
Tom Magliozzi, Co-Host of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies at 77 - vonmoltke
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/03/357428287/tom-magliozzi-popular-co-host-of-nprs-car-talk-dies-at-77
======
ceejayoz
I hope Melissa "the Twerp" Peterson ([http://www.wnyc.org/story/1421-my-dog-
hates-you-too/](http://www.wnyc.org/story/1421-my-dog-hates-you-too/)) does a
eulogy for him.

(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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAqzM4ptm8)

~~~
theg2
Pretty good best of here: [http://www.wbur.org/2014/11/03/car-talk-tom-best-
of](http://www.wbur.org/2014/11/03/car-talk-tom-best-of)

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.

~~~
dctoedt
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."

------
eric_bullington
My Dad and I were lamenting this news today. We listened to the show together.
And although my Dad spent his career in aircraft maintenance (as an officer in
the AF), corporate finance, and now (in semi-retirement) higher education, he
is a talented car mechanic who fixed all our cars until I was 5 or 6 and he
became too busy at work to do so. He understands cars at an almost intuitive
level, and even though I'm a decent mechanic myself, I frequently call him up
when I'm wondering what's going on with a car.

And I see several other comments here about people listening to the show
together with their fathers, and how their fathers were talented mechanics.
It's definitely a generational thing.

So many mechanically-inclined boys who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s,
including Tom and Ray Magliozzi, were into building and repairing cars, just
as many mechanically-inclined boys in the 1970s and 1980s were into building,
repairing, and programming computers.

(I do say "boys" because this seems to have been a mostly male gene
[correction: gender] phenomenon. Fortunately, I think this may be changing
now.)

My Dad gets along well with computers (particularly spreadsheets), but he
little understanding of how they work inside.

It makes me wonder if my 4-year-old son or 7-year-old daughter and their
friends will be strikingly talented in some new field, like virtual reality or
nanotechnology, but will marvel at my knowledge of C and of the inner workings
of early computers.

~~~
nooron
What a thoughtful comment. I don't intend to attack, so please take the
following question in good faith: did you mean to say "male gene" or "male
gender"?

I'd certainly agree for the former, but I would hope you'd elaborate more if
you were to suggest a purely genetic origin.

~~~
eric_bullington
Oops, I meant gender. That's what I get for multitasking.

------
dkrich
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.

------
ilamont
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.

~~~
grecy
> _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.

------
wdewind
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.

~~~
kevinkimball
makes sense... weren't they MIT grads?

~~~
Symmetry
Yup, and they warned me not to follow in their footsteps. I didn't listen,
though.

~~~
Symmetry
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.

------
sheri
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.

Will miss him and the show.

~~~
comrh
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.

~~~
at-fates-hands
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.

He will be missed. Definitely end of a radio era.

------
stephencanon
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.

------
mikestew
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.

------
steakejjs
Aww man. I love Click and Clack. I know nothing about cars, I don't even have
an interest in them, but I loved listening to these two talk about cars.

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.

~~~
xsmasher
That sounds great. Is this the episode?

[http://podtail.com/podcast/npr-car-talk-podcast/1430-the-
and...](http://podtail.com/podcast/npr-car-talk-podcast/1430-the-andy-letter/)

~~~
steakejjs
That's the one. Starts around 28 minutes. Goes on for a couple minutes

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.

------
erickhill
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.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
Yup, us and the kids always listen to the Car Talk podcast whenever we're in
the car going anywhere that takes at least 45 minutes. Awesome show.

R.I.P. Tom. Such unique warmth and joy.

------
astrocat
The fact that this is at the top of HN and has been for hours is phenomenal.
Despite the often insular nature of the HN crowd, it's things like this that
reveal ta deep respect for the hacker in everyone. Imagine being so badass
that you hosted a national tech-support call-in show and solved people's
problems random computer problems: "Tom: Sounds like you've got corrupted
memory... Ray: Don't listen to him, all his memory's corrupted. [minutes of
infectious laughter]"

~~~
javaun
Agreed. I think it wasn't just his humor and his knowledge, but his
approachability and willingness to share. I worked at NPR for 6 years. I never
met either of the brothers, but we were all a gog the day Doug the Old Grey
Mare came in to talk to pick our brains about web analytics, of all things.
Here is this person who I think is an absolute genius, but can listen to us
talk about a seemingly banal thing earnestly. They listened, they shared. They
cared.

------
philip1209
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.

