RIP. They were so entertaining. I never knew shit about cars but always felt a bit of excitement when I was in the car and heard that we'd be listening to them instead of some of my parents' music.
Also this is pretty great:
> Tom and Ray Magliozzi did open that do-it-yourself repair shop in the early '70s. They called it Hackers Heaven.
Don't care about cars. Care about those devices called "humans". These dudes fixes and tuned the latter while appearing to fix and tune the former. And one will not be the same without the other. So many fond memories...
Looks like I need to expand on that a bit. Nowadays we say "Tech is Hell" but it was even worse back in their day and they had a lot of stories about their experience that, them being them, were both hilarious and awful. I ignored their advice because, hey, don't get a teenage boy to not do something by telling him it's hard.
(Girl who wrote a letter complaining that the show sucked and that she had to listen because her parents did in the car... they had her on and she'd periodically call in for years)
My all-time favorite was the episode where someone called in and said that their vehicle would run pretty well but with lots of vibration for 8 minutes, then the engine would cut and refuse to start up again. It turned out to be someone onboard the Space Shuttle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAqzM4ptm8
Wow, that clip actually brought me to tears. As obvious as their friendship was on the radio, that clip made it all the more clear just how close they were.
"The odometer on this thing reads about 60 million miles."
That was John Grunsfeld - he used to work on his car at Hacker's Haven in the late 70's (a DIY garage that Ray and Tom ran in Cambridge for a few years). That's just awesome that he was able to call in from the Space Shuttle.
Car Talk was my gateway into NPR growing up when I used to listen with my dad on long drives. I've had the fortune to meet the Car Talk brothers many times and they were just as funny and friendly in person as they were on the show. RIP Tom.
Great line from the "Tom's Marriage Advice" segement: "I have my own law of marriage, which is that it is more important to be happy than to be right."
Car Talk was wonderful when I was listening to NPR. I had to stop listening after their abdication of duties in the 2000 election and the subsequent wars. I now understand NPR to be just a shill for our corporate government. Tom and Ray were great though.
I really liked their cameo in Cars. Tom's character was a Dodge Dart, which was problematic car he had owned, and was often a point of discussion on the show.
Listening to car talk taught me an enormous amount about how to be an engineer, and it helped teach my wife how to be a doctor. How to formulate hypotheses and ask the right questions to test them, and that no matter how expert you are in your field, you will always encounter some oddball phenomenon that's entirely new to you.
This is a point that I think a lot of people are missing: Click and Clack, while being funny, were primarily master troubleshooters. They could digest incomplete descriptions of a problem over the phone from a neophite user and in the span of a phone conversation, usually with no ability to run tests, could work out a plausible root cause and a corrective course of action. The "Stump the Chumps" segment would occasionally follow up with some previous victims/callers, and more often than not they had largely gotten it right.
I'm not sure how much you'll actually learn about cars from listening, but if you pay attention you should be able to learn a whole lot about effective troubleshooting.
I'm an Engineer, and I'm constantly shocked how many people don't have basic troubleshooting abilities. I've always considered it a "basic life skill", but experience has shown me that's not true.
One of my fondest memories growing up was sitting around the breakfast table with my parents while listening to the puzzler segment of the show, as well as when people would call in to have them diagnose random problems with their cars.
My dad, a decent car mechanic in his own right, would try to guess the cause himself and then we'd wait to hear if he was correct. Given that my dad passed away suddenly one month ago makes the timing of this even sadder for me. Truly the end of an era of my childhood.
I loved Click and Clack. Their laughter and enthusiasm was always infectious. No matter how down I was, listening to Car Talk always lifted me up.
Though they were exceedingly smart and good at what they do, their self-deprecating attitude humanized them, and really instilled the lesson of humility.
Well put. Their good natured self deprecation was hilarious but also so sweet. You really felt the bond they had between each other, with their audience, and their love of the show.
This is the one thing I really noticed. After listening to some of the morning shows, where one person is always getting teased and used as a doormat for everybody's jokes.
You could tell these two truly had a special friendship and it clearly came through in how they interacted with each other. There were no malicious stabs or cheap shots, it was all lighthearted fun and jesting.
100% seconded. Tom was truly one of a kind - the infectiousness of their personalities reminded me, in an odd way, of Robin Williams. Tom, Ray, and Robin - they a made the world a better place by being reliably themselves, institutions of my growing up, and hilarious. My deepest condolences to Ray on what must be a terribly sad day for him.
I've only been aware of car talk for a few years (having moved from the UK) but this is sad. Seemingly every significant road trip I've done has involved laughing my ass off at something in that show, but also being struck by just how wise a lot of their advice sounds (whether it is might be something else). Mere mention of "Manila Folders" or the BMW 9 series manual is enough to reduce my partner and I to hysterics.
