Has to be 9, surely?

I’ll change tack with the Honda, slightly, and offer 4 on account of it having a four pot engine.

That gives us 1984.



Will answer in rebus form if I’m right

 

The word abstruse (not obtuse) sure applies to this rebus. Hats off to @Charlemagne1333 if he nailed it. I would have never come close! George Orwell, 1984! Who’da thunk?

 

Ta Da .

The cat's out of the bag now, so a rebus answer would provide no challenge.

The winner's prize is yours though.

 

A person.

 

Him, maybe?

 

That’s the very chap!

Well played.

 

And the winner is………..?

 

"Big Red", but I can't figure out the bird and the shoes.

 

Google is your friend. “Big Red” is correct.

 

That's a Secretary Bird, + ATT logo, so must be Secretariat, aka Big Red...but I can't figure out the shoes either. This weekend is the Kentucky Derby, which he won, and went on to with the Triple Crown that year, and set many records in his short racing career. Amazing beast with a beautiful stride.

 

Secretariat wins ‘73 Kentucky Derby

The Northern Cardinal is the state bird of Kentucky. The footwear is a ‘derby’ shoe.

Just filling in the blanks. No star for me.

 

Without the blanks filled in it ain't finished.
I had to head out for a lunch date with a couple of friends so I'm glad to see that the collective hive mind has once again solved one of the @Canuck mind benders.
It was a lovely lunch, more like afternoon tea at my mates place up in the hills.

Came home with some goodies



The envelope with the 2 pineapples was payment for changing the batteries in four quartz watches .
I didn't open it until we got home and was quite shocked, I think I'd actually quoted about $20 so I'll have to have a stern word with them next time we catch up.

 

Those pastries look very nice!

 

They were .
I said to Ms JiO, "Just one for an after dinner treat?".
But one lead to two, and then the dilemma, "It's hardly worth putting them back in the pantry is it?".
And you can guess the outcome.

 

Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby May 5, 1973. Fifty years ago! This patchwork of partial answers has uncovered the answer! Well done to @JimInOz , @Syzygy , and @Charlemagne1333 . But the first complete answer came from @Charlemagne1333 , so he gets the award.

 

Deservedly so.

 

Neat use of the cardinal clue, methinks

 

I’m with @JimInOz , on the delectable pastry front. If I were to be presented with an assortment as delicious looking as those they wouldn’t touch the sides - which made think of an appropriate quotation by well known lover of the finer things.

So there ya go, that’s the rebus.
Who said it, and what did they say?

 

Well, it was a choice of either the cardinal, state bird of Kentucky, or goldenrod, the state flower!