The Best of Car Talk

By NPR

Comedy Automotive

What's The Best of Car Talk about?

America's funniest auto mechanics take calls from weary car owners all over the country, and crack wise while they diagnose Dodges and dismiss Diahatsus. You don't have to know anything about cars to love this one hour weekly laugh fest.

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#2381: Paul Murky's Revenge

09.23.2023

Car Talk's Chief Researcher, Paul Murky occasionally helps Ray by checking out potential Puzzler questions. However, on this particular show Murky must have been in a bad mood because he sandbagged Ray something fierce. Enjoy the carnage on this episode ...

The Best of Car Talk episodes:

09.23.2023 #2381: Paul Murky's Revenge Car Talk's Chief Researcher, Paul Murky occasionally helps Ray by checking out potential Puzzler questions. However, on this particular show Murky must have been in a bad mood because he sandbagged Ray something fierce. Enjoy the carnage on this episode ...
09.19.2023 #2380: Nostra-Thomas Click and Clack give up on mechanical diagnosis in favor of predictions. We predict a few laughs, some strange results and another installment of 'Stump the Chumps' on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. And if you want ...
09.16.2023 #2379: Let the Chump Stumping Begin! As bad decisions go, letting two car mechanics have their own show on NPR was 'questionable'. 'Crazy' was letting the folks calling-in with car problems back on to the show to tell everyone how good that advice was(or wasn't). The ...
09.12.2023 #2378: Sid from San Fran Sid from San Francisco has a problem with his Ford SUV: he misplaced a live rat inside it that eventually died deep in the dash and the smell is pretty nasty. Did we mention that Sid is a python? His ...
09.09.2023 #2377: Kristy vs. Krusty Kristy from Wyoming wants to learn how to work on cars so she enrolled in her high school's auto shop class. Her male classmates aren't taking her interest seriously, though. Should Kristy try to become one of them by smearing ...
09.05.2023 #2376: What's Cookin' at the Roadkill Cafe? 'Locally-sourced' and 'tarmac-to-table' are hallmarks of the Roadkill Cafe. Tommy reads from their revolting menu and we promise that if you've never actually considered a vegan diet, you will after this episode of the Best of Car Talk. And if ...
09.02.2023 #2375: The Ingrate Sold Your Car! Ann from Boulder, CO has a wonderful mother who gave Ann her car. How did Ann express her thanks to dear old Mom? She sold it and bought a different car! Will Ann do the right thing and fess up ...
08.29.2023 #2374: Alison's Stinkin' Volvo Alison was living it up out in latte land(Portland, OR) until she spilled her mocha cappucino all over the inside of her Volvo. Now the rainy season has arrived, and with it, an awful stench of sour milk everywhere she ...
08.26.2023 #2373: Yooper Problems What's a poor 'Yooper'(a Michigander from the upper peninsula) to do when his wife insists that he's wrecking her car by slamming it from reverse into drive every time he backs out of the driveway? Click and Clack try to ...
08.22.2023 #2372: Melissa Takes Over the Show What do you do when a precocious 13-year-old girl writes you a snotty little letter to say that your radio show stinks? You could invite her to host the show with you -shat should shut her up, right? Boy were ...
08.19.2023 #2371: Locating the Chee on Jody's Honda Jody's mechanics can't seem to fix her car and since she's a practitioner of Eastern Medicine she's considering plying her acupuncture talents in the hopes of helping her Honda. Tom and Ray try to help her locate the Chee on ...
08.15.2023 #2370: Ellen is 0 for 2 Ellen's hubby's pride and joy is his new Ford Explorer. The first time he let her drive it another driver crashed into her. Months later, hubby figured it was time to let her have another chance and this time she ...
08.12.2023 #2369: To the Moon in a Ford Escort Jeanne called Car Talk to bemoan the fact that her husband Joe was forcing them to drive around in two old heaps. Joe then called to defend himself and offer that he is only trying to get his Ford Escort ...
08.08.2023 #2368: Fun with the Bubonic Plague For a bit of mid-show fun, Ray comes up with a 'Puzzler' for listeners to solve that Tommy grades on a scale of 'historic', 'folkloric', 'challenging', 'interesting' and 'fun'. And if you want to listen to more Car Talk, sign ...
08.05.2023 #2367: The Barefoot Confessor Amy just moved back east from Bezerkely, California and she brought her west coast driving habits with her. Dad caught her driving without her shoes on, and he is certain that barefoot driving is dangerous. Is it? Or is dear ...