This was my experience as well. Inevitably, at some point during every long road trip, there'd be a period where I'd get reception for a while, and I'll be darned if it wasn't Car Talk. After hours and hours alone on the road, it was always warming to have them guffawing about whatever they were rambling about at the time. Brightened every trip.
Such sad news - I don't normally really take celebrity deaths too personal but I've been listening to these guys since I can remember. So so sad to hear this...
A very unique and memorable personality and show, reminds me of when Paul Harvey passed. Some people are capable of making peeling paint sound interesting, it's a unique ability to interest people in something simply by your passion for it.
SO sad, also one of my favorite memories growing up with my parents driving in the car listening to them. My mom thought they were gods gift of comedy, they were hysterical. I listen to them locally on my NPR affiliate every Saturday at 2-3pm it makes my errand running on Saturday's delightful. He will be missed.
My dad called into car talk once and told them on-air about how I would listen to every episode while driving around in my little tikes car. I didn't understand what they were talking about, but I loved their laughing.
Also, I still can't take the new Fiats on the road seriously.
Man, it occurred to me that their show goes all the way back to when I, too, was an actual auto mechanic many years ago. Saturday mornings in the shop, listening to the show while a half dozen professional mechanics tried to diagnose the problem. Once in a while we concluded that those two got it wrong, but right or wrong wasn't the point. They were funny, entertaining, and informative, all in a format that was accessible to those for whom a car is mostly a black box.
RIP, Tom. I wish I were ever as much the complete package when comes to mechanical things as you were.
> Tom and Ray haven't done the show live for two years; Car Talk has been airing archives of old shows. Berman says Ray would like to continue doing that, as a tribute to his brother.
Soo… Apparently the show as you all have known it for the last two years will be unaffected. Alternately, the show died two years ago and you never noticed.
EDIT: I thought that this news meant the show was ending and was surprised to read that actually the show would not change. So I thought I’d highlight this fact that the show would not change. There was no offense intended.
"The show's been off the air for a while, so his death shouldn't bother you".
That's how this comes off. By the way, many people are completely aware that they've been off the air, and still find this saddening. In your attempt to be clever or somehow revealing a secret, you've come off as arrogant and insensitive.
(Please don’t invent quotes and write them as a separate paragraph – it looks as though I wrote the inflammatory text, when in fact I meant nothing of the kind.)
I thought that this news meant the show was ending and was surprised to read that actually the show would not change. So I thought I’d highlight this fact.
As the target of misunderstandings at times, I get it, and your meta-point is taken. My previous statement about the perceived insensitivity to the actual story, Tom's death, stands.
> Soo… Apparently the show as you all have known it for the last two years will be unaffected. Alternately, the show died two years ago and you never noticed.
You really sound like you're an asshole. Maybe you didn't intend that, but you do.
>So I thought I’d highlight this fact that nothing substantial would change.
Nothing substantial, aside from the fact that world has lost one of smartest, funniest, and most humble people ever to provide untold hours of entertainment on the radio...
The show has been playing reruns for a couple years now (I thought this was common knowledge?), but Tom's passing is indeed a sad day. He was absolutely someone who embodied the hacker ethic.
>Soo… Apparently the show as you all have known it for the last two years will be unaffected. Alternately, the show died two years ago and you never noticed.
>There was no offense intended.
The use of ellipses for dramatic silence , elongated words, and the personal targeting of your statements ("YOU all have known..." "YOU never noticed") indicate that "There was no offense intended." was really just a statement made for the sake of indemnifying yourself from the backlash of impersonal comments made about the death of another human, rather than a statement of ignorance and apology.
I don't honestly believe you when you say that you felt this thread was about the radio show going off the air rather than subject/topic line itself (the death of a person). I think that's an excuse to make your actions appear more excusable.
I have never actually heard the show, so yes, I did actually think that at least half the focus was that the show would end – the show’s name is also in the title. Furthermore, since I never listened to the show, I excluded myself by writing “you” instead of “us”.
If I were to analyze your statements as you did mine, I might come to the conclusion that you are merely lashing out at anyone who seem to be insensitive to your loss. But I shouldn’t do that, as ascribing motives to you would demean this conversation. It’s better to keep things civil and polite.
I made some statements about the status of the show – nothing about the person, mind you – and they were misinterpreted as insensitive to the person. I made clarifications, but now you won’t believe me. I really don’t see what else I can do, now.
I will certainly refrain from commenting in mortuary articles from now on – there appears to often be too much grief for actual civilized discourse.