~~~
sp332
The new Fiats are pretty sweet, you should try driving one. (Also the new
Dodge Dart is a Fiat with an Alfa engine and suspension.)

------
Bud
Really a special presence on the radio for so many years. So intelligent, so
humane, so humorous, so useful!

I feel I learned much about the art of troubleshooting in general from Car
Talk.

~~~
luma
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.

~~~
grecy
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.

------
cpr
My favorite "remote debugging" of all time was the caller who complained about
the key in her old Subaru wagon not working sometimes.

After some back and forth, one of the brothers said, "wait, wait--I'll bet you
have a huge set of keys, right?" "Well, yes." "So, on that model of Subaru,
the weight of the whole key set will eventually wear down the lock and make it
stick. I've seen that before."

I can't imagine the leap of intuition required...

~~~
brok3nmachine
It's a fairly common problem across several makes of cars. Replaced my
ignition switch once because of this, and since then have used a separate clip
for my house and work keys.

------
fidotron
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.

Already sorely missed. RIP.

~~~
HCIdivision17
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.

------
pit
That's too bad, those guys were hilarious. Here's Leslie Lamport solving one
of the Car Talk puzzles with TLA+:

[https://github.com/fintler/tlaplus/raw/master/examples/CarTa...](https://github.com/fintler/tlaplus/raw/master/examples/CarTalkPuzzle/CarTalkPuzzle.pdf)

~~~
adt2bt
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.

------
aculver
NPR and public radio more generally in the U.S. is such a national treasure,
and these guys were one of the brightest gems. I loved seeing their
personalities and infectious laugh enshrined with a cameo in Pixar's Cars,
which itself captured a sort of best-of or hall-of-fame for American car
culture.

~~~
voltagex_
Was there a difference in the US and UK editions of Cars? I don't remember the
cameo.

~~~
wiredfool
They were the Rust-eze guys. Totally in character.

There are differences in the voice over -- Harv is Jeremy Clarkson in the UK,
but definitely not in the US version.

[http://pixar.wikia.com/Harv](http://pixar.wikia.com/Harv)

------
wiremine
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.

He'll be missed.

------
JeremyMorgan
I'm a car guy through and through, and I started listening to those guys when
I barely started turning wrenches on my first car. Great guys, and great show.

My Dad, one of the best mechanics I'll ever know (who has forgotten more than
I'll ever learn) used to listen and talk about how accurate they were with
their advice and wished more people would listen.

------
jhallenworld
I can report that Tom and Ray did in fact have the occasional cappuccino at
Caffe Paradiso in Harvard Square. I had no idea who they were until Tom
laughed :-)

------
atwebb
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.

------
tomkarlo
My first job in college involved helping them build the first Car Talk web
site (it was around 1994). All of the graphics were drawn on paper and scanned
in, and I spent hours converting their recordings into (IIRC) RealAudio format
so people could livestream them. (Downsampling / compression at the time was
far from real-time.)

They were both great guys to work with, who seemed genuinely surprised at
their own fame and came to everything with genuine humor, warmth and without
the slightest hint of ego. Out of all the notable MIT alumni, they're my
favorite and I was really happy when they finally got invited to speak at
commencement. (I'd also argue that the guys at Top Gear owe them some credit
for pioneering a "show about cars" that's really just entertainment.)

It's a terrible loss, but at least Tom will live on for many years in the form
of all those recorded hours of (somewhat auto-related) entertainment. The
world is a little less happy and funny today without him, though.

------
BorisMelnik
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.

------
whacker
I was/am listening to Car talk right now - when I saw this post. We are going
to miss him.

------
pwilson-gorge
My favorite was the Russian built Skoda. Its main innovation was a heated rear
window was so that you could keep your hands warm when you were pushing it
after it broke down. It still makes me smile a decade later. Thanks Tom.

------
andrewl
I've never owned a car in my life, and I've been listening to them for years.
I'm very sad to hear this.

------
dmritard96
One of the best radio personalities I have known in my lifetime.

------
startupfounder
I grew up in Cambridge, MA and always got a good laugh walking through Harvard
Square and looking up at the sign for the firm of Dewey, Cheatem & How[0]. The
third story window is where the Magliozzi brothers had their office. RIP Tom
and his amazingly contagious laugh, still makes me smile thinking about it.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey%2C_Cheatem_%26_Howe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey%2C_Cheatem_%26_Howe)

------
dba7dba
I heard on my local NPR station on how the show got its start. A few decades
ago a volunteer run radio station (open source radio station ??) in Boston
wanted a panel of auto mechanics to answer calls about cars. Six were invited
and only one showed up, the one being 1 of the 2 brothers.

Because it was open source radio, the brothers talked as normal,
un'photoshopped' people which was why it eventually got the attention later
on.

RIP.

------
pgsuckz
Someone find a cure for Alzheimer's please :(