08.01.2023 #2366: Autorhinotillexomania We've all seen it. You're stopped at a light and the driver across the intersection has their hand to their face with half of one finger disappearing... up their nose. Yuck! Well, Jill from Montana has seen enough and wants ...
07.29.2023 #2365: The Mind of Melissa For a show hosted by two knuckleheads, Car Talk has a pretty thoughtful and literate audience. Listener Jay Powell muses on the meaning of a world that contains both Car Talk and it's theoretical opposite: Melissa Peterson. It's Prose and ...
07.25.2023 #2364: Press On! Hippies remember their Volkswagen vans fondly as a low-cost, tiny home on wheels. What they've forgotten is what a mechanical nightmare they were. On this episode we start the show with Sandra's 'flamethrower edition' of the Vanagon and end with ...
07.22.2023 #2363: That Little Twerp, Melissa Sherlock Holmes matched wits with Moriarty and Captain Ahab battled his great white whale. Who challenged Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers the most during their over 40 years doing Car Talk, you ask? Not Chrysler's legal team, nor the ...
07.18.2023 #2362: The Power of the Dodge Dart And here we thought all those high-society soirees that we were never invited to must have been attended by owners of Rolls Royces, Cadillacs, Jags and Aston Martins. Not so! Hear Carol's story about the forgotten classic in that list ...
07.15.2023 #2361: The Mickey Mouse Method We all know that preventive maintenance is critical to keeping your car going, right? When it gets a little older, overhauling some key parts may be in order. But when it's finally looking good to Tommy(i.e. a real piece of ...
07.11.2023 #2360: Consummate Professionals As befits a couple of kuckle-scrapers who were practically dragged into a broadcast studio years ago and plunked down in front of a hot microphone, Click and Clack do their thing unencumbered by notions of broadcasting's 'best practices'. Case in ...
07.08.2023 #2359: The Mechanic as Salesman Right after Click and Clack try to figure out where Brenda is from, they help her translate what the mechanic-turned-salesman at her local Toyota dealer's service department is really saying about her car's engine. It's time to learn some new ...
07.04.2023 #2358: Sleek, Black and Beautiful No More Many years ago, Tommy drove his sleek, black & beautiful 1965 Rambler Convertible onto Ray's property and swore that he'd be back to pick it up in a week or two. Two years later, Ray got tired of looking at ...
07.01.2023 #2357: Diametrically-Disadvantaged Tony needs brakes, Morgan needs an engine and Daniel is 'diametrically-disadvantaged'' enough to need a running start to get into his BMW. Don't miss this dip into the Pinkwater files and more on this episode of the Best of Car ...
06.27.2023 #2356: Oh Boy! As arbiters of many a marital-automotive dispute, the Tappet Brothers gently inform callers who are in the wrong and will have to fess up to their spouse. On the other hand, when callers like Nancy from Florida find out that ...
06.24.2023 #2355: The Honda Hurricane On a hot summer day, there's nothing better than that first blast of cold air from your car's air conditioner. But the AC in Lee's Honda gives him the cold front and the thunderclouds AND the rain, too. Should he ...
06.20.2023 #2354: Llamas and Creme Rinse How far wrong can you go trying to help folks diagnose their car problems on a radio show? Today we start with alternators and plug wires and finish with llamas and creme rinse conditioner on this episode of the Best ...
06.17.2023 #2353: Ronnie Sue 'Macgyver' Ronnie Sue loves her old car and she's learning how to do basic maintenance. But when she breaks down on the highway with nothing but the clothes on her back will she be able to fix a leaky radiator hose? ...
06.13.2023 #2352: And My Dog Hates Your Show, Too! While our entire audience has had to endure our many years worth of lousy car advice, we are particularly guilt-ridden knowing that so many parents used our show as a way to keep kids from misbehaving on long car trips ...
06.10.2023 #2351: Click and Clack Play Symphony Hall... and Lose! How do you get to Symphony Hall? Practice!.. or, pay them a bunch of money to let you and your more talented friends entertain some paying public radio fans for a few hours. Guess which route our boys took? Find ...
06.06.2023 #2350: You Gotta do it for Science! Richard and his wife are shocked by their new Honda. Literally, the thing gives them a static jolt whenever they exit the car. Could it be Richard's extensive wardrobe of polyester leisure suits rubbing against the upholstery? Find out on ...