I started listening to Car Talk in high school in the 1980s. I loved the wit, the banter with callers, and the weird questions about cars ... which (as others have noted) were often really about people.
Tom and Ray showed the value of personality and wisdom when it comes to mass media programming, especially in an age when so much information is available online. Yes, many of the problems experienced by the callers could have been diagnosed via Google or prowling car forums. But Car Talk was so much more dynamic and effective, as these two knew what questions to ask about the problem, which (often) led to a correct diagnosis.
The calls I particularly enjoyed:
* People calling in from Afghanistan, Alaska or other remote places with edge cases
* People calling in to question their husband's, father-in-law's or neighbor's advice about cars.
* The bizarre cases -- someone who had a plastic bag wrapped around the axle that wouldn't come off, the person with spiders reproducing in the A/C, and the guy whose cassette player not only had an REM tape stuck in it, but the damn thing was stuck on loop and wouldn't turn off while driving.
Or the guy that "lost a frozen turkey" in the car before thanksgiving, finding it much later after having not driven, and their advice of just selling the car because no one would never be able to get the smell out..
I also fondly remember then appearance on a Nova science special where they pretended to be water molecules passing through a fuel cell with balloons taped to their bottoms.
> People calling in from Afghanistan, Alaska or other remote places with edge cases
If you've never been to Alaska, I highly recommend a trip. It's extremely beautiful and "edge-cases" quickly become a way of life.
I live in the Yukon, and just yesterday I was waist deep in a half-frozen river in the middle of nowhere, smashing out ice with the back of an axe. Once I'd done that enough, I rigged up a pulley on a tree on the far size, ran a cable and my buddy and I pulled each other across on our quads. It was about -15C (5F) the entire time. Today I'm sitting at my desk working as a Software Engineer.
I'm busy reading his article on Paxos & of course I find this here. Feels like a classic case of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.
Regardless, oh my goodness. When you see the solution spit out you just wanna drop your head on the desk. It's that "ahaaa" moment we probably don't feel often enough.
My kids (7 and 5) and I loved sitting in the car and listening to Car Talk. They didn't have a clue about the content, but just loved listening to the brothers joking and having a good time with each other and the callers. So many Saturdays on the way to this or that, did I get the request to turn on the radio for Car Talk. In all honesty, Car Talk was almost like an audio-only cartoon for them, with those jovial and dynamic voices.
Also, being an incurable VW nut, I often experienced so many of the issues folks called to ask about. I really enjoyed expressing my own opinion out loud and waiting to see what the boys usually said (which was different than what I thought, and often made a lot more sense than my own theories).
R.I.P. Tom. I hope Ray is holding it together today. What a blow.
I listen to reruns on a regular basis, and what continues to amaze me about the show is their ability to "debug" cars and make it sound fun. They were always helpful, never looking down on the caller or the predicament they found themselves in. Us techies could learn a few things from them.
115 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 188 ms ] threadAlso this is pretty great:
> Tom and Ray Magliozzi did open that do-it-yourself repair shop in the early '70s. They called it Hackers Heaven.
My favorite episode was the one where he talked in depth about his time in the Army and how he didn't fit in, but every episode was a good listen.
http://podtail.com/podcast/npr-car-talk-podcast/1430-the-and...
Listening to Tom and Ray you get a sense that they are two of your oldest friends. I've never heard two more likable guys talk.
(Girl who wrote a letter complaining that the show sucked and that she had to listen because her parents did in the car... they had her on and she'd periodically call in for years)
My all-time favorite was the episode where someone called in and said that their vehicle would run pretty well but with lots of vibration for 8 minutes, then the engine would cut and refuse to start up again. It turned out to be someone onboard the Space Shuttle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAqzM4ptm8
Edit: found a video clip of the brothers. Laughs included https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8TC2J1aTr4
That was John Grunsfeld - he used to work on his car at Hacker's Haven in the late 70's (a DIY garage that Ray and Tom ran in Cambridge for a few years). That's just awesome that he was able to call in from the Space Shuttle.
Car Talk was my gateway into NPR growing up when I used to listen with my dad on long drives. I've had the fortune to meet the Car Talk brothers many times and they were just as funny and friendly in person as they were on the show. RIP Tom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6y...
Car Talk Plaza Box 3500 Harvard Square Cambridge , MA 02238
FTFY. :)
I feel I learned much about the art of troubleshooting in general from Car Talk.
I'm not sure how much you'll actually learn about cars from listening, but if you pay attention you should be able to learn a whole lot about effective troubleshooting.
My dad, a decent car mechanic in his own right, would try to guess the cause himself and then we'd wait to hear if he was correct. Given that my dad passed away suddenly one month ago makes the timing of this even sadder for me. Truly the end of an era of my childhood.