~~~
JshWright
At least it seems it was mercifully quick in this case... Just two years since
they recorded their last episode.

------
drdeadringer
I missed the Alzheimers detail until this post, and realizing how old these
dudes were//are.

I still remember them receiving phone calls from the space station ["Well,
I've called everyone else, so..."] and from above//below the Arctic circle
["Yea, so, our warmest is about -50 and we have this odd problem..."].

------
socrates2015
RIP. Listened to the show since I was a kid and it was always great.

------
talltofu
I am not into cars at all but loved their infectious laughter. RIP

------
hsshah
I don't know any one who enjoy their work as much as the Tappet brothers
seemed to on their show. I used to listen to them during my commute after a
long days work. Your laughter was indeed infectious. RIP Tom.

------
usernamepc
Aww- my 5 year old twin boys had picked up their "Don't drive like my brother"
from listening to their show and the Cars movie- and use it often. So sad they
won't get to enjoy them. RIP Tom

------
aepearson
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...

------
tkinom
RIP, love the show. I have my popcast download their shows everyweek.

How can it be Alzheimer ?!?!?

The latest show #1444 on my cellphone's popcast app is Nov 1 - just two days
ago.

~~~
burkaman
> 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.

~~~
TylerE
Technically, the show hasn't been live for a LONG time. Like most NPR programs
it is recorded in advance and edited.

~~~
Amezarak
Maybe this is a dumb question, but how did the call-ins work then? There was
always a message if it was a rerun (don't try really calling, etc.) but even
their last shows had what appeared to be live call-ins and a call-in number
and I remember them having to advise people to turn the radio off while
they're on the phone.

~~~
carrier_lost
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Talk#Call-
in_procedure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Talk#Call-in_procedure)

------
zw123456
I can't really say much that has not already been said here and I fully second
all the comments about their fond memories of the show. Even though I am not
into cars, they made what I think is sort of a mundane topic (car repair) into
something completely entertaining and hilarious. I loved their brain teasers,
so clever. I will miss that laugh.

------
timtas
Car Talk brought me joy and laughter for 25+ years. R.I.P. Tom.

My favorite crazy credit was the short-lived:

Sexual Harassment Intervention Councilor, Pat McCann

------
rvbvcvn
I didn't listen to this show often but when I did I always enjoyed it.
Especially when there was a call about a woman's heater smelling like bacon
and the hosts decided (after having no idea how to fix it) that it was not
actually a problem and she should consider it a perk.

------
vivekian2
Every Saturday, I would step out to do grocery at 10:00am and tune into 88.5FM
KQED which would be playing 'Car Talk'. I instantly warmed to the humor and
banter the hosts expressed. They were top notch diagnostics as well. No doubt
about it, Tom will be deeply missed. RIP.

------
JshWright
Rest in peace Tom... I like to think you've now been reunited with your
beloved Black Beauty :)

------
Opossum
Fantastic show! I especially loved the Puzzlers [1]. They had some really
interesting ones over the years. Tom will be sorely missed! :(

[1]:
[http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzlers](http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzlers)

------
tomengland
I hadn't known the show was on reruns, that's how good the show was/is. I
recently started listening within the past year. However admittedly, I am an
off and on listener. Tom was filled with life, such a sad loss!

------
yairharel
For the first time in my life, I cried when a celebrity died. RIP Tom.

------
aashishkoirala
One of my favorite radio shows. RIP Tom M.

------
colin_mccabe
Sorry to hear this. Car Talk was my favorite radio show ever. Rest in peace,
Tom.

------
kevinwang
Good memories of those saturday morning drives.

------
autism_hurts
A radio icon; a fixture of my weekends growing up. Rest in peace.

------
teddyh
> _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.

~~~
worklogin
"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.

~~~
teddyh
(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.

~~~
worklogin
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.

