The Best of Car Talk

Tom is still telling who some of the underwriters are and even saying "Support for 'Car Talk' ...".

Obviously he wouldn't say "Support for 'The Best of Car Talk' ..." Only Ray can do that because only he was still around when they decided on that name.

I notice they are telling us about "Support for 'Car Talk'" after the breaks, which only started a couple of weeks ago. Or at least it hasn't been done recently.

Whether they are putting together the current shows from different time periods is hard to say. They do make sure they have the time of year right. Though several months ago the Dodge Dart was history, and now they're talking about it again as if it still runs. And in the same show, Ray gave two different phone numbers.

I can say almost with certainty that in one show more than one caller from the same show was used. They put a woman on hold and took another call and maybe even answered last week's Puzzler while she went out to her car. And I think in that show Tom got an answer right and Ray said that happens once a year or something. With the next caller, they got another answer right. But with the woman they had to come back to, they couldn't give a definitive answer so there wasn't going to be three in a row.

They must be a week behind because the "last week's" Puzzler the week after the show about Tom was from two weeks earlier, and had Tom not died they would have the Puzzler answer the week of the show about Tom. But if they put together a show from different shows, maybe not. Maybe the show they planned to air that week won't happen, except for the Puzzler answer.

The newspapers where I read their column have "Car Talk" with Ray Magliozzi. He did refer to what he believed his brother would have done, which was nice.

One of the papers, though, runs the column with just Ray in one section, but in the classifieds on another day of the week it's still both of them.

Isn't the whole appeal of Car Talk is that it's not really about cars? It's a personality show. The car advice they give isn't even that good. Put continuity in that same category. it doesn't matter. Just have fun with the show.

Actually, the car advice Tom and Ray gave usually was accurate, the "chumps" didn't get "stumped" very often; but it was their humorous approach that made the show so appealing. It wasn't just for gearheads. Not every episode was great; no one can pull that off, but you liked these guys and wanted to hear what they were doing this week. And more often than not, the show was good, and that's some track record for 25-plus years on the air.

In our local paper, the last column with the "By Tom & Ray" byline ran just before Tom's death; the following two weeks (of columns previously written) ran with "Created by Tom & Ray," then it changed to "By Ray" with the Car Talk logo replacing their caricatures.

Accurate doesn't always mean good when it comes to car advice. But again, that's really not what the show was about. Which is why a replay from 15 years ago sounds just fine today. No one listens to learn about cars. They listen because it's fun.

Yeah, I used to believe they really knew what they were talking about, but once I heard them joke about how rarely they were right, I realized their amazing intelligence about cars wasn't really what I thought it was. I rarely remember the actual advice. Only how funny they are.

Regarding the newspaper column, it seems to be called "Dear Car Talk". And that newspaper that had two columns per week, one in the classifieds on adifferent day, had a column just written by Ray, though Tom's photo was still there.

And Ray, in one column, made a comment about his brother than some people might consider an insult but for these guys is just part of their charm.

vchimpanzee said:

And Ray, in one column, made a comment about his brother than some people might consider an insult but for these guys is just part of their charm.

Click to expand...

Just as their putting each other down about "how rarely they were right" was part of it as well. The only place in radio for a guy who likes to brag about how "right" he is all the time is on, uh, "right" wing talk. Tom and Ray's advice was generally solid, especially considering some of the bizarre calls they handled; and they occasionally pulled off some amazing feats of long-distance diagnosis.

Last weekend I listened to a commercially syndicated auto advice show that maybe wants to be the next Car Talk, but can't hold a candle. Advice-wise, these guys are probably OK, but the atmosphere is strictly gearhead city, and they are endlessly plugging their sponsor's products. One thing though; Car Talk may not have to re-edit their calls for sounding dated after all; the first caller on the other show (brand new episode) was a woman who owns a '97 Chevy Blazer!

They got a call about a '51 Buick last week!