06.03.2023 #2349: We Specialize in All Makes Foreign and Domestic Gillian from our fair city of Cambridge, MA has to translate some French car manual descriptions into English. Can two knuckleheads who only speak 'Grease Monkey' help her? "Raconter des salades" it'll be on this episode of the Best of ...
05.30.2023 #2348: Martha's Civic Dance Hey kids! Hear about that new dance called 'The Butt'?! Martha from Wyoming came up with it as a way to get her Honda Civic to start when it doesn't want to. We give Dick Clark a run for his ...
05.27.2023 #2347: Fix it or Dump it Robin loves her old Plymouth and wants to keep it running but her family is telling her to move on to some new wheels. Will Click and Clack support Robin's wish to keep it or just offer her Tommy's standard ...
05.23.2023 #2346: Understanding Men and Their Exes Mary Lynne's boyfriend has several of his most recent exes living with them. His 'ex-cars', that is, are littering their property in various states of 'heapdom'. Should she be concerned about this particular hoarding tendency or could it possibly be ...
05.20.2023 #2345: Like a Rhinestone Car Girl Savannah is a young artist with an old Pontiac that she plans to use as her canvas. She is going to cover every square inch of the car in rhinestones and has to make sure they don't fly off when ...
05.16.2023 #2344: The Tofu Run Mary from Kansas makes a round trip of 240 miles in her old Toyota to score her weekly supply of tofu. Times are pretty desperate for Kansas vegans. Will Click and Clack be able to help Mary maintain the Toyota ...
05.13.2023 #2343: Another Clutch Killer Has Diana from Austin, Texas figured out a perfectly-good way to avoid the problem of stalling her Mazda when starting it from a stop? Or is she another potential serial clutch murderer? Officers Click and Clack attempt to crack the ...
05.09.2023 #2342: We Missed it! Click and Clack are so busy dodging angry customers and Chrysler's legal team that it turns out they just missed one of the premier social gatherings of the season. Was it the Annual Seatcover Convention? The Fuzzy Dice Convocation? Check ...
05.06.2023 #2341: Around the World in a Suzuki Sidekick What happens when a caller with one of our all-time favorite caller names(Harsha Pelimuhandiram) picks one of the worst vehicles ever made for his drive around the world? Check out this episode of the Best of Car Talk.
05.02.2023 #2340: Uniquely Disqualified If you have a car that's unreliable, in need of regular repairs and just sitting in your driveway, rusting, you need a mechanic to help you figure out if it's time to cut your losses. Or you can sell it ...
04.29.2023 #2339: Carvoyance or Just a Lucky Guess? Every once in a while Click or Clack amaze us all by being able to correctly guess a caller's car problem with nothing more than a car make and model to go on. Too bad good answers don't work that ...
04.25.2023 #2338: The Vomit Comet The Mercury Comet was a fun little car. NASA's zero-gravity and weightlessness test plane, nicknamed 'The Vomit Comet', is something else entirely but is an oddly appropriate subject for Car Talk we think. Check it out on this episode of ...
04.22.2023 #2337: The Mind of the Modern Mechanic Kathy has called seeking wisdom of a sort from our two witless wonders. Her husband is a mechanic, and while he can work magic with engines he can't seem to keep a simple schedule or estimate how long a job ...
04.18.2023 #2336: The Clutchkiller Family Mrs. Clutchkiller is blaming her husband Ron Clutchkiller for her car's prematurely failing clutch. But could the real culprit be their teenage son, little Jimmy Clutchkiller? Click and Clack make like Lieutenant Frank Columbo on this episode of the Best ...
04.15.2023 #2335: Life and Death and Fried Clams Margaret from nearby Everett, Mass has relocated to California along with 'Rusty' her trusty Honda Accord but the noises Rusty makes going up and down the Streets of San Francisco have Margaret in fear for her life. Will our boys ...
04.11.2023 #2334: He Most Certainly Did! Click and Clack's father, Louis, gets called-in to settle a bet: Did Tommy croak one of Dad's cars back in the day by running it out of oil? And their Mother Elizabeth has a word with her boys, too. It's ...
04.08.2023 #2333: Beth's Birdbathroom Beth from New York has a deeded parking space that sits right below a mockingbird's perch, and let's just say Beth is a bit more familiar with the little guy's diet than she wants to be. What's a car owner ...
04.04.2023 #2332: That's Either Very Good or Very Bad Danny from Louisiana has a Toyota Van with spongey brakes that he can't seem to fix. Our geniuses listen carefully to Danny's descriptions, ask him seemingly insightful questions and each comes to a totally different conclusion. Will Danny get some ...

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