display in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C." Why we decided that Bob is the winner is the fact that he is the only one who made a -true- connection with cars: "Years ago I had a photo of a race car in Pottstown, Pa. that was powered by a 4 cylinder engine that was built using one of the four cylinder blocks from a Bugatti-King engine." Congratulations Bob with your second win! But that's not all folks: there was this one gem of a story by Paul Delucchi. Fiction, but you'll love it. It will be featured Sunday next. Enjoy! Thank you Paul. (photo collection Jaap Horst) EARLIER COMPETITION TEXT: A Bugatti Duesenberg merger? This is a tough one you can chew on, but not less interesting. Let your thoughts take all the freedom they allow you and come up with a great story. We'll give you some extra time to cook up something special. Send your answer before Monday 2 September 23.59 hrs GMT to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The best story (max. 200 words) will win the infamous PreWarcar T-shirt and will be published on these pages.

Tuesday, 10 September 2002