Posted by RichardG on March 10, 2005 at 18:02:41 from 213.86.133.215 user RichardG.
In Reply to: Re: BBC News Quiz posted by Owen Roberts on March 10, 2005 at 11:06:06:
By the late 1950s the Ford Prefect was the upmarket, four-door version of the Ford Anglia; when the next generation of the latter (with the slanting rear window) arrived the old model became the Ford Popular and it and the Prefect continued in production for a year or two more. They were killed off in the early 1960s, probably about when the Ford Consul Classic came out. The estate versions were called the Escort and the Squire.
Douglas Adams' alien researcher for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy established that Ford was a popular name on earth, citing Gerald Ford and Anna Ford, both of whom were seen on TV at that time, and so chose his name so that he would fit in among the earthlings - unfortunately he spotted a list of the Ford Motor Company's products at the time, and called himself Ford Prefect.