Though they were exceedingly smart and good at what they do, their self-deprecating attitude humanized them, and really instilled the lesson of humility.
Will miss him and the show.
You could tell these two truly had a special friendship and it clearly came through in how they interacted with each other. There were no malicious stabs or cheap shots, it was all lighthearted fun and jesting.
He will be missed. Definitely end of a radio era.
Already sorely missed. RIP.
Also, I still can't take the new Fiats on the road seriously.
RIP, Tom. I wish I were ever as much the complete package when comes to mechanical things as you were.
Soo… Apparently the show as you all have known it for the last two years will be unaffected. Alternately, the show died two years ago and you never noticed.
EDIT: I thought that this news meant the show was ending and was surprised to read that actually the show would not change. So I thought I’d highlight this fact that the show would not change. There was no offense intended.
That's how this comes off. By the way, many people are completely aware that they've been off the air, and still find this saddening. In your attempt to be clever or somehow revealing a secret, you've come off as arrogant and insensitive.
I thought that this news meant the show was ending and was surprised to read that actually the show would not change. So I thought I’d highlight this fact.
You really sound like you're an asshole. Maybe you didn't intend that, but you do.
Nothing substantial, aside from the fact that world has lost one of smartest, funniest, and most humble people ever to provide untold hours of entertainment on the radio...
The show has been playing reruns for a couple years now (I thought this was common knowledge?), but Tom's passing is indeed a sad day. He was absolutely someone who embodied the hacker ethic.
>There was no offense intended.
The use of ellipses for dramatic silence , elongated words, and the personal targeting of your statements ("YOU all have known..." "YOU never noticed") indicate that "There was no offense intended." was really just a statement made for the sake of indemnifying yourself from the backlash of impersonal comments made about the death of another human, rather than a statement of ignorance and apology.
I don't honestly believe you when you say that you felt this thread was about the radio show going off the air rather than subject/topic line itself (the death of a person). I think that's an excuse to make your actions appear more excusable.
RIP Tom. You shaped much of my youth.
If I were to analyze your statements as you did mine, I might come to the conclusion that you are merely lashing out at anyone who seem to be insensitive to your loss. But I shouldn’t do that, as ascribing motives to you would demean this conversation. It’s better to keep things civil and polite.
I made some statements about the status of the show – nothing about the person, mind you – and they were misinterpreted as insensitive to the person. I made clarifications, but now you won’t believe me. I really don’t see what else I can do, now.
I will certainly refrain from commenting in mortuary articles from now on – there appears to often be too much grief for actual civilized discourse.
Tom and Ray showed the value of personality and wisdom when it comes to mass media programming, especially in an age when so much information is available online. Yes, many of the problems experienced by the callers could have been diagnosed via Google or prowling car forums. But Car Talk was so much more dynamic and effective, as these two knew what questions to ask about the problem, which (often) led to a correct diagnosis.
The calls I particularly enjoyed:
* People calling in from Afghanistan, Alaska or other remote places with edge cases
* People calling in to question their husband's, father-in-law's or neighbor's advice about cars.
* The bizarre cases -- someone who had a plastic bag wrapped around the axle that wouldn't come off, the person with spiders reproducing in the A/C, and the guy whose cassette player not only had an REM tape stuck in it, but the damn thing was stuck on loop and wouldn't turn off while driving.
We'll miss you, Tom.
I also fondly remember then appearance on a Nova science special where they pretended to be water molecules passing through a fuel cell with balloons taped to their bottoms.
If you've never been to Alaska, I highly recommend a trip. It's extremely beautiful and "edge-cases" quickly become a way of life.
I live in the Yukon, and just yesterday I was waist deep in a half-frozen river in the middle of nowhere, smashing out ice with the back of an axe. Once I'd done that enough, I rigged up a pulley on a tree on the far size, ran a cable and my buddy and I pulled each other across on our quads. It was about -15C (5F) the entire time. Today I'm sitting at my desk working as a Software Engineer.
Life up here really is very different.
https://github.com/fintler/tlaplus/raw/master/examples/CarTa...
Regardless, oh my goodness. When you see the solution spit out you just wanna drop your head on the desk. It's that "ahaaa" moment we probably don't feel often enough.
Also, being an incurable VW nut, I often experienced so many of the issues folks called to ask about. I really enjoyed expressing my own opinion out loud and waiting to see what the boys usually said (which was different than what I thought, and often made a lot more sense than my own theories).
R.I.P. Tom. I hope Ray is holding it together today. What a blow.
R.I.P. Tom. Such unique warmth and joy.
He'll be missed.