Now if you want to hear about a bizarre call that has only an indirect relationship to cars, here's one:

I missed some of the details since I was getting lunch ready, but it went something like this.

A woman had an accident and had to take her car to a body shop. The owner of the shop ws the caller. He said she didn't realize how early the shop would close, and she called him, frantic, because she left her dog in the car. Why she didn't come with him I don't recall, but he opened the shop and looked in the car and found a purebred Schnauzer--dead. He called a breeder looking for something close, hoping he could fool her. The dog was going to be very expensive, but when he explained his plight, the breeder found a cheap dog. The woman came in to pick up her car and was horrified. "This isn't my dog! My dog was dead!"

"Do you remember last week's Puzzler?"

But there was no last week's Puzzler. They gave us an extra week. Ray said that last week.

Doesn't really matter. Now that it's The Best Of, they don't have to pretend.

Though Ray did say he selected a Puzzler this week for those kids that have been out of school for two weeks.

They're not trying to fool anyone any more, but this is amazing. Ray had problems because of a snowstorm of historic significance. How he made it to the studio the day of that show I really have to wonder. More than likely they put all this together from different shows, because "and even though" included one about a groundhog and one about the Patriots. There's no way all of that could have been on one show at a different time in history.

On another week, which I forgot to mention:

Ray: ... Cambridge ...

Ray: Cambridge ...

Tom: Our fair city.

I never heard Ray say he wanted Tom to take over The Puzzler, but this week he said he did and Tom said he would, meaning Ray has to be the one who doesn't remember next week.

Even though they're no longer trying to convince us the shows are live, "Even though Julianne Moore heaves her Oscar at her radio ... ."

Tom wasn't acting any more insane than usual, but he was trying to illustrate some type of insane behavior. I don't even remember what. But Ray was whispering and finally said he needed to calm down, and told him the nice men in the white coats were going to take care of him.

Daylight Savings Time was mentioned.

And while the brothers both say, "Don't drive like my brother", one of them said their sister says, "Don't drive like either of them." I'm not sure I ever heard that one.

This week I had heard people on WFAE talk about how much money they needed to raise in the next few minutes. So even before I left the grocery, I knew what I would her in the car was not the actual show. I would like to hear more of it, though, and I forgot last time here was a fund-raiser to look for he fund-raiser episode. All I remember is that the brothers said an MBA was worthless, while the philosophy degree the caller got first was valuable.

Once I got home, I could turn on WFDD and everything sounded normal. WFAE usually airs the show on Sunday so I can hear what came before that.

An oxygen sensor has no moving parts and can theoretically last forever. Tom said so could they. If that were true. Well, recordings can.

And a first for "Stump the Chumps"--a repeat customer.

"it only works if the answer is two."

I remember this being done some years ago as a recording, with an echo. Tom did it on the air Saturday "live", so the show they did wasn't that many years old. Or at least that part of it.

"They're going to kick us off the air."

Nope. They've had plenty of opportunity.

Easter was mentioned on the correct weekend.

And the Dodge Dart is working again, as of last week.

Tom's daughter was 17 and the Dodge Dart ran. But these were separate questions and may have come from different shows. Or they might never have aired.

Tom is promising certain things on the web site "this week". I never think to check to make sure someone actually put them there.

Tom said there wasn't a puzzler. Not only didn't remember it, but didn't remember there was one.

And this week they had one of those calls where the man went out to the car to check to see if what the guys suggested was true. Of course they have to simulate having another call in between ...

According to last week's show, Tom did something so terrible they quit letting him do repairs at the garage.

It was either last week or the week before that Ray made a comment about Tom needing to take his pills.

While we can't guarantee the whole show is from the era, the Dodge Dart is running according to what they said at one point.

It was bound to happen. A clown called in. An actual circus clown.

Asking for advice about how to put as many clowns in a car as possible.

Ray told about the time he was dressed as a clown and did something to offend another driver, who asked him, "Are you some kind of clown?"