Tom Magliozzi, Co-Host of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies at 77

Re:Tom Magliozzi, Co-Host of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies at 77 by ilamont on Monday November 03, 2014 @03:46PM (#8553371)

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.

We'll miss you, Tom.

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Re:Tom Magliozzi, Co-Host of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies at 77 by grecy on Monday November 03, 2014 @05:49PM (#8554080)

> 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.

Life up here really is very different.

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Re:Tom Magliozzi, Co-Host of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies at 77 by salgernon on Monday November 03, 2014 @04:18PM (#8553577)

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.